Stories, contrast and props. These three memory hooks can turn dreary and un-connectable sales pitches in to pitches that work, according to Mark Robotham of Brand Developers Limited (BDL). As General Manager of BDL’s Product Development and Quality team, Mark has years of commercial experience in the development and growth of new products and business ventures. I recently attended a commercialisation fundamentals workshop hosted by KiwiNet at the University of Waikato where he and Timothy Allan, (my boss from Locus Research) presented their views on what it takes to push your venture to the next level.
Marks’ presentation covered a range of commercial fundamentals invaluable to start-ups, research groups and entrepreneurs alike. Tim backed him up, further identifying key challenges while focusing on commercialisation from a product developer’s perspective. In my view, the most enlightening points presented by “NZ’s Tony Robbins” as Tim coined him, was the importance of an effective sales pitch and the key role of the lead entrepreneur.
The importance of an effective sales pitch may be obvious to some but can be difficult to perfect and execute for others. According to Mark, message impact has the greatest effect on the success of a sales pitch and is largely influenced by body language and voice. If this combination of body language and voice are executed well, observers are excited and interested in the pitch and are more likely to remember the presenter and/or product. After all, investment is made in people. Alongside these basic communication techniques lies stories, contrast and props. BDL, Oceania’s masters of televised infomercial shopping, know for a fact that these techniques work. Through metric analysis, BDL can assess the effectiveness of any one infomercial and adjust as required, allowing them to perfect their communication methods to boost message impact and reap the highest buy-in ratio possible.
Additionally, the presenter needs to have a thorough understanding of the product and management team, an energetic attitude and an almost delusional sense of optimism. This is the role of the lead entrepreneur. Mark emphasised the importance of such representatives for any growing venture and highlighted the increasing difficulty of finding suitable applicants. Not only does this person need to have the aforementioned attributes, but also needs to have a credible experiential background, the ability to work flexible hours and the willingness to do it all for an undeservedly modest salary. Somewhat understandably, there is a shortage of these people in NZ which Mark identified as a key challenge for start-ups. Perhaps this is an area where the government can provide assistance to boost innovation commercialisation in NZ?
For me, this workshop was entertaining and enlightening. I thoroughly recommend it to all in the process of commercialising their product or service. There will be a series of these workshops taking place throughout New Zealand in 2015. See the full innovation calendar here.
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