If you feel like you have a good script for your investor pitch, but investors just aren’t biting, it’s probably not what you’re saying, but how you’re saying it – how you’re delivering your pitch with your body, voice, and gestures.
If you want to increase the impact of your pitch and the potential for securing investment capital there are three things you can do today.
And the beauty of the three things I’m going to share with you is that they’re backed by research.
The first tip is to modulate your voice.
This means playing with pace and pitch, in particular. You know how roller coasters change speeds and climb and then drop, look for opportunities to do the same with your pitch. Speed up and slow down and play with the musicality of your voice.
That’s because we’ve all heard it’s not what you say, but how you say it.
According to new research from Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger and management professor Alex Van Zant at Rutgers Business School, speakers who modulate their voices appear more confident which makes them more likely to succeed in convincing their listeners to take action.
The second tip is to use more effective gestures.
Joep Cornelissen at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University ran a body language experiment.
He recorded an actor delivering four different investment pitches for a fictional product. Each recording focused on different body language. He then showed the recordings to real investors.
The videos where the actor used effective gestures accounted for a 12% increase in the likelihood of the investors being interested in the staged investments.
The third tip is to pitch with passion.
This may seem like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised how many pitches lack passion.
According to Scott McShane, professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve, pitching with passion can increase investor’s neural engagement by 39% and increase investor interest by 26%.
That’s because passion engages the investor’s brain and eliminates other distractions.
In a world where 99% of pitches fail, these three tips on how to deliver your pitch can help you cross the chasm from investor interest to investment.