This post is about one of my 45-second pitches at my BNI Chapter, BNI City Business. You can read the introduction to this collection here.
10 November 2023. We were provided a theme that we all were invited to include in our 45-sec pitches this week: Something I have recently learned in the course of my business. We get notified of the theme on the Wednesday before our Friday meeting – so a small amount of time to prepare. I will admit my pitch and slide was a pure pander to the audience (and in particular this week’s judge, who came up with the theme).
“I have been in the M&A space for nearly 25 years, and I aim to learn something new every day. One thing I learned recently that I think is worth sharing is the importance of getting your customers providing feedback and endorsements on your social media accounts.”
“Here [referring to the slide, above], we have this customer post talking about the gun that Chris Pratt’s character used to shoot a T.Rex in the movie Jurassic World, and how it is the only gun rated to kill T.Rex’s. So you also have the company getting in on this by including the T.Rex in the product specs.”
Some in the room thought this was the punchline. I then continued:
“But what is even more powerful, is when you get other customers reacting to these posts, spreading the message even wider…”
And then added the following to my slide:
A very good reaction this week. I was happy with the response. And I won the door prize from the judge for best 45-sec pitch this week. Thanks Frances!
There was no deeper or hidden message about exit planning or business valuations. This week was all about the laughs.
The meme had been in one of my feeds last week. Halloween is not a big thing here in New Zealand, so I opted not to use it for last week’s meeting before halloween. I wasn’t even sure I was going to use it because it is a lot for the audience to read – too much text can alienate the audience. Furthermore, the post from ‘Tony King’ was originally right at the bottom of the meme, so it would have been too hard for many in the room to see it. I had planned to use another meme altogether, but once I saw the theme, I decided this one was the right one to use. I just split it, and hid the ‘punchline’ to appear as a slide build.
Sometimes I just enjoy being entertaining!