Pitching, what’s that about?

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I’m off this evening to do run my workshop on pitching and presenting, as part of Echo ++.

So this is not a shameless plug for my workshop.

The point of the workshop is to focus on being different, standing out and realising everything that we do is ‘pitching’.

What I mean by ‘pitching’ is marketing, and marketing is every single thing that we do in our business. The way we speak, how we answer the phone, our blogs, our social media, our website, our invoices and so on.

It is all about demonstrating our values, being different and articulating ‘why’ we do what we do.

It is not about manipulation and sales, unless all you want to do is build a business on short-term tactics, like price, and run the risk of being out-manipulated by others.

It is about inspiration and creating a situation where people want to be part of your journey and become evangelists for your business. They do it for themselves, as your ’cause’, your ‘movement’, your values, all resonate with them, and they want to be on-board.

Loyalty can’t be bought, it comes from something more meaningful than benefits, features, price and motivation.

It comes from creating our very best work, that is has story behind it, based on values, and is different from the bland mass market.

Ask

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We all have dreams and ambitions, things that are there, sometimes bubbling away under the surface.

We talk about them and we often sit day dreaming, imaging what that thing looks like, with a warm feeling inside and a buzz about it.

Then we realise that it seems a long way off, we realise that we haven’t started the process of creating it.

Then that good feeling turns to one of self-doubt.

The challenge often is we do not know where to start, we are overwhelmed by the elements that we have told ourselves that we can not do.

The answer is simple – ask.

Asking others is nowhere near as hard as we think, and others love to be asked their opinion.

If your dream or creation is inspiring enough and if you explain it to the right audience, then asking, will enlist the help of others, far more easily than you imagine right now sitting there thinking ‘how do I make this a reality’.

Do not let your dreams stay just a dream by not taking the opportunity to ask others for help.