The Seven Key Foundational Elements of the Perfect Pitch

Where we have intimate conversations with today's thought leaders, changemakers, and disruptors to bring you tools and strategies and insightful perspectives on, on both personal and professional growth, revealing both the humanness of success and challenge. For those that are new to the show, my name is Sally A. Curtis. I'm a content repurposing whiz, and we work with brilliant individuals, helping them to leverage their content content to engage their audience through the power of bite-sized visuals. We're best known for turning books into 2 years' worth of social media posts. We provide a done-for-you service that amplifies your impact because you are sought after, sold out, and become the obvious expert in your industry. And today we're going to be talking about the 7 key foundational principles of the perfect pitch. And I have a very, very special guest that I'm super excited to be sharing with you. So that, um, our guest today is Sarah Boulding, and she's known as the Perfect Pitch Guru. She's a professional speaking coach specializing in creating the perfect pitch. And with over 20 years of sales and marketing experience, Sarah knows that the power of that 30 to 40 second pitch has on your business, both generating leads, converting clients, as well as ultimately making money in your business. She works locally, globally, and of course nationally, turning everyday individuals into confident and clear pitch experts. Now the key is she's done this for herself after arriving in a country where no one knew her. So please help me welcome to the stage, Sarah.

Beautiful. Thank you so much, Sally, and thank you so much for having me on the show.

You're very, very welcome. As I said, it's a super important topic and I'm really, really excited to be sharing you, especially with your been there and done it experience that we were sharing previously. So I'd love you, if you may, just to expand on that little bit of backstory about you arriving in Australia.

Absolutely. So Sally, if you were with me end of November 2019, you would have seen myself, my husband, our 2 beautiful girls, arriving on a one-way ticket from South Africa and arriving at Sydney International Airport. And if you'd seen us walking through that day, you would've seen the 4 of us. We had 8 bags and a 6-string guitar. That was it. So the plan was this. The plan was simple. I was the sales and marketing director of our family-run business back in South Africa, had been involved since I was basically born almost. And I was able to run that from Australia. I had also been a professional speaker speaking on some of the largest stages alongside some of the greatest speakers on the African continent since 2010. So the idea was that I would relaunch my speaking career in Australia and speak on stages Australia-wide. Well, the world changed. Roll on March of 2020, and as I say, the world that we lived in changed so quickly and so dramatically. It was like, welcome to Australia, you are in lockdown. Now when I look at that, there were a few things. We had no friends, no family, and no home. Um, I looked at, you know, what am I going to do from a business point of view? Our business in Africa had gone into a lockdown as well, so that wasn't happening. Clearly, as a professional speaker, there were absolutely no gigs. In fact, the ones we had were being cancelled right, left, and center. And it was at that point where I went, I'm going to put everything that I love into a bucket and pull out the stuff that gets me excited. So what went into that bucket? Definitely training, coaching, and speaking. Those are the things that fire me up, really give my soul everything that it needs. From a business side, things like sales and marketing. Absolutely love sales and marketing. I've led successful teams. I have had to teach them how to present. And it was a matter of all of those skills coming together, which helped create a successful business in Africa that I would need to draw on again. Once we put all those things in the bucket and we pulled it out, funny enough, the perfect pitch was born.

Hmm.

Now, of course, that again sounds great and romantic, but there was another problem. I had no clients, no contacts, and no credibility. The reality is, Sally, nobody knew me. I was just a girl from Africa.

Yeah.

So when I look back over the last 3 and a half years, I am genuinely proud of what I've achieved. I have literally had to walk my walk and I've had to talk my talk to build the business to where it is today. And where is it today? I've had the opportunity of sharing my passion with thousands of business owners, not just locally but nationally and globally as well. I've built a successful business by literally doing the very thing that I teach and share with my own clients. So it's been a wild ride, but we got here and I love the place that I've found myself.

Yeah, beautiful. And I think that's so important to acknowledge and celebrate, you know, that, you know, standing start. And it's been, what, 3 and a half years through very, very turbulent times. And I really want to just emphasize that because that's the power of having the perfect pitch, the clarity and the confidence, which Sarah will be talking about to enable you to build a phenomenally phenomenal business. It's a lifestyle business that you love in a really, really short time through turbulent, through turbulent times as well. So well done to you, very, very much worth celebrating. Thank you for sharing it with us too, more importantly. So I'd love to ask you, why do people fear that question, what do you do, so much?

There's a couple of reasons. The first thing is when you consider yourself as your listeners, when you consider yourself, do you consider yourself as an expert in your industry? And most of the time the answer will hopefully be absolutely. You're good at what you do. You know what you do. You change lives through what you do. However, when you answer that question, often you know that you don't come across as the confident and the competent expert that you are. that results in a bunch of things. You either say too much where the person who asked goes,

guilty,

please just stop, or you say too little, which leaves that potential prospect going, you know, do I ask more? And, you know, am I supposed to know this stuff? So what tends to happen is awkwardness. Basically, it comes down to 3 things when you deliver a pitch. There are 3 things that you want. And these are the 3 things that you ultimately want to find in your pitches. Number one is clarity in your message. This gives you confidence to actually deliver that. And then of course, the ability to connect with your ideal client.

Yeah, yeah, lovely. And on that note of, you know, connecting with your ideal client and your audience and feeling comfortable, I'm going to ask the question as it relates to the old— I'm going to Is the elevator pitch now outdated? Because that's sort of what you've shared feels different to when someone says, I'll just do your elevator pitch, which sort of has that sort of pinky feeling to it.

Oh, I love that question, Sally. So when I think of the word elevator pitch, the word elevator pitch to me is a very antiquated and outdated phrase. The concept of the elevator pitch is probably more relevant today than it's ever been. So if we think of the word elevator pitch, I mean, we all know what that is. Yes. Here's the reality. If you step into an elevator and the door closes and you literally vomit your pitch on the poor soul in front of you, they're gonna hit the button for the next floor, they are gonna get out, and they're gonna run. And if it's ever happened to you, you've hit the button for the next floor, you've got out, and you've run for your life. So When we talk about the perfect pitch, the perfect pitch is about connecting with the right person at the right time. When is the right time? The right time could be when someone literally asks you and invites you to share what you do. And another right time could be, for example, in a networking event. And that networking event may be an unstructured networking event where it's pretty casual. Maybe it's sort of like a speed networking type of feeling. Mm-hmm. or it could be a very structured networking environment where you literally know you're gonna stand up and you're gonna deliver a 30 or 40-second pitch. And again, that pitch may be 30 or 40 seconds, or I believe in the USA they do longer ones that may be a 2-minute pitch, but you know what's coming.

Coming, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I, no, sorry, keep going.

I was gonna say, so, and the idea of the elevator pitch or the perfect pitch is not about making the sale. It's not about holding you up against the wall and going, buy now and you get 6 free steak knives.

Yeah.

That's not the point of the pitch. The pitch leads to what I call meaningful conversations. And the meaningful conversations, that's actually where the magic happens. That's where you get to really delve down and, and see, can you help this individual? Um, can you connect and collaborate and conquer with them? Are they a person who aligns with what you're doing? Because as business owners, we do want to align with the right clients as well. It's important.

Yeah, very much so. And I really, um, you can— when you're describing the difference, when you're coming from that connection perspective, it absolutely feels very different. It resonates differently. And I think that's where we have fear around doing it, doing a pitch, even if regardless of the name you put in front of it, we, we feel uncomfortable about a pitch because we're jumping on somebody to sell them versus actually having a really almost intimate, uh, connected conversation, by the sounds of things.

Yeah, 100%.

So I'd love you to share with us your 7 principles for the perfect pitch, just so we can dive deeper into some of these principles.

Let's go. Okay, so I know, Sally, you very kindly put a link into the rolling bar and that will lead you to the pitch worksheet, which is the Perfect Pitch Blueprint. If you have got it, great. If you do not, do not fret. Grab a pen, grab a paper, and let's get doing. Yes. The reality is this: if you grab your pen, grab your paper, we work through those 7 key foundational elements, you will leave with the start of your very next pitch today. So, let's get started. It's all about being action-packed and solutions-focused and not stuck. driven. Okay, so number 1, nice and easy. We start you off slow. The first thing that we want is your name. And as I go through this, Sally, I'm going to share my pitch so that your listeners can see how that pitch actually builds. So number 1 is your name. Now, Sally, in a social environment, you would generally use your first name.

Mm-hmm.

If you're at a barbecue or a really relaxed environment, because you'd sound a bit weird if you said, my name is Sarah Bowling. They'd be like, oh, she's no fun. So in a social environment, you may use your first name. In a business environment, I always recommend that you use your first name and your last name, your first name and your surname. And the reason for that is I am one in a million, and I repeat that. I am literally one in a million. There are millions of Sarahs out there. So when you're giving your first name and your last name, It means that people can connect with you. It's easier to connect with you through socials, LinkedIn, etc. So mine would be, my name is Sarah Bowling. Tick. Number 1. Done.

Woohoo!

Done. We're 1/7 of the way through and you see how great you're doing. Okay, number 2 is what you do. Now, when it comes to what you do, there are a couple of options here. For example, if I stood up and said, my name is Sarah Bowling and I am the CEO of Bowling Enterprises, the thought going through your head right now is probably, what the heck is Bowling Enterprises? How does it relate to me? And why am I even interested in what this woman has to say? So your company name, if it does not directly relate to what you do, In other words, my name is Sarah and I'm from Sarah's Plumbing. Everybody knows what a plumber is. If it does not directly relate to what you do, you want to share what you do. So mine, as an example, could be a number of things, but it would be, my name is Sarah Bowling and I work with business owners to create, craft, and deliver your perfect pitch.

And I noticed the difference in my body language there. It was when you were talking about being the CEO, I sort of went like this. And when you said the other, I went like this. marginally, but there was a difference.

Yeah, 100%. So we really want to be clear, what do you do? Because a name is, you know, unless it's a massive name, like a global name, people don't know what Bowling Enterprises is. It means the only, the only person it means anything to is the person paying the bill because that's the invoice name. Okay, so my name is Sarah Bowling. I work with you to create, craft, and deliver your perfect pitch. Right, then we are going to jump into element number 3. And in element number 3, we talk about the pain points or the struggle. And these are the struggles that your customers have. So a couple of thoughts may be going through your head. There are so many, where do I begin? So here is the deal. You always want to be very intentional when you are pitching, very intentional when you are delivering your perfect pitch. So, if it is, if you are not sure who you are speaking to, you may go quite general. If you are really sure who you are speaking to and you know exactly what their pain points are, that is the opportunity to actually dive in right there. So, as an example, things to consider on this.

It

needs to be relevant, and that relevance could be, it could be relevant to the person if you know who they are or have an idea. It needs to be relevant to their industry. Again, if you know or you have an idea. And it needs to be relevant timing-wise. So, an example of that is if you look at bookkeepers in Australia, and I only speak for that, um, in this, the USA will have their bits.

Yeah.

There is no point in talking about the fringe benefits of a Christmas party in February because that Christmas party, my friends, is still 9 to 10 months away. They are not thinking of their Christmas party. They are thinking of their year-end, which is probably 3 or 4 months down the track. So again, if we're going to talk fringe benefits, that's a great pitch in October.

Yeah.

If we're talking about the month of love and February, there's no point in giving that pitch in August. Okay, we've got a long time, and unless your man needs a lot of notice. So you want to make it relevant to your audience, relevant to your your, um, the industry that they're in and relevant to the timing. So again, if you're not sure, because sometimes we're faced with people we don't know, we have no clue who they are, where they're from, you can go for really general pain points. How do you figure out what they are? We use our ears. What are our customers currently asking for? What are our current customers needing? Yeah. What are the things that people are emailing you, messaging you, saying to you? What, what is their need and their pain? So as an example, mine would be— and you could phrase it as a question— so mine would be, have you ever delivered your pitch and afterwards thought of all the things you could have, you should have, and you would have said if you had just been prepared?

Great question.

That is a great, um, that is a great client for me. So I'm very specific in what I'm looking for because someone who doesn't feel that is probably not in need of what I do. But when I ask the question, it also makes them think, is there someone else who feels like that? So you can phrase your pain as a question, um, and you want to keep it quite short. I mean, I know we're really going Debbie Downer here right from the beginning, talking about the things that, that hurt them, but we need to, we need to highlight it straight

away.

Right. That's element number 3. Element number 4 is the solution. I want to make a note on this. This element is said mid-sentence. So often when I've delivered this presentation, people say, what was element number 4 again? It is said mid-sentence.

This

is the solution, and that solution could be a product, it could be a service, um, it could be a course if you're a coach, as an example. It could be a course that you offer or a program. So mine would be, through the Perfect Pitch Academy, you will— you can hear verbally I have not finished that sentence, and I finished it off with the words you will.

Yeah.

That could be by engaging with Hooty Tooty's Plumbing, you will. So you always want to get that you will in there. Okay, and I'm going to run the pitch from the beginning so you can see how this is building. So My name is Sarah Bowling. I work with you to create, craft, and deliver your perfect pitch. Have you ever delivered your pitch and afterwards thought of all the things you could have, you should have, and you would have said if you had just been prepared? Through the perfect pitch, you will. That was number 4. Through the perfect pitch, you will. Then we move into the gain or into the benefit.

Yeah.

Now, the benefits, generally speaking, will be the polar opposite of the pain, or very closely aligned to what they're going to get once they have engaged with your services. So I'm going to digress slightly. There's no point in saying, you know, from a bookkeeper, are all of your wages, etc., up to date? By dealing with, you know, Joe's bookkeeping, we'll have your fringe benefits in order. What? Where did we go from wages to fringe benefits? So again, we've got to keep it intentional.

Yeah.

So mine would be, through the Perfect Pitch Academy, you will— here comes my number 5— be in a position to deliver your pitch with confidence and clarity to anyone, anywhere, anytime. So it is a definite benefit. It is very clear what they are gonna get. when they finish working with me.

May I just add to that? That's, um, so this is really aligning. That's what, as you said, what's in it for me. And to me, that's— I suspect that's the bit that's often missed or skipped over really quickly.

Yes.

Am I right?

100%. And it's, it's an interesting thing. You know, people are out there going, you know, people are arrogant and people are this and people are that. I actually often find people are quite they have a lot of humility. They're quite humble, actually. And they almost, they almost feel bad selling themselves.

And

the reality is, whether you're running a service, a product, you know, have a product, a program, whatever it is that you're doing, ultimately you are changing lives. And we need to let people know what that is. Because why? You're good at what you do. So highlight that game. Let people know. And they might go, hmm, I don't need that. Good. That's okay. That means that you're not my client and it's okay. It's not a, it's not an insult. You know, if someone said, hey, you know, I can get you a car. The reality is I don't need one. I got one. Perfect.

Yeah.

Um, and it's just about being able to say, I'm confident in the benefits. I'm confident in the outcome. And if that resonates with that person, guess what you just found? Yeah, gentlemen, you just got your next client.

It's a really elegant way to— I'm going to use the word sort, but it's— say, as a salesperson, I remember years and years ago, you get so stuck on the maybes, whereas this is actually sort of mitigating the maybes. If they are either right or they're not, or the timing's not right for them, or they're not ready yet, those sorts of things. So it actually enables you to save a lot of time and be much more intentional with not only your time but Yours and potential clients' outcomes as well.

100%. And if your gains are— I know we're going down a rabbit hole here, but let's go, let's go there. If that client is not ready for you right now, I mean, I wish I could confidently say every person I speak to just signs up. You know, the reality is not everyone's ready for me right now. It may be timing, it may be money, it might maybe that they have, you know, they've got other resources that they need to, to work on. But the bottom line is when your benefit is really clear, when they are ready, they reach back.

Yeah, they remember because of the clarity. Yeah.

Now when we talk about, um, the elements 3, 4, and 5, so the, the pain, the solution, and the gain, an interesting thing happens psychologically for people. So we hear the pain and we think, oh my golly, that is so me, I'm so desperate, I feel so Frantic and frustrated, and she's actually saying it.

Yeah,

on the solution, the thought that goes through, through the prospect's head is, okay, I almost feel like there is actually a solution to this problem. And when you say what the result is, you're taking them to where you want them to be.

Yeah.

And they go, okay, I've got the pain. The good news is there's a solution. The better news is the solution is going to give me what I want. So there's a, there's a really nice, there's really nice stuff that happens in the head of the prospect.

Yeah.

Around those elements.

Yeah.

Okay, let's jump into element number 6. So for the very first time, we're going to talk about you and your credibility.

In

fact, have you ever heard someone, they give a pitch and they go, my name is Sarah Bowling and I've done ABC and XYZ and I'm so good and I'm amazing, and you sit there going, This person is an I specialist. It is I, I, I, me, me, me. And again, the reality is I want to know what is in it for me. For the very first time, element number 6 is where we give our credibility statement. Why you? What makes you different? And again, we can look at a number of things. Now, remember, this is not a thesis. So, this is a one-line credibility statement. And that credibility statement can be built around a number of things. It could be the number of years that you've been in business. It could be the number of members you have on your team. It could be your qualifications.

It

could be the things that you offer that are different that no one else offers. If you're a new business, and this is a question I'm often asked, is,

you

know, I'm a new business, do I say, you know, I've been in business for 6 months? That's probably not the strongest credibility statement. So, how do we, how do we weigh that out? I would generally encourage people, you know, ask the question, are you passionate about what you do? And to be honest, most people are passionate. Our passion is what drives us, particularly as small business owners. Now, passion is something that you can talk about in the why you. Why? Because people do business with people.

Mm-hmm.

People want to do business with people who are passionate about what they do. So again, if passion and the love for what you do is your unique selling point, is your why, you use that as your credibility statement.

Yeah.

So my credibility statement would be, with over 20 years of sales and marketing experience, I understand the power of the pitch. So there I've spoken about my past, I've spoken about 20 years, I've spoken about sales and marketing director, It doesn't come across as the me, me, me. All I'm saying in that is I know the power of it. I've witnessed it.

Yeah.

Okay, I'm gonna go through the pitch again because I want, I want your listeners to, to run through these, make sure that they're on track as we go through. So number 1, my name is Sarah Bowling. Number 2, I work with you to create, craft, and deliver your perfect pitch. Number 3, have you ever delivered your pitch and afterwards Thought of all the things you could have, you should have, and you would have said if you had just been prepared. Remember, number 4 is mid-sentence. Through the Perfect Pitch Academy, you will— Number 5. Be in a position to deliver your pitch with confidence and clarity to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Credibility statement. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience, I understand the power of The pitch. We now move into element number seven, the final element. When I first arrived in Australia and taught this, they all went, "No, we don't do it like that in Australia." I said, "You don't

do it?"

Yes, we don't. We don't do an invite to engage. We don't do the sales call. I was like, "No, no, no. The call to action, invite to engage, is not a selling point. Remember, we want to go to meaningful." Conversations. I don't want you to buy after I've delivered one pitch. So invite to engage is exactly that, inviting them to reach out to you. And your invite to engage can be many things. Mine would be, if you are curious to learn more, I invite you to reach out and engage with me. In other words, hey, if you're interested, I'm open to the conversation. I use the word learn because I am in a teaching space, and it's a word that I like.

Yeah.

I also use the word engage, and I know that the word engage is about a million years old, but it's a word that I really love. So again, if engage is not your word, don't use it. That action could be, if this is something that resonates with you, let's have a chat. If you know someone that I can help, I'd love an introduction. Like to find out more? Why don't we jump on a Zoom or have a coffee or Meet for lunch. So the invite to engage wraps your pitch up in a way that brings it together and says, hey, I'm open to taking this conversation further.

Exactly.

And Sally, that is it, your 7 key elements. So number 1 is your name. Number 2 is what do you do. Number 3 are your pain points. Number 4 is your solution, said mid-sentence with you will, leading into number 5, which is the gain and the benefits. Number 6 is why you, your credibility statement. And number 7, your invite to engage. All of that comes together and you've got the perfect pitch.

Brilliant, thank you. Now something's come up for me there because I loved how you really shared how you utilize words that really feel right for you, words that you love, like the learn and the engage. And that sort of brings an important point about finding the right words that are resonant with you, that are the essence of you. And that brings me to the thinking that if we've got the adaptability and the flexibility to tweak and have a variety of different call to actions depending on the scenario, that then makes me think, is there different types of pitches? Obviously, the formula is going to be the same. Can you talk to us a little bit about the different types of pitches that there are and obviously how we can expand or shrink the formula that you've shared with us today?

Okay, perfect. So there's almost, there's almost 2 questions in that one, Sally. So I'm going to start with the first one is, you know, do you need different pitches and do different pitches resonate with different people? Absolutely. So when we look in the world that we live in, we look at the different types of people that we come across. And in essence, they can be put into, we'll call it 4 categories, right? The first are people who learn or who who resonate through visual cues. We've then got those that resonate through auditory or hearing things. We get the kinesthetic folk who are all about the feeling and doing. And then of course you've got your auditory digital as well. So we've got 4 different types of people in the world. I'm speaking very broadly here for, you know, for broad types of people. So as an example, you could do a pitch where you've got a prop. as an example, and you can use a prop to, to basically make a point. That prop would really resonate well with someone who is a visual learner. You may have a pitch where you literally say, I would like you to grab a pen and write down the 3 last things you, you ate for breakfast, or the 3 things you ate for breakfast. Your kinesthetic people are gonna be like, I have got a pen, I am ready to go. This is the coolest thing. I am doing an activity. So, you can bring activities into your pitches as well. It needs to be quite strategic from a timing point of view. There are also folk who really just want the facts. You know, give me a case study, give me an example. So, when it comes to pitching, I have got, oh my gosh, there are so many types of pitches. I have got prop pitches, we have got pitch— oh, one of my favourites is actually pitches that inspire. actually start that pitch off with a beautiful inspirational quote. One of the ones I use often is Dr. Seuss. I love Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss said, why fit in when we were born to stand out? I would use that as a preface for a pitch and launch into the pitch of, you know, how you can be different. So, again, there are so many types of pitches and We want to use a broad range of those. Another nice easy pitch is a pitch to educate, you know, give them, give them something they go, wow, that was valuable.

Yes, yes.

So that was the first question, which I hope I've answered for you, Sally. The second question on that one that came to me is, how do we make it longer and how do we make it shorter? And I think the USA and Australia are a great example of that. In pitching in Australia, we are generally happy with a sort of 30 to 40-second pitch that kind of works in a networking environment, structured environment, that is sort of what we ask for.

Yeah.

Obviously, in the USA, where you are saying, you know, they need a 2-minute pitch, suddenly we need to fill that time with stuff. So, in a shorter pitch, you may have a pitch that really cuts out some of the words. We still want to have the pain, the pain, the solution and the benefits around that. Credibility statement may be a little shorter, your call to action may be a bit shorter, but you want to make sure that you stay within that time limit. How do you do that? Practice it in time. And where you need to make it longer, you may recall a little earlier in our conversation where I said, you know, you may know the person or know their industry, When you are in a, in a longer environment, you may literally say, hey, before I start, what industry are you in? Ah, health and wellness. Okay, good. And you now know, and remember, you're the expert.

Yeah.

You're the expert, so you can dig down into this stuff really quickly. When you're talking about the pain, you may, you may, you know, really veer into the pains that the health industry may have around whatever it is that you do. So again, You would add a little bit more. However, it is interesting, if you give people 2 minutes, they seem to go longer because they think they have more time. So always be cognizant, always be aware of how much time do I have. You want a nice clear message, set your confidence, you want to connect so that why you can have those beautiful conversations.

Yeah, perfect. And there was a word that you said in there that I am going to ask you to to expand on, and that was practice. Yes, there's a Sally and Sarah nag coming in

here. So when we talk about practicing, and this is something that I offer in my academy, Sally, I know we'll touch on that a little, a little later. A key element of the academy that I run is once a week all of my members actually come into what I call a practice your pitch session. Guess what we do? Practice your pitch. And they roll in, they go, right, this is the pitch I'm currently working on, and they go through it. Now, there is a lot of magic in that room because obviously I give feedback as the, as the trainer in that room, but they get feedback from other people in that room. Now, when you are getting feedback from a prospect, a prospect will tell you, you are awesome, that was amazing. A peer will always give you honest Honest

feedback, yes.

Feedback comes in different ways. That feedback could be, I have no idea what you just said or what you do. Now, the value in that is huge because imagine you just delivering that pitch to all and sundry, hoping— hope is not a strategy— hoping that it's sitting and someone actually honestly says, I have no idea what you do. There's value in that. We get the sort of feedback could be, You're speaking too quickly. Oh, I didn't realize that. Or you're speaking too slowly. Oh, I didn't realize that. So when you get that feedback, your delivery gets better, number one. And in a group, you have more than one brain, which means someone might say, you used this word, but it made me think of that word, and I think that word is stronger. Ah, brilliant.

Wow. Yes.

I'm searching for a word that starts with F. You know, I've looked at frantic, I've looked at frenzied. What's another F word? I really wanna, you know, get this going. Someone in that group will go, oh, fabulous. Oh, great, done. So the practice sessions allow you to get valuable feedback, number one, as well as get ideas and inspiration. So what I find in the Academy is someone will go, oh, I didn't think of that word, but that's made me think of a different pitch.

Yeah.

And that pitch may be a pitch that, again, we go back to those different types of people, they go, I didn't think of that because that actually is a really nice visual pitch.

Yes, yes. And it just helps them deliver better to a broader audience and create greater outcomes for themselves.

Yeah, a little, you know, the chunks, some of my chunks which I've said today is anyone, anywhere, anytime. Those have been developed over time. So when I have, I've got the verbiage, it's really, really easy for me to just to say it. Yeah.

On that note too, of everyday and those lines, to me, they're everyday words as well. And I think as experts, when we get so involved in the work that we do and creating our pitch, we almost use too— I'm going to use the word— too clever words that we know really well and we understand them. But as you said, the audience, it doesn't land as well as it needs to. And the What I've noticed through your craftsmanship is everything is really easy everyday language, and I think that's probably something that's an innate gift for you, but it's something that other people probably struggle with a bit. And where that group comes together, you would really get that feedback, like, you know, I don't get that word, you know.

Even the use of acronyms, people often use acronyms, and, you know, the word ATO means one thing in South Africa, it means another thing in Australia, and I'm sure short means something else than in, in the USA. So acronyms can be very— because then people get stuck on the acronym trying to figure out what it is.

Yeah,

ATO is Australian Tax Office for those in the USA, and ATO in South Africa is, um, the Airline Training Operations.

So

it all means different things, but people get stuck on acronyms.

And we use acronyms way too much. I had a conversation, it was just a coffee conversation with somebody a couple of days ago and they were talking in all of the acronyms in their industry and I was trying to, I couldn't even write them down because I couldn't, they were saying the acronyms so quickly I couldn't actually work out what the letters were to then work out what I needed to Google later and those sorts of things. So yeah, removing those would make a massive difference to clarity I would imagine as well.

Keep it super simple.

Yeah,

super simple. At the end of the day we're not pitching to show how smart we are,

Yes.

Um, you know, it's, it's a, it's actually a— sounds crazy— it's a serving space. We see it as a selling space, but it's actually a serving space. You know, this is what I do, this is the difference I make. If that's something that can help you and help your business, would love to— I'd love to bring you into my world and help you. I mean, sure, money changes hands, but there's got to be, there's got to be the serving before people actually splash out the cash.

Such a beautiful, um, explanation of the essence of the intent and the, the energy behind that. That's absolutely gorgeous. Can I ask you to share a little bit with how people can actually, uh, connect with you? I'm going to pop the QR code up. If you can just expand a little bit on that, that would be amazing.

Absolutely. So there are a couple of ways to connect with me. I run a webinar every sec— twice a week called the Power Pact Perfect Pitch. The QR code is on the screen as well, and I believe that it will be in the chat. Thank you so much, Sally. That is a 90-minute webinar. It is filled with tips, tools, and techniques that you can apply in your pitch. There is— it is jam-packed with ideas. So jump onto that, register for it, find a time that works for you, jump into that webinar, have a pen and paper. Again, it is all about taking stuff away with you. And of course, um, reach out to me. I believe my contact details will be shared as well, so you're welcome to drop me an email. If you are based in, in Australia, you— or America, if you'd like to phone, you can call me as well. But please reach out and let's have the chat. Let's see where you are, where you need to go, and how I can actually help you get there.

Beautiful. You know, I ask you to do your pitch in its entirety, please, one more time.

I'd love to. My name is Sarah Bowling. I work with you to create, craft, and deliver your perfect pitch. Have you ever delivered your pitch and afterwards thought of all the things you could have, you should have, and you would have said if you had just been prepared? Through the Perfect Pitch Academy, you'll be in a position to deliver your pitch with confidence and clarity to anyone, anywhere, anytime. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience, I understand the power of the pitch. If you're keen to learn more, I invite you to reach out and engage with me.

Brilliant, thank you very much. Beautiful. Couple, couple of questions as we, um, move towards the end of the show. I'd love for you to share a little bit of how you best find and keep that connection with your audience.

Okay. So although the, the world changed in 2020, in many ways it was to my business's advantage. In a personal sense, it absolutely was not. But in a business sense, because we went online, I was able to reach markets that I had never reached before. form. I belong to an international networking organization, and through that I made sure that I connected with those members worldwide. I took advantage of the online space. For me, once I'm in those networking rooms, I find people I want to connect with and I actually reach out to them. Otherwise, you're just a square on the screen. And I would— I had loads and loads of that. I like lived on Zoom during the pandemic, but I connected with people. That's certainly one level of connection that we were forced, our hands were forced. Yeah. If you had to ask me what really fires me up, it's actual live networking events. It's actually meeting people. It's actually feeling, you know, being able to give them a hug or a handshake and being able to connect and, you know, cheers a drink and share a meal and get to know them more intimately. The clients that move into my academy, you know, I don't just have people in my academy that I don't know. And even folk who are based, um, you know, in, in the States, who are based in Africa, those clients, I still get to know them and take the time to connect with them. Yeah. Because I know that people come to me because they want the change. They find a lot of love in our community of the tribe of the Bitch Academy. And there's just so much good stuff that happens there. For me, it's about people. Ultimately, I could, you know, I can just teach it and move on, but I want to connect not with my— only with my prospects. I want to connect deeply with my customers. They mean something to me.

Yeah. And I think that's been incredibly evident through the conversation that we've had today, that the level of care and contribution that you have for within your community. So thank you. And another, another thing to acknowledge and celebrate. So thank you.

Thank you, Sally.

Yeah. One last question. I know you mentioned Dr. Seuss before as one of your— as a quote. Do you actually have a favorite quote or one-liner other than that?

I've got my own. I take your pitch from blah to brilliant.

Love it. Thank you. Yeah. Brilliant. Absolutely love that. So any closing words, any last thoughts, anything else you would like to share with the audience or invite the audience over to you for the closing element?

So first and foremost, Sally, thank you to you for having me on the show. A big thank you to the listeners for tuning in. I hope that you've got your pitch written down and ready to roll. Obviously would love you to jump onto the Power Pack Perfect Pitch. There's so much value in there. And if you'd like to have a conversation, connect with me. We can connect on Zoom if you are offshore. And let's have a conversation. Let's connect. Let's see how I can potentially help you. As you go out into the world and pitch, remember that you are the, you are the expert in what you do. You change lives, whether it's products or services or program, whatever it is. You change lives and your pitch allows people to become part of your world so that you can actually impact them positively.

Yeah, brilliant. Thank you. Beautiful closing sentiment. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. You've expressed the significance and the impact and how people are the people that are going to create the change in the world through serving of others. And I don't think there's been a greater demonstration than what we've had with you today. So thank you very, very, very much.

Thank you, Sally.

Thank you. So for everybody, there's lots of assets for you. You know, Sally's got a bossy streak and likes to nag and likes to make sure that we're making some action forward. So through both the link and Get Talk, you'll be able to find the link as well as the worksheet. So you've got some opportunities to tweak and improve your pitch from there. So thank you very, very much. Do reach out to Sarah. It's been an absolute pleasure, and we will look forward to seeing you again on another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. Till then, have a great week. Take care. Bye.