When you are putting yourself in front of others and explaining what you do, there are five questions you should be prepared to answer. Whether you are selling your services, some specific product, or you are pitching your business idea, the objective is to to engage the audience and get them excited about what you are selling, about you, and have them take action. Everything else is accessory. These five questions are:
- Why this? – Why are you doing it? What problem does it solve? How is it different from anything similar. What are the benefits that anybody would get out of it?
- Why now? – Why is it relevant today? Why can’t it wait? Is the problem getting bigger as time passes? Is it going to be more expensive in the future? Are there any opportunities that the audience will miss out of if they don’t act now?
- Why you? – Who is the team? Why should the audience engage with you and not other person/organization that could do the same thing, today, for the same money? What makes you special or different?
- What are you asking for? – How much do you ask for? How much is the investment? What do they get in return?
- What for? – Why are you asking for what you are asking for? What are you going to use it for?
These questions are the same for a pitch deck, or if you are trying to sell something. The only difference may be #5, where a buyer doesn’t really care about what you’ll use the proceeds for, but more about what they will get out of the purchase. It is better to answer them before they ask. If they never do, you may have lost them already.