For several years, I’ve served as a judge for business pitch competitions sponsored by Wells Fargo at different conferences for entrepreneurs.

It has been a very rewarding experience and, this year, I am excited to partner up with Wells Fargo again and host The 3rd Annual Latino Perfect Pitch presented by Wells Fargo and Hispanicize as a storyteller.

Being part of a pitch competition may sound nerve-wracking for many entrepreneurs and seem intimidating for others, but when you’re prepared, the experience of stepping up to the mic and expressing your business idea is easier than you can imagine.

Besides the coveted funding in perks and cash prizes, participating in a pitch contest can help you sharpen your communication and networking skills, gain visibility and self-confidence, as well as receive expert feedback about your business, all of which are of infinite value to your new business venture.

The 3rd Annual Latino Perfect Pitch is a national small business competition for a chance to win a $5,000 grand prize, $1,500 in press release distributions from Hispanicize Wire as well as national media exposure at Hispanicize 2018 (April 17th-19th). I’ve been attending and speaking at Hispanicize for years and it always exceeds my expectations.

You need not be Latino or be focused on the U.S. Latino Market to submit your pitch, so if you operate a recently launched venture or a business that has been in existence no more than five years, and are located in the U.S.A..

Keep reading for some of my best tips on how to submit your idea and how to deliver the perfect pitch in a competition.

My Best Tips to Deliver the Perfect Pitch in a Competition

Let’s get started!

#1 ~ Pitching Your Offering

Even if you are in the very beginning stages of your idea, be clear on your product or service and articulate it clearly to the judges. Explain how your idea works, its key advantages, and how it compares to the competition.

Although you want to focus on what is unique about your concept, resist the temptation of saying “there is no competition” for your offering.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings declared: “So we actually compete with sleep.” There is always competition and your judges want to see what you’ve done your homework in this area!

When pitching your idea, you want to be detailed in showcasing your strengths, as well as willing to share your weaknesses and how you are or plan to address them.

Most pitch competitions are won because of the entrepreneur’s ability to answer challenge questions on the spot, without feeling uncomfortable or attacked, and without getting defensive or argumentative.

One of my favorite quotes by Wayne Gretzky is: “A good hockey player knows where the puck is and a great hockey player knows where the puck is going to be.” Anticipating what questions may come up will help you dominate a pitch competition, and can bring you great awareness in your entrepreneurial practice.

#2 ~ Pitching Your Audience

Who is your customer?
Who do you anticipate will use your product or service and how do you plan to target them?
Define your ideal client or avatar, but go beyond demographics.

Share what impact your idea makes, identify what specific pain point it solves, and why your audience is willing to pay for the solution to those problems.

Demonstrate there is really an opportunity in the market for your idea. Imagine you were deploying capital to an idea for a second.

Wouldn’t you want to be passionate about the value it adds and have peace of mind that the business model is scalable and sustainable? When you think like an investor, you attract investors!

#3 ~ Pitching Your Brand Story

Accurate facts and figures add credibility to your pitch, and a compelling story helps you make an emotional connection to seal the deal and get funded.

Like Simon Sinek would recommend, you want to start with a powerful WHY: Why do you do what you do? Connect with the powerful reason that inspired you to get started and help the investors catch the enthusiasm.

Staying connected to your why while you’re delivering the pitch will help you ease the nerves, keep the energy up and handle the investors’ questions, objections, and feedback with greater confidence and ease.

Investors don’t question you for the sake of being skeptical and critical, they want to understand your pitch.

Storytelling is not just words. You want to incorporate visuals, interaction, and even a demo piece in your presentation.

If you are pitching a product, let your judges touch and feel it, and if you are pitching a service, let your judges experience it. You want to engage the senses because it will increase the sense of ownership and perceived value.

#4 ~ Pitching Your Team

The fundamental difference between pitching a potential customer and pitching a potential investor is that your investor wants to know everything there is to know about your company, not just about the features and benefits of what you are selling.

While you want to express your offering with clarity, don’t spend all your time there. Telling your prospective investors how your team is different and what makes them stand out is your main priority.

You’ll want to focus only on what is relevant in your bio, be it accolades, track record, academic background, credentials, specialization, etc.

The question I would ask is “What will make the judges fall in love with my team?” Investors know that loving the vision is important, but it takes more than a visionary to make it a reality.

#5~ Pitching Your Business Model

Your business model is a description of how your business intends to operate and make money, and your investor wants to know that the funding, resources, and support provided will be put to good use by a smart team of savvy businesspeople.

If you’re already in business, what is your sales track record? What are your projected sales this year? What is your projected profit margin?

While it’s true that investors will be delighted if you’ve had sales success, don’t be discouraged if this hasn’t been the case. It could very well be an opportunity to be transparent if there has been a gap and explain how their investment will make a difference.

Even if you are in the pre-launch stage of your business, you want to get comfortable with talking about sales, projections, pricing, revenue, monetization, margins, and profits.

You definitely must include information about marketing and promotional campaigns, because your investors will want to know how you’ll let people know about your offering, but remember that marketing allows you to be seen and sales allow you to get paid.

#6 ~Your Idea of Partnership

Research the sponsoring companies’ mission statement, values, and corporate responsibility endeavors.

A strategic partnership requires a strategy and in order to create a strategy to deliver the winning pitch you want to make sure how you are a good fit for everyone in the room and you want to express it.

Your pitch must let your investors know what their funding is allowing you to do and, in some cases, what the return will be for the funders.

Believe it or not, presenting yourself as a partner starts way before you step on that stage. If your potential investors see that your registration form has a typo or documentation that is incomplete or missing information that was requested, it is very likely that they will not have high confidence in you as a business partner, even if they love the idea.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve reviewed a pitch and fell in love with a concept and the entrepreneur’s passion was so contagious that I was rooting for them with my heart, but they missed the main points on the selection and scoring guidelines, so I had to give them a low score, no score, or even disqualify them!

Please read the directions and the rules thoroughly and follow them! I believe that being coachable is a requirement to be successful and even more so in a pitch competition.

#7 ~ Pitching Your Next Steps

I’m sure you know exactly where you want to take your idea. It’s usually the pull of this vision that move you and your team to action and that will attract customers and investors. As you communicate where you are and where you want to go, it will be helpful to take your judges on a journey of what steps you foresee will get you there.

Some questions you can ask yourself are:

• What will you be working on in the next six months?
• What are your short term goals?
• What are some barriers you will be working through?
• How do you plan to handle growth?What’s your expansion strategy?

I always say that people jump on a moving train, so take these judges through your next train stops!

Okay, now it’s time for you to enter El Perfect Pitch, click here for the application rules and requirements.

I believe you never lose when you enter a startup pitch competition because the benefits of going into your business and figuring out what you want to pitch are incredible.

When you prepare to pitch your business, you truly own your business and become an entrepreneur as you test and refine your pitch and business model in the presence of experts and in front of a live audience. Three finalists of El Perfect Pitch will have this amazing opportunity!

In addition, whether you make it to the pitch finalists or not, your business will be exposed to experts who can become interested, provide mentorship, and even point you in the direction of resources that you didn’t know were available. It’s an awareness fest and you know I’m all about awareness!

What are your tips for winning a business pitch competition? Share with us in the comments below and follow along with #ElPerfectPitch in your favorite social network. See you at Hispanicize!

Founder of the Positive MOM® and creator of the S.T.O.R.Y. System: a blueprint to craft and share powerful stories that will transform your results and help others do the same. Dr. Elayna Fernández is a single mom of 4, an award-winning Storyteller, Story Strategist, and Student of Pain. She’s a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, and 5x TEDx speaker. She has spoken at the United Nations, received the President’s Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award, and was selected as one of the Top Impactful Leaders and a Woman of Influence by SUCCESS Magazine. Connect with Elayna at thepositivemom.com/ef and follow @thepositivemom. To receive a gift from Elayna, click HERE.

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