Polish My Pitch Podcast with Chala Dincoy: Recent Episodes
Chala Dincoy
Welcome to the Polish My Pitch Podcast. I’m Chala Dincoy and after being pitched endlessly by vendors for 20 years while I worked for giant companies like Pepsi, Pizza Hut and Frito Lay, I learned a thing or two. Now I teach businesses how to pitch and I’m going to change the world, one elevator pitch at a time.
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Steve Edwards
Steve Edwards is the founder of Premier Virtual, a platform that allows organizations to host a job fair or career hiring event entirely online. Steve explains that even before the pandemic, he felt that many companies could be more efficient if they met with potential candidates online rather than at a career fair.
In this episode of Naked Marketing, we talked about how becoming virtual is not always the best idea for your company. While online job fairs can offer you great ROI, online trade fairs, on the other hand, can become trickier.
Not everyone wants to listen to someone online or may become distracted by something happening off-screen. To keep your audience always engaged over Zoom or other online meeting platforms, you need to be talking about something that truly interests them.
Knowing who you are talking to and what you are selling are key aspects of creating an effective marketing strategy. You should also be very honest with yourself about what your product can offer your target audience.
Steve’s Top Suggestions On How To Avoid Makings Mistakes
- Know who your audience is and what you’re selling – Virtual trade shows may not be for everyone. Know what it is you’re selling and who you are selling to. Is your target market more mature? Do they want a face-to-face connection before purchasing your product? Don’t jump into virtual services if they are not aligned with your company’s goals and target market.
- Experience is priceless – Attending an actual live trade show or job fair can help you see how your competitors operate their booths. It is possible that during a live show, you won’t get an actual ROI, but the experience you will gain is priceless.
- Do market research – Always research on the latest news about your specific product or service. Specifically for companies looking to hire new talent, know what it is that new employees are looking for and adopt your marketing strategy to be more attractive to them.
*Connect With Steve Edwards*
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About Your Host: Chala Dincoy
Chala Dincoy is the CEO and Founder of The Repositioning Expert (division of Coachtactics), www.repositioner.com. She’s a Marketing Strategist who helps B2B service providers reposition their marketing message to successfully sell to corporate clients.
In her former life, Chala was an award winning marketer at companies such as Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Frito Lay, Diageo, Playtex and BIC Inc for 18 years. Now she’s a successful entrepreneur, and the author of 4 books including Gentle Marketing: A Gentle Way to Attract Loads of Clients. Chala’s also an expert featured on major television networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, as well as a frequent speaker at Nasdaq, Harvard Club of Boston and International Business Conferences.
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Desi Bolin
Desi Bolin, the founder of Virtually Sourced, is a great example of why niche-ing is not the only way to differentiate yourself. The strategic virtual assistant (SVA) company offers a variety of services that extend far beyond traditional VA work and works with any industry for their organizational needs.
Desi provides value to her clients by lifting the weight off their shoulders in terms of administrative work and also helping them assess their “net promoter score” – a measurement that determines how likely a customer would be to recommend the company to other people. This allows executives to see their general reputation and then create strategies to address any lacking area in their organization.
She goes on to say that her biggest marketing mistake was not staying in front of her target audience. In the hullabaloo of everyday life and the changing business landscape, she forgot that one of the reasons for her success was her relationship with her clients. By becoming less visible, she was inadvertently affecting her sales.
Desi ends by saying that for customer-focused industries, such as virtual assistants, it is important that you are always visible to your clients.
Desi’s Top Suggestions On How To Avoid Makings Mistakes
- Cultivate relationship with your potential clients – Never think about the “sale” as the end goal. Your relationship with your clients should start before they buy anything from you. And even if they don’t, leave a good impression so that they will always have good thoughts about you and potentially become brand ambassadors.
- Keep questioning – Don’t place yourself in a box, thinking that you are only good at X, Y, or Z. Keep learning and questioning what else you can provide your clients so that you become a valuable asset to them.
- Be imaginative – Sometimes, the best way to know which direction you should go to is to ask yourself, “what problems do I have that I want to fix?” Keep an open mind and build your product or service based on what you want to deliver.
*Connect With Desi Bolin*
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I invite you to be my next guest! Complete the application now.
APPLY HERE#B2BSelling #B2BSales #MarketingMistakes #ChalaDincoy #Podcast #ElevatorPitch #NakedMarketing
About Your Host: Chala Dincoy
Chala Dincoy is the CEO and Founder of The Repositioning Expert (division of Coachtactics), www.repositioner.com. She’s a Marketing Strategist who helps B2B service providers reposition their marketing message to successfully sell to corporate clients.
In her former life, Chala was an award winning marketer at companies such as Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Frito Lay, Diageo, Playtex and BIC Inc for 18 years. Now she’s a successful entrepreneur, and the author of 4 books including Gentle Marketing: A Gentle Way to Attract Loads of Clients. Chala’s also an expert featured on major television networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, as well as a frequent speaker at Nasdaq, Harvard Club of Boston and International Business Conferences.
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Jennifer Helene
It was such a breath of fresh air to speak with Jennifer Helene in this episode of Naked Marketing. Her skin was simply glowing and I couldn’t help but remark how luminous she was! Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence I mentioned it, as Jennifer is a health and wellness coach, especially for women over 40 who are struggling to balance their personal and professional lives.
What struck me the most was how passionate Jennifer was. She explains that women, especially older ones, are placed under so much pressure to be “perfect” – the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect employee or boss. Everything accumulates and simmers until a woman finds herself exhausted and overwhelmed.
Jennifer helps women reclaim the health aspect of their lives and gives them back their confidence by introducing a practical and realistic nutrition program.
In this episode, Jennifer explains that even though she’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit, she spent so much money, time, and effort hiring people who didn’t fully grasp her vision.
Jennifer’s Top Suggestions On How To Avoid Makings Mistakes
- You don’t know what you don’t know – Beginner entrepreneurs, especially, can suffer from “shiny object” syndrome and hire a third-party professional or company to boost their marketing campaigns. However, it is so important that you know first what your overall goal is so that you can align with your employees. Just “going with the flow” will eventually lead to disaster.
- Be kind to yourself – You will make a mistake in business. It’s a fact that all entrepreneurs face. That said, you should never give up: Learn from your mistakes and keep trying.
- You have to learn when to take a leap of faith – We all suffer from analysis paralysis. While doing your due diligence is good, overthinking is detrimental to your success as well. Learn when “enough” is enough and take a leap of faith.
*Connect With* Jennifer Helene
Website
I invite you to be my next guest! Complete the application now.
APPLY HERE#B2BSelling #B2BSales #MarketingMistakes #ChalaDincoy #Podcast #ElevatorPitch #NakedMarketing
About Your Host: Chala Dincoy
Chala Dincoy is the CEO and Founder of The Repositioning Expert (division of Coachtactics), www.repositioner.com. She’s a Marketing Strategist who helps B2B service providers reposition their marketing message to successfully sell to corporate clients.
In her former life, Chala was an award winning marketer at companies such as Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Frito Lay, Diageo, Playtex and BIC Inc for 18 years. Now she’s a successful entrepreneur, and the author of 4 books including Gentle Marketing: A Gentle Way to Attract Loads of Clients. Chala’s also an expert featured on major television networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, as well as a frequent speaker at Nasdaq, Harvard Club of Boston and International Business Conferences.
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Ken Keis Ken Keis, who jokingly asks people to remember his name as “car keys”, is the CEO of Consulting Resource Group (CRG). Positioned in the human capital space, CRG helps people in three ways: self-awareness, self-management, and self-mastery. CRG is focused on any group that wants to build its... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Jim Barnish This episode with Jim Barnish, Jr. got really naked, with him admitting that his biggest and costliest marketing mistake was in fact…himself. The Founding Managing Partner of value creation firm, Orchid Black, says that he had been going through multiple marketing talents, getting frustrated over the lack of... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Brett Hill With the world getting noisier, how do you find your voice? For Brett Hill, Mindful Communications Coach of the Language of Mindfulness, the answer is to remain silent. Brett teaches people the power of listening, and how you can become a better leader, marketer, promoter, and person just... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Brett Hill With the world getting noisier, how do you find your voice? For Brett Hill, Mindful Communications Coach of the Language of Mindfulness, the answer is to remain silent. Brett teaches people the power of listening, and how you can become a better leader, marketer, promoter, and person just... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Nate Palmer What a treasure it was to meet with fitness trainer Nate Palmer, the self-described fat-loss ninja who helps dads and business owners with their nutrition and wellness so that they feel more energized every day. Unlike other fitness coaches, Nate believes that bodybuilding and food should be taken... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Nate Palmer What a treasure it was to meet with fitness trainer Nate Palmer, the self-described fat-loss ninja who helps dads and business owners with their nutrition and wellness so that they feel more energized every day. Unlike other fitness coaches, Nate believes that bodybuilding and food should be taken... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Steven Hoffman Has there ever been such a bubbly guest as Steven Hoffman, CEO of Founders Space? The moment he came on screen, his energy just radiated from his being, and there was nothing else to do but smile and listen to what he had to say. Surprisingly, Steven described... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Steven Hoffman Has there ever been such a bubbly guest as Steven Hoffman, CEO of Founders Space? The moment he came on screen, his energy just radiated from his being, and there was nothing else to do but smile and listen to what he had to say. Surprisingly, Steven described... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Michael Levitt It was an honor to speak with Michael Levitt, the Chief Burnout Officer of Breakfast Leadership. Michael helps organizations of different industries work through and resolve burnout to improve productivity, increase job satisfaction, and strike better work/life balance. Every cloud has a silver lining and the pandemic has... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Shawn Channell We hit the ground running in today’s podcast with our guest, Shawn Channell, the Founder and CEO of Just Launched Training & Consulting. Shawn immediately explains the value of niche marketing and his initial struggle of reaching out to too many people. He says that by trying to... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Lynn Whitbeck Please join me in welcoming the much-loved and well-renowned sales expert, Lynn Whitbeck, the CEO of Petite2Queen. Her company offers sales and leadership programs to help business owners or managers achieve more, faster. As a sales expert, Lynn offers another view on reaching out to your target audience.... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Steve Benson Please help me welcome today’s guest, Steven Benson, who is the CEO of Badger Maps: an app that helps field sales people be more efficient in how to approach their potential customers. As a former employee of Google and field sales person himself, Steven saw an opportunity to... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Scott Greenberg Please help me in welcoming Scott Greenberg, the owner of Andergreen, Inc., who helps franchise business owners expand their brands through targeted marketing and better customer service. Our conversation was a brilliant case study on the effectiveness of super-niche marketing, and how – when done correctly – it... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Nathan Zadworny I had the pleasure to speak with Nathan Zadworny, who offers marketing consulting services for small to medium-sized businesses that want to optimize their internal processes. This episode hits the ground running with Nathan already being “naked” with us on his biggest marketing mistake. He clarifies that when he... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Jamil Hasan Please join us in welcoming Jamil Hasan, who is also known as the Crypto Hipster, who believes that marketing is all about teasing out a person’s thought leadership. From being a corporate technology and finance manager in AIG, Jamil has learned the hard way of trusting the right people.... continue reading »
Naked Marketing Podcast with Guest, Tristan Pelloux Join me as I welcome Tristan Pelloux, Strategy Consultant and Founder of Fintech Review. On today’s episode of the Naked Marketing podcast where we get honest about marketing, Tristan describes how he went from working with Richard Branson’s Virgin Money in London, UK to working from home in Barcelona,... continue reading »
On this episode of Polish my Pitch Deep Dive, we welcome Lynn Whitbeck and chat about her businesses Petite2Queen and Future Forward Sales. Listen and learn how Lynn’s businesses help B2B heavy machinery manufacturers. We chat about why these companies are losing small to medium sales leads and how Lynn’s systems, training and processes help... continue reading »
Joining me on today’s episode of Polish My Pitch is Lynn Whitbeck, CEO & Founder of Petite2Queen and Future Forward Sales, who help B2B companies move leads into a connection and close the sale in an optimized time frame. Chala polished Lynn’s pitch by asking which industry she would like to niche in or target.... continue reading »
Today on Polish my Pitch Deep Dive I chat with Charles Givre about his business DataDistillr. Charles talks about how his business helps his target market. He shares his background as a data scientist in the banking industry, where he saw large corporations struggling with the same problem which inspired him to found his business.... continue reading »
On this episode of Polish My Pitch, we welcome Charles Givre, CEO of DataDistillr whose business goal is to, “…make data easy to query and use.” Chala loves the simplicity of Charles’s pitch. She askes, “…if he could dream of doubling his business in one industry what would it be?” Chala helps Charles to drill... continue reading »
Today on Deep Dive I welcome Peter Kozodoy, Partner & Chief Strategy Officer of GEM and author of Let’s Be Honest. As a serial entrepreneur, Peter now helps entrepreneurs remove self limiting beliefs and get in honest alignment. Peter explains the role honesty plays in organizational culture, and how the teachings in his book helps... continue reading »
Join me in welcoming Ann Sieg, CEO of E-Commerce Business School to this episode of Deep Dive. Seven years ago, Ann shifted from working with sales funnels and generating leads, to e-commerce. Today, her business helps teach people a system for successfully selling products on Amazon. Ann shares an interesting case study of a client... continue reading »
Welcome to today’s episode of Deep Dive. I’m joined by Bryan Clayton, Founder & CEO of GreenPal, the Uber of lawnmowing. In only eight years Bryan has grown his business from 20 customers to over 300,000 people using his app and $20 million in revenues. Watch as we do a deep dive with Bryan and... continue reading »
Today on Deep Dive I chat with Chris Dayley about his business, Smart CRO which helps businesses improve their conversion rates by 30%. Chris tells us the story of how he got into the industry, starting with search engine optimization (SEO), and how that led him to start his conversion business. You won’t want to... continue reading »
Join me in welcoming Chris Dayley to this episode of Polish My Pitch! Chris’s business, Smart CRO, helps businesses with conversion rate optimization so their websites are more profitable. Because “70% of humans purchase based on pain,” I suggested that Chris adds a pain statistic around optimization to better illustrate the need for his service.... continue reading »
In today’s episode, we welcome Marty Park, President of Evolve Business Group, a coaching, training and execution company. Listen as Marty explains how he helps business owners overcome barriers to move forward with their business goals. Marty shares the story of how he started his first business at the young of age 21, how he... continue reading »
Join me today, as we welcome Marty Park, a business coach and advisor and President of Evolve Business Group. I enjoyed polishing Marty’s elevator pitch. I loved that it was brief and pain-based because 70% of humans purchase based on pain. My first suggestion for sexing up his pitch was to make it more of... continue reading »
On today’s episode of Deep Dive, I welcome Hilary Johnson, CEO of Hatch Tribe who works with women entrepreneurs to help them start and grow their businesses. Hillary and I talk about how she came up with the name for Hatch Tribe and how she started her business. We discuss how the pandemic has impacted... continue reading »
Join me as I welcome Greg Bray, President of Blue Tangerine to this episode of Deep Dive. Greg explains how his digital marketing agency evolved into a super niche focusing on home builders. He explains how they later pivoted when the bottom dropped out of their niche industry. We discuss how COVID has impacted the... continue reading »
I was thrilled to welcome Greg Bray, President of Blue Tangerine, a digital marketing agency, on my latest episode. I was excited to polish Greg’s pitch, partly because it was so brief. In Greg’s pitch, he identified his target market niche, home builders, and how he helps his clients. I asked him some questions to... continue reading »
On today’s episode of Deep Dive we welcomed Ishveen Anand, CEO of OpenSponsorship, the largest marketplace connecting brands to athletes. I chatted with Ishveen about how she started her business, what she’s learnt about sports sponsorship through the course of her career and how brands can benefit from partnerships with athletes. We discussed how Ishveen... continue reading »
In today’s episode, I got to polish the elevator pitch of the amazing Ishveen Anand, CEO of OpenSponsorship, the largest marketplace connecting brands to athletes. The two things I coach people on to help them polish their pitch is to first make it based on pain, because 70% of humans purchase based on pain, and... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Wendy Covey, CEO and co-founder of TREW Marketing for an episode of Deep Dive. Listen, as we discuss Wendy’s background, including how she first got into managing events and why she specializes in tech. She planned 60 tradeshows in her first year working for a tech company! Wendy explains... continue reading »
Today we welcome Sean Sheppard, Managing Partner at U+, a corporate venture builder who works with companies who’re trying to improve the success rate of corporate innovations. Sean helps organizations use innovation to solve problems through digital transformation. The industries he works with most often include financial services, automotive, energy, retail, insurance and governments. He... continue reading »
Thank you for joining us for another amazing episode of Polish My Pitch! Today’s lucky guest is Sean Sheppard, Managing Partner at U+. I really enjoyed helping Sean polish his elevator pitch. Sean is already so successful, he can get away with not polishing but, like I always say, “…the most successful people I meet... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Angela Proffitt who helps entrepreneurs remove distractions and get clear on how to get shit done. We learn how Angela’s helps her clients to slow down, take a step back and strategize. Listen, as we learn what inspired Angela to get involved in this industry and how she helps... continue reading »
In today’s episode, I met with Angela Proffitt and polished her elevator pitch. Angela’s pitch was really good, she talked about her customer’s pain, she had a specific target market, and she included a call to action. I suggested that she could tighten her pitch by talking about the actual cost of the ‘pain’, “…if there’s... continue reading »
Tierra Bonds helps small business owners and entrepreneurs reach their credit goals allowing them to get approved to purchase their first home. Welcome to the program! Tierra explained how she got into the industry and why it’s so close to her heart. We talked about some of the reasons why people lose their credit rating... continue reading »
Hear me polish Tierra Bonds’s elevator pitch. I loved that Tierra’s pitch was brief, like I always say, “The less time it takes to say what you do, the more money you make.” I suggested Tierra get more specific about who she helps. I asked her to identify some interest or industry groups to target.... continue reading »
Join me today as we do a Deep Dive with Josh Perry. Josh helps people create strategies to optimize the health and performance of coaches and consultants. He also offers 1-on-1 coaching, group coaching and an online membership course. As professional athlete Josh suffered multiple brain tumor diagnoses before he truly understood the importance of... continue reading »
Today, I met Josh Perry and polished his elevator pitch. Josh’s pitch was very brief so I suggested that we dive deeper into a defined niche, in particular an industry he’s targeting. The reason why I make people pick a well-defined industry is because a pitch is your starting point, the tip of the iceberg... continue reading »
In today’s Deep Dive episode, I met with Shannon Procise. Shannon has produced over 400 events and garnered millions in publicity, known as “The Business Connection Specialist”, she is founder of The Business Acceleration Network. Many business owners are great at what they do but not so great at marketing what they do. One of... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Shannon Procise and polished her elevator pitch. I loved that Shannon’s pitch was very concise. I suggested that she start her pitch with a customer pain. I asked her to pinpoint one industry that she works with the most. We then drilled into the number one most expensive problem... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Arjun Rai. Arjun provides smart marketing for the underdogs, aka the smallest of small businesses, who are looking for a creative visual dashboard with all the powerful capabilities of an enterprise grade platform for the price of a cup of coffee. Arjun started working in social media, then blog... continue reading »
In today’s episode, I had the pleasure of polishing the elevator pitch for Arjun Rai. I loved that Arjun opened by talking about solving a pain that his old school competitors don’t. I suggested he focus on the consequences of that pain for his customers. To get at the heart of the business problem he... continue reading »
In today’s Deep Dive episode, I met with Molly Trotter. Molly helps coaches and consultants increase their influence and conversions online through clarity and custom strategies. With a background in television as a news anchor, Molly started helping people during the rise of personal branding. Molly now works as part of Dream Factory Co, a... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Molly Trotter and polish her pitch. I loved that Molly started her pitch with a focus on her clients rather than on herself. Molly’s pitch included two areas of expertise, messaging and lead generation. My first recommendation is for her to focus on the area of expertise which solves... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome David Russell. David has a hiring system to teach managers how to hire the best possible people and avoid the great actors. He also provides leadership consulting and coaching to transform new or “bad” bosses into great leaders. Dave’s Charm School teaches the soft skills and habits to increase... continue reading »
In today’s episode, I met David Russell and polished his elevator pitch. Wow, his pitch was almost perfect. I had a few minor tweaks to offer. When I pressed him for a little more information about his prospect’s field, I found out he specializes in the IT industry. This was the missing piece. I always... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Elizabeth Bachman back for a deep dive of her business. She helps high-level women in tech, who have a seat at the table, but still aren’t being heard. And thus they watch the promotions go to younger, flashier people. What she does is help them use presentation skills to... continue reading »
In today’s episode, I got the pleasure to polish the elevator pitch of Elizabeth Bachman. She has taken many things I have already said to heart and had a great start. The first recommendation I can give is, always state a stat of the main pain with the result it’s bringing. The more specific you... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Alicia Couri. Alicia does Corporate Consulting focusing on aligning Business strategy with talent strategy, using brain & behavioral science, coupled with analytical data to create synergy in teams, develop leaders and empower individuals to step more confidently into their strengths. Watch as we do a deep dive about Alicia... continue reading »
In today’s episode, I got to polish the elevator pitch of the amazing Alicia Couri. I loved that she was very clear on who she served. She was already beautifully polished in her delivery of her pitch, so we focused on narrowing down the content. A key to an elevator pitch is speaking directly to... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Vibha Sharma. Vibha guides high achieving professional women in different fields, CEOs and C-level Executive women into their holistic journey of self-discovery and Conscious living, helps them rise above the mental chaos, unrest, and noise to a natural state of calm, clarity and well being and live a balanced,... continue reading »
In today’s episode, I had the absolute pleasure of polishing Vibha Sharma’s elevator pitch. There is a key difference in speaking directly to your target vs speaking to the masses. Today we learn how to narrow it down, make it short, to the point and why you must do this. Statistically, the longer it takes to... continue reading »
Join me today as we welcome Mitch Russo. Mitch works one on one with the founder of a company to create selling systems that are unconventional: certified coach/consultant programs, virtual sales teams, and associations. In the process, he usually discovers several new recurring revenue opportunities as a natural outgrowth of his work. Watch as we... continue reading »
Polishing a pro like Mitch’s pitch was possibly the easiest and quickest episode of Polish My Pitch to date. Mitch stated the pain and who his target prospect is right off the bat. In fact, the pain of the loss of livelihood for an entire industry of professional spears is extremely timely due to a... continue reading »
This was the interview of the 1000 questions. Jade started with a very succinct and short elevator pitch. He talked about having purpose before profit and providing honest feedback that accelerated a company’s growth. Being a big fan of brevity like Jade myself, I actually loved the fact that his pitch was short. But I... continue reading »
A great old friend, Nancy was just starting her latest venture as a TEC (a CEO peer mastermind) Chair. In her excitement, she went a little too long on her elevator pitch and had to be stopped. Then when she redid her pitch, she used an acronym to explain what she did. Using acronyms in... continue reading »
The fortunate thing for Mani was that she sold a service for a very specific and well-known CRM software, called Salesforce. The advantage that she had was that at least if she was doing her elevator pitch to a prospect, they knew what Salesforce was. The problem started when Mani was unable to concisely talk... continue reading »
Teri’s pitch was a very simple and short one to begin with. Then it got rough. But I thank Teri for being a gracious and open-minded guest. The problem with the pitch was that I didn’t understand what exactly Teri did for a living. Was she a consultant, a financial expert, or maybe even an... continue reading »
Amy’s session was a great one for demonstrating multiple issues that business owners face when they’re doing their Elevator Pitches. The first part we started focusing down on was who Amy’s target market needed to be. She actually said “I stay out of industry” as a conscious choice but what I convinced her of was... continue reading »
A 15-year business and hence Elevator Pitch veteran, Joni started talking about how she loved eating but hated cooking and that she created her company to make it as easy as possible. She also admitted that throwing in too many features into her pitch had hurt her messaging in the past and had confused people.... continue reading »
Sandra introduced herself as a business communications coach. In her pitch, she told me that she helped highly trained leaders in various industries who had trouble communicating with precision and clarity. I liked Sandra’s use of pain and her call to action in her pitch, but it was far from where I wanted it to... continue reading »
Like many of the health coaches I’ve had on the show, Tim began his pitch by talking about his story. There is nothing inherently wrong with starting your elevator pitch that way except people truly are more interested in themselves than in anyone else, no matter how compelling the story. The other thing specific to... continue reading »
Natalie is actually the talented photographer who took the picture on my Polish My Pitch Podcast artwork. (Thank you, my friend!) It takes a lot of photoshop, talent and filters to make me look like that people! Natalie is also in competition with thousands of nameless, faceless photographers who pretty much refuse to niche because... continue reading »
Terry’s, from Evolutionary Healer, Elevator Pitch started off a tad long. It could have been the podcast setting but I’m fairly sure he wouldn’t have introduced himself in that way if we were meeting at a networking meeting. The length of your pitch is almost as important as what you’re saying. I’ve written a book about... continue reading »
I love my friend Veronica because she got me into volunteering at a men’s prison. She told me all about how much she gets out of teaching in that environment and how knowledge-hungry her students are in that setting. Having volunteered to teach a course called “Be Your Own Boss” in the same correctional facility... continue reading »
Leslie works in the very competitive world of promotional products. When I spoke at their industry conference a few years back, the singular complaint from my audience was that they were embarrassed to say that they worked in the promotional products industry. Can you believe that? Sadly, there are many such industries that turn prospects... continue reading »
I loved this episode of Polish My Pitch with Diana because we got to talk about the hairy, ugly problem of niching based on cost savings. I’m a little bit against positioning a business (and therefore their Elevator Pitch) on cost savings for several reasons. The biggest one being that it’s not sustainable. As in... continue reading »
Ellie (Elvan) was my first friend in Toronto. Since then she has become one of the hottest, busiest realtors in the Turkish community. As I was expecting, Ellie’s initial elevator pitch was talking about her list of different target groups and her list of different services. Then she added personal details about her years of... continue reading »
Daniel is a very successful, sharp cookie already. I’ve respected and admired his growth for years. But even he appreciated a fresh perspective on his Elevator Pitch. His go-to pitch was around helping CEOs scale their business. I tried to force his hand to niche down into what kind of CEOs but he wasn’t buying... continue reading »
Dr. Mandeep, a chiropractor (DC) and functional medicine specialist by training had had huge success in her multitude of businesses for decades. Yet when we talked about who she could target as an industry or a self-gathered group of people, she literally said “I’d never thought of it that way”. Clearly, she never needed a... continue reading »
I loved how good a student Natalee was. She had carefully watched my previous podcasts and had changed her pitch accordingly, choosing specific target groups that self-gathered and a pain point that they had in common. She thought that the inability to order small print runs of stickers was the biggest problem that she solved... continue reading »
Aviva’s in one of those Elevator-Pitch-phobic-professions. The ones that send people fleeing in the other direction if the pitch isn’t delivered right. The reason is that there simply is a glut of insurance advisors in the market and none of them are differentiated. Worse yet, their industry trainers and coaches are teaching them things like... continue reading »
Elaine actually started the ball rolling on us hiring a gaming addiction therapist for my 10-year-old, so I wanted to get her Pitch right. I spent the majority of the time with Elaine trying to understand the most likely pain scenario for a family facing this kind of addiction. As with all other guests, Elaine’s... continue reading »
The number lesson that this Polish My Pitch episode demonstrates is that your pitch should always always always be about them and not you. Yeah, I know Simon Sinek says that you should tell your ‘why’ story and I agree with him in certain contexts, but it should not be your opener. When Niki started... continue reading »
Lyne’s positive energy was infectious! She already had the pain part of her elevator pitch down pat. She knew exactly how the problem she solved manifested in companies. What was missing, was to focus her into a specific industry and to add the ultimate cost of that pain into her pitch. Often, what lends dimension... continue reading »
Dale is in an industry where she can help a lot of people with a lot of legal pain. However, her elevator pitch was still not as sticky as it could be. I mean, I have been meeting Legal Shield reps in both the US and Canada for years and they all have the exact... continue reading »
By virtue of being a dear friend, of course I had already Polished Sacha’s Pitch. Just like he had redone my entire website with an amazing custom design! In the podcast, Sacha talks about what his pitch was before we switched it up. He also talks about how uncomfortable it is to change what you’re... continue reading »
In his initial elevator pitch, Peter called himself a video story-teller. He then very kindly went on to educate me (his pretend prospect) about their pain. This is a tough haul because you should never have to talk someone into needing you. Instead, I’d rather your target prospects were already tearing their hair out and... continue reading »
Carol is truly one of the bravest women I know so it was really great to help her hone her Pitch. As I watch these videos for a second time to write these blurbs though, I can see that I’ve skipped some stuff in the moment. Like how Carol was telling me that she’d like... continue reading »
Hailey’s main differentiator in her eyes was the fact that she offered her clients 3 services in one stop. Instead, I took her into the complete opposite direction by getting her to focus on just one thing that she did. When we tell a prospect that we are experts in more than just one thing,... continue reading »
Ipek is a friend and also happens to have the same name as my beloved sister so it was so much fun Polishing her Pitch. Being a keen businesswoman, she knew her stuff cold. She knew who her target was and the features of the product that she’s selling. However, what she was having more... continue reading »
Kate’s initial elevator pitch had a lot of elements of what we needed but like everyone else, I couldn’t resist niching her down and getting her to talk more about a specific pain. Certainly, Kate could help any number of people who counted on their appearance for a living but how would she network with... continue reading »
Rochelle started off talking about an age group as a target and a generic pain point that she helps them with. The first problem is that people don’t gather by their age. I recently went to an ABBA/Queen Video Halloween party and the number of 20-year-olds singing “I Do I Do I Do” seriously raised... continue reading »
A dear friend who has had me as a guest on her own podcast, Penny still needed a nudge to niche down into one industry focus and one aspect of digital marketing that she could become an expert in. Through our 5-minute brainstorm, we were able to come up with a really viable and expensive... continue reading »
Hashim was the second accountant in the group who came at me with a generic pitch. What’s interesting is that he already had a niche that was a very specific one who had big pain around taxation that he wasn’t talking about in his pitch. Once we went through the exercise of figuring out the... continue reading »
Like every single coach I have ever met in my life, Carol was positioning herself as a leadership coach when we first met. When I dug deeper and asked her to look at the biggest problem she’s ever solved and what industry that client was in, all the answers were there. Her marketing strategy and... continue reading »
Confused minds don’t buy. When I first heard Jas’ elevator pitch during a networking event and again in the podcast, I couldn’t understand if he was an accountant, a bookkeeper or a financial consultant. Through our session, we were able to not only get him to a specialty but also a very specific vertical industry.... continue reading »
Michele’s initial pitch was all about the way her products made people feel. While I’m all about bringing emotion to marketing, it was too generic for my taste. Any time you start a pitch by targeting an entire gender, watch out because you’re being too general. Remember, in my coaching, I always want clients to... continue reading »
Taglines can hinder more than help us when we’re doing our elevator pitch. Here was a classic example of how Julie’s use of her school tagline blurred the specifics of what problem they solved and how. Through my deep questioning of the biggest problem a private school solves, Julie was able to tie it into... continue reading »
Joan has been a friend for over a year. I knew of her deep confusion and struggle surrounding conveying her value to her prospects. In this powerful podcast segment, you can see her move quickly through my laser questions to focus on her target and to start considering framing her business in terms of what... continue reading »
Jeannette was my first brave guest who signed up to have her pitch polished. We had met years ago when I was speaking at her industry conference. Then she got on my newsletter list and was one of the first people to sign up for the live debut filming of my podcast. When she first... continue reading »