Review Pitch Materials

Review Pitch Materials

This guide will serve as a resource to help direct your conversation about reviewing pitch materials. This guide is in place to provide structure and guidance only. There is no expectation for you to review everything on this list at any set time; please use at your convenience.

Conversation Topics

  • Who is ​the​ decision maker for this vendor?
  • For each of the major decision makers:
    • Where are their organizations located?
    • How technically adept or engaged are they?
    • How did they rise to the seniority they’re at now?
    • Where did they come from before {{Target_Company}}?
    • Who are their counterparts in other orgs?
    • Who do they work with regularly? Who do they like working with? Who do they not like working with?
    • How are new ideas brought into the organization? How did the last big vendor get brought in?
  • For each of the clients products, who are the major decision makers that would be involved in a purchase decision?
  • What are their names or titles?
  • Who do they report to?
  • Who do they delegate tasks to?
  • Who do they go to for advice?
  • What are their main challenges?
  • What is their personality like?
  • Is their decision making driven more by quantitative or qualitative reasoning? Why?
  • What are their budgets?
  • What goals will be presented during the pitch? 
  • How will the client add value to the organization?
  • How will this solution integrate with current technology / vendors?
  • Which current customer should the client point to as an example?
  • What kind of ROI would be most attractive to the target company?
  • What kind of stories make the most impact in pitches or approaches at the target company? 
  • How do the following factors affect the impact of a case study: brand, size, innovativeness of program, industry, or size of customer?
  • Are there any companies that should definitely NOT be included in a case study?
  • Are there any current vendors at the target company that provide a part of the client’s product or similar products?
  • What is the best way to present this information to the decision makers? 
  • What are pain points in the organization that could be addressed by the client’s product?
  • Are there initiatives that the target company wants to undertake but can’t due to structural limitations?
  • Are there areas where the company recognizes that they are behind the curve and want to improve?
  • What business units should the client work with?
  • How do the decision makers evaluate success? 
  • What are the main obstacle for expansion of a product?
  • Who should the client direct their messaging to?
  • Who should the client anticipate is going to be most and least receptive to the solution? Why?
  • What level of involvement should the client expect from the decision maker(s)?
  • Does the decision maker have a preference to certain solutions? 
  • What words / phrases should the client avoid using in messaging?
  • Send deck and materials to advisor for feedback around messaging