Storytelling is the secret to successful pitching
Trena Blair explains how leaders can use storytelling to convert an unemotional message into a persuasive narrative in their business pitch.
At its core, storytelling is about creating a lasting and positive impression. Anthony Bastic, CEO of AGB Events
The most enduring living culture belongs to the country’s First Nations Peoples, dating back more than 65,000 years. Storytelling has been integral to their culture and traditions, passing tales of the Dreamtime, origin stories and history across generations. Through stories, First Nations Peoples connect with their land and ancestors and preserve their culture to inform future generations in an accessible way. Business leaders can learn from the ancient storytelling practices in indigenous cultures worldwide. The main lesson is the importance of – and ability to – take the spoken word and cultivate an emotional connection with the audience by sharing the past and generating interest for the future.
Storytelling in business is increasingly recognised as one of the most powerful tools for leaders to strengthen their brands and communicate their purpose, strategic vision and company values. Leaders are accustomed to telling stories in business through slide decks and podcasts, but storytelling is about so much more than delivery methods.
Funding is one of the four primary elements of the Business Growth Lifecycle. You may question why I am discussing storytelling and pitching and not focusing specifically on raising capital and the various methods of doing this. I believe all funding starts with the ability to tell a compelling, engaging story.
The power of storytelling
Anthony Bastic, CEO of AGB Events, is one of Australia’s leading creative talents and international event designers, and he has brought to life some of the world’s most inspiring events. His work will be familiar to many as the designer and creator of the popular international tourist drawcard Vivid Sydney, the annual spectacular light show illuminating Sydney Harbour and its surroundings.
Anthony Bastic is a master storyteller. A distinguishing feature of his craft is the time he spends researching the source of each subject to understand what new perspective or angle he can apply to the project – for example, whether there is a new historical lens. Anthony outlined that the next phase is the most critical: what medium – sound, light or visual arts – he can use to captivate the audience. Anthony aims to capture their curiosity, inspiring them to experience or learn something new.
I was particularly interested in Anthony’s perspective on what he considers the most crucial aspect of storytelling. Without hesitation, Anthony explained why the opening line of a story is the most critical, requiring deep consideration. Anthony looks for real meaning in the opening line to intrigue the audience, compelling them to want to see more. A great example of the impact of the opening line can be seen in Anthony’s work at the Expo Dubai 2021. Anthony and his team were engaged as creative and technical consultants to develop a visual story for the closing ceremony at Al Wasl Plaza that authentically represented the country and its people’s unique cultural attributes. Anthony explains how he developed the narrative:
During the research phase, I spoke with many locals. There were fantastic stories of how Dubai developed from a desert nation to economic prosperity. We could have easily created the festival with the traditional ‘once upon a time’ opening line, but we felt most visitors attending the Expo would be familiar with the story of Dubai. However, during one conversation, a mother shared how proud she was that her son was studying to be an astronaut – an opportunity inconceivable to her father, a pearl diver. It suddenly struck me that this showcased the opportunities and prosperity of Dubai and its citizens perfectly. From this insight, the opening line for the closing ceremony was born: ‘From pearl diver to astronaut’.
As Anthony demonstrates, storytelling is about crafting compelling narratives that evoke an emotional response from the audience, making them feel more connected to the event or a company’s products and services. At its core, storytelling is about creating a lasting and positive impression.
Persuading through story
What can business leaders do to change how they communicate to achieve the outcomes they desire? And how does this connect with funding options?
To answer these questions, let us turn to the senior editor of Harvard Business Review, Bronwyn Fryer, and her 2003 interview with Robert McKee. McKee is one of the world’s most respected screenwriting lecturers, and his students have won many international cinematic awards.
McKee was keen to point out that business leaders can harness the power of storytelling to motivate staff by engaging their emotions. In his opinion, the key to their hearts is the story.
McKee argues that storytelling is about persuasion and that almost every business activity revolves around influencing. For example, in the business context, this is influencing your clients to buy your company’s products or services. Likewise, your workforce and colleagues must be motivated to support your company’s vision, strategic plan or reorganisation. Also, investors must be influenced to believe in your passion and vision for your business before investing – whether those investors are family and friends early in the prototype stage, or are angels, venture capitalists, traditional banks or even the public via shares as you progress further in the business lifecycle.
However, despite knowing the critical importance of storytelling and persuasion, most executives need help communicating why their product or service matters. Instead, they get lost in the normalcy of traditional communication, using tools such as slide decks for visual appeal, or issuing important announcements via emails spammed through corporate communications. Their messages often fall flat even when they communicate through carefully researched channels.
For many leaders, tapping into emotion – the core of persuasion – can be challenging. Research has shown that great storytelling stimulates ‘oxytocin’, a natural drug the brain releases when we feel emotions such as empathy, compassion and trust. Importantly, oxytocin can be generated regardless of the medium in which the emotion is produced, such as print, digital or social media.
Therefore, the challenge for leaders is to tap into their emotional self, and then combine it with a traditional data-intensive delivery method.
Richard Branson says it best when he states, ‘Entrepreneurs who cannot tell a story will never be successful’. Persuasion is unifying an idea with an emotion. Telling a compelling story is the only way to achieve this; you share relevant information with the audience and stimulate their emotions and energy.
Pitching
In business, we can define several types of pitching, and each has a suite of benefits and particular challenges. You will transition using these different pitches throughout your entrepreneur and business journey – from pitching to friends and family for funding, to presenting to investors, and even presenting to a bank for a business loan. In the following sections, I detail two conventional pitch strategies that are typically used by leaders.
The elevator pitch
Every business leader has heard of the ‘elevator pitch’, but let’s start with its origins. Many theories exist on where the ‘elevator pitch’ originated; however, my favourite hails back to the 19th century, and an entrepreneur called Elisha Otis. Otis was a factory worker who could see the risk outweighing the convenience of the cable-run elevators that could be used to clear debris from higher floors. The problem was that the elevators in question were notoriously dangerous – the hoisting cables could fail, sending the elevators and the people in them plunging to the floor, seriously injuring (or killing) those inside. As a result, the elevators went underutilised. But being an entrepreneur, Otis recognised the problem – and the unique market opportunity it presented.
Otis created a solution to prevent elevators from free-falling by adding safety locks at each floor level. However, fear of death continued to surround elevators, so Otis held a public demonstration in New York City in 1853 to convince a highly sceptical public (and building managers) that elevators were safe. Standing inside the lifted-up custom-built elevator with safety locks visible so the audience could see his engineering prowess, he ordered the cable cut. Rather than fall to the ground, the elevator stopped mid-way due to the safety locks doing their job and holding fast. Otis safely exited the elevator to applause. In less than 30 seconds, Otis demonstrated the value of what he was selling – and the idea of the ‘elevator pitch’ was born. Otis then established the Otis Elevator Company, which now moves over two billion people daily.
In my experience, the elevator pitch is the most challenging for business leaders to master. However, if delivered with brevity, confidence and power, an elevator pitch will produce the desired outcome: to spark curiosity and encourage questions from your audience.
So, how do you create your 30-second elevator pitch? Of course, ample templates are available via the web, but these are not particularly helpful because they don’t teach leaders how to apply emotion and theory. So, the following is how I advise entrepreneurs to develop their elevator pitches. I ask them to place themselves in the following scenario:
The day has finally arrived. After waiting three months, today is the day you’re attending a conference to hear your business idol speak in person for the first time. This is your business hero/heroine. You’re their number one fan, having read every book and every article, and listened to every podcast they’ve been on. Whenever you’re having a business challenge, you think, What would [insert their name] do?
As always, you’re not left disappointed after their presentation. It was brilliant. And you can’t wait to share their wisdom with your team and followers on social media.
However, before the next speaker arrives at the podium, you need to return to your room on the 10th floor to collect a document for a colleague.
The elevator arrives, and you walk in, pressing #10. Just as the doors close, a hand juts out to open the doors. Guess who walks in? You guessed it – your business idol. And only the two of you are in the elevator. They press floor #7, then turn to you, look at your conference badge, and say with a smile, ‘Hi. So, what do you do?’
The lift starts moving from the ground floor to the seventh, giving you only 30 seconds. G … 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6 … 7. What do you say?’
I have worked with entrepreneurs to develop their elevator pitches using this method. I have seen how combining facts and emotions leads to curiosity and an invitation to a second meeting. Imagining your elevator pitch in this way helps you offer facts and capture emotion. How? First, every leader I have met has a ‘business idol’ they can place into the story. Second, they all attend conferences, so they relate to the idea of an elevator pitch in this situation. Finally, they can immediately imagine feeling overwhelmed when we discuss how it would feel if they shared an elevator with their idol. All of that is easy – the hard work starts when they start articulating their answer to the critical question, ‘So, what do you do?’
I encourage you to undertake this exercise to help you develop your elevator pitch – and then to practise this pitch often. This means you’re more likely to recall your pitch at that critical moment – because you never know whom you might run into, and where or when.
As an alternative, a colleague recently shared this approach to developing your pitch: practice delivering a concise version of the pitch by lighting a match and ensuring you finish before the flame reaches your fingers – keep trying until you get it right. This gives a sense of urgency to your practice.
The business pitch
A business pitch presents a business concept or idea to potential investors or prospects. It typically outlines a comprehensive overview of your business, its product or service, market analysis, financial projections, and a financing proposal. A business pitch is important because it offers a succinct and effective way to demonstrate your business’s potential, understand its customers and the market, and showcase your management team’s capability.
To uncover the essential element of converting an unemotional message to a persuasive story, you must get to the core of ‘why?’
The central tenet is that by asking ‘why?’ three times, you can identify your true purpose, which is embedded in the personal reason you started your business. You can describe the problem you experienced that affected you so profoundly and created such a solid internal resolve to fix it that you would spend every waking hour and your last cent to create a solution. Getting clear on this is what it takes for you as leader to understand and effectively communicate your true purpose.
Anyone who’s ever had any leadership training will have been encouraged to identify and communicate their purpose. As leader, and at all stages of the business lifecycle, this is an invaluable exercise that will stand you in good stead when it comes to the gentle art of persuasion, essentially through being able to authenticate your (or your company’s) story. The value of incorporating this purpose into a business pitch – where investors are looking for proof of your integrity as a prospective partner (beyond the dollars and cents) – is hard to quantify.
I suggest the following format to help tell your story when making a business pitch:
1. Start with a problem statement: What is the problem you are solving? This includes a straightforward statement capturing your ‘Why?’ Explain your purpose and how it motivates you and your team.
2. Follow with a solution statement: This statement should explain and demonstrate the need for your product or service and the impact it can have on customers’ lives. Where you can, include customer stories.
3. Offer the solution: Introduce your products by telling how you reached this point and how your team overcame obstacles to get here. Keep your explanation to a maximum of three bullet points.
4. Outline the opportunity: Refer to the total addressable market (TAM), serviceable addressable market (SAM) and share of market (SOM). Include current revenue and projected growth.
5. Provide competitor analysis and competitive advantage (UVP): Include industry awards, media mentions and other accolades. (Tip: Avoid making general and superlative statements such as ‘We are the only company in the world that does this.’)
6. Identify your traction: Use projected growth plans, current sales and key financials.
7. Provide your business model: Keep it simple. If the investor wants another meeting, they will drill further into this. If you’re pitching to a prospect, this is where you outline your pricing model.
8. Run through your team: Include your leadership team and advisors. Note: Investors like to see who is on your advisory committee or governance board, and some investors may require a seat.
9. Inspire with your vision: What are your plans? How do you intend to grow and scale your business? Provide a projected financial forecast for the next three to five years. For prospect pitching, share your vision as a partner.
10. Finish with the ask: This is different for an investor or prospect. For example, for investors, you ask for the capital you require. End with a clear ‘ask’ by explaining your business’s impact on the world and how an investor or prospect can participate in your journey.
Final thoughts on successful pitching
The elevator pitch and business pitch are highly complex tools for communicating with your audience and potential funders. They require a significant investment of time to perfect. Pitching itself requires a high degree of proficiency from you as the leader, but the following are additional tips to support the process:
• Engage an expert: As an entrepreneur, I recognise that I have no expertise in creating engaging presentations. So, once satisfied with my storyboard, I call in an expert with knowledge of the local language and culture to create the final product. Craft your story, edit and finesse it, and then allow a creative to design it in a medium that will capture the attention of your audience.
• Practise, practise and practise: Once your pitch is finished, now is the time to practise. BusinessWeek.com columnist Carmine Gallo revealed that Steve Jobs rehearsed the entire presentation for two full days before a presentation in front of product managers. His goal was to make the presentation the perfect embodiment of Apple’s message. Having confidence when delivering a presentation is essential for leaders, and the key to this is practice.
• Know your audience: I have often found that entrepreneurs pitching to an international audience misunderstand questions or feedback due to language differences. Ensure you listen to your audience’s feedback and, before you respond, clarify your understanding.
• Uncover what investors and prospects won’t tell you: When I listen to pitching from leaders, I am not only seeking compelling content, but also assessing the integrity of the presenter and determining if I have before me an individual representing a business I can invest with.
• Remember pitching requires grit: While practice makes perfect, pitching to an investor or prospect can require hundreds of presentations and refusals. Regardless of setbacks, determination and dedication to realising your goal are important qualities for any leader. The following case study will hopefully inspire you to continue sharing your entrepreneurial purpose and ambition to succeed.
This article is an edited extract from the book Decoding Global Growth: How successful companies scale internationallyby Trena Blair.
Trena Blair is the founder of FD Global Connections.
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