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Murray Thom’s top pitching tips

Serial entrepreneur Murray Thom offers a number of tips for business owners looking to get people on board with their idea.

3 minute read

Murray Thom couldn’t count the number of times he’s pitched a business idea. It comes with the territory when you’ve had an entrepreneurial career that spans introducing Kiwi to personalised plates back in the eighties to creating a product once named ‘Oprah’s favourite thing’.

He cites the example of just one of his business ideas – bestselling The Great New Zealand Cookbook – to illustrate the point.

“I would have presented one-on-one to at least 60 of the 80 chefs involved with that project because every one of them was incredibly important to get on board. Then I pitched the idea to over 20 media outlets to get press coverage; then to who knows how many book retailers to stock our book in every store nationwide. I would have pitched The Great New Zealand Cookbook hundreds of times.”

So what advice does Thom have for successfully pitching a business idea? Here are his six top tips:

1. Create something magnificent

Whether it’s a product or a service, having something magnificent to share will give you all the confidence in the world. People pitch things that are average all the time, but if what you have is average, I’d say don’t bother.

2. Say less

The saying ‘the more the words, the less the meaning’ pretty much sums up pitching. A great pitch presents a clear vision, articulated in a compelling way. If someone gives you ten minutes to present, my recommendation would be to do it in five.

3. Always be ready

I never practice my pitch, and I don’t need any warning to deliver one. When you’re truly consumed with a magnificent idea then you’ll always be ready to pitch – anytime, anywhere. A great idea that’s in your heart is going to come out of your mouth.

4. Don’t be put off

A lot of people are intimidated by their audience and will let that determine their pitching performance. But if I’m pitching – whether I’m talking to three people or 300 – I’m there to change the audience’s demeanour; they’re not there to change mine.

Also, people get discouraged because they hear a lot of ‘nos’. But when somebody says ‘no’ to me what I actually hear is they’re not going to do it today; I don’t hear that they’re not going to do it, full stop.

I remember when I first contacted artist Dick Frizzell to paint the Four Square man for the cover of The Great New Zealand Songbook. I said ‘Hey Dick I’ve got a good idea I’d like to share with you’ and he said ‘That’s nice of you to call but I’ve got a few good ideas of my own’ and hung up. But I still felt fully invested in the idea, so we had another couple of tries and eventually we got there. If you really feel like you should be doing business with somebody you can’t be put off.

5. Don’t be half-hearted

I compare pitching an idea to the birth of a baby: if you’ve conceived an idea, laboured over it and brought it to birth are you going to drag yourself and your audience through a series of PowerPoint slides to tell them about it? No. If you have something magnificent, you need to be its greatest cheerleader and shout about it from the rooftops.

6. Have fun

Enjoy the pitch and it will rub off on everyone around you.

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