Since the year 2020, we witnessed numerous changes in our life. The global pandemic altered almost everything. But the risk of the virus did not put a halt on anything. We have found alternatives for almost everything, including our professional lives. As the world is fighting the coronavirus with masks, social distancing, and lock downs, a lot of business activities have shifted to the digital arena.

In the per-covid scenario, we could not even imagine pitching our start-ups without meeting the investors in person. But today to ensure safety from the virus, pitching mostly happens virtually.

With new variants of the virus emerging, it does not seem things will be like the per-covid era anytime soon. So enhancing your pitching skills will prove immensely helpful for your startup.

I have mentioned some of my suggestions to make your best pitch via Zoom. Let’s dive into them.

Grabbing your investor’s attention is the key

Although engagement is important when you are pitching in person, this factor holds even more significance in the virtual mode. This is because sitting in front of the computer screens can seem monotonous and there are also several distractions like notifications or background disturbances. But do not worry! There are a few simple yet effective ways in which you can keep them engaged throughout the meeting.

Plan a few breaks in between: You do not want your pitch to sound like a long dull lecture right? This step will play a crucial role in ensuring that your pitch is interesting and conversational. Having a few breaks will give your investor the chance to participate in the conversation by asking you their queries.

Ask questions: Another way of keeping your investor in the conversation is to ask questions to them. Keep a set of questions handy and ask them when you get the appropriate moment.

Understand your investors: You should be able to understand when your investors are fully engaged in your pitch so that you can use those golden moments perfectly and make this pitch go in your favor. You can do so by telling them the most significant things about your startup at those moments.

Display a live demo: Keeping aside the drawbacks, pitching over Zoom has many benefits too. It enables you to showcase your product demo amazingly to your investors. This will surely increase the investors’ interest in your product.

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Apart from these things, as all the successful businessmen have reiterated, your tone will play a huge role in holding their attention.

Make sure that the technical things are right

In the virtual sphere, any malfunctioning can ruin your entire pitch, be it network issues or issues in your devices. So make sure that you have not one but two high-speed internet connections so that if one goes wrong, the other can make everything right. Also, check your devices like laptops, microphones, laptop cameras properly for any fault before the important day.

Don’t speak over others

When we are having an in-person pitch, it flows naturally. One of the drawbacks of the virtual setup is that we tend to unknowingly interrupt other people. To prevent this from happening, if you are pitching with other co-founders, make sure that you have planned out before who will be speaking when. And before unmuting yourself to speak wait for a few seconds to see if the person who was speaking earlier has nothing more to say. Trust me, a few pauses here and there are better than interruptions!

The significance of a professional background

Make sure that you are sitting in a well-lit room so that your face is visible to the investors. Making your background professional does not mean that you have to do something extraordinary with it. Just clean your background and keep it simple and nice as any unnecessary thing or clutter will distract the investors.

In the end

Pitching virtually can seem a bit daunting, but following these tips will certainly make things easier for you. And like the old maxim goes, ‘practice makes a person perfect’. Keep practicing your pitch multiple times with your friends over Zoom and take suggestions from them on how you can improve. This will help you give your best shot!

Also Read:-Significance of pre-planning in running business ventures

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Author-Achal Chaurasia

A young businessman who has been in the line of entrepreneurship for quite a few years. He is an active learner and loves to know more about new technological developments coming up as well as how they can be put to great use to yield better results for society.