You probably don’t need more than a handful of slides in your pitch deck to convince a potential client to consider you. That is if you have the goods and get to the point.
An effective pitch is sometimes as fundamental as re-framing the client’s situation to show you understand their specific context or problem, some proof of your experience solving that problem, an explanation of your process, and, if appropriate, your fees and basic terms and conditions.
As always, there are exceptions: Companies in some industries — graphic design, advertising, technology, hospitality, manufacturing, and others — will likely include in their presentations extensive embedded multimedia or visuals.
But for most professional service firms, brief and straightforward should be enough to at least secure a follow-up meeting.
It might be worthwhile including a few words about (legitimately demonstrable) values that matter to the client. But remember that client-side decision-makers could be slogging through dozens of vendor proposals. So leave it to your competition to jam encyclopedic and forgettable decks with Venn diagrams about honesty, integrity, and a “firm belief in win-win scenarios that lead to lasting partnerships.”
Meanwhile, your straight-goods brevity might win the day — or at least put you on the shortlist.
Got a pitch coming up and need help making your point? Hit me up.