Would you like to win more pitches?

But not sure what you need to do differently?

Most businesses pitch information and ideas they are excited about and want to talk about.

But are your clients excited by the same ideas?  Are they listening?

Factual and feature heavy proposals that talk about your business, not theirs, aren’t exciting to your clients.

So what are clients looking for?

They want to be understood, cared about and to know how you can help them.  One of the keys to achieving this lies in understanding the client at a much deeper level.  I talk about values, some people talk about ‘hot buttons’, whatever language you use, we are talking about understanding the client’s emotional drivers and how you can use them to create engaging proposals that sell your products and services.

Move away from the cookie-cutter, factual and features lead proposal. After all, you’re talking to a person.  So engage with them as a person.

Here are my three principles for pitch success.

  1.     Understand the emotional drivers (values, hot buttons) of the person you’re talking to. From a business and personal perspective.
  2.     Link your relevant features to their emotional drivers.
  3.     Distil your message so it’s clear and concise to gain credibility, helping you make a deeper connection.

Proposals that are shaped around emotional drivers create engagement, connecting you with your audience.

Emotions connect you to your clients.

Clients want to know how you can help them move from A to B.

This commonly falls into two categories. Solving a pain or helping them achieve a goal, dream or aspiration. Both of these are emotional. Your proposal has to contain the right balance of emotion and logic to have real impact.

Would you like to connect more deeply with your clients? 

Take advantage of my no win no fee offer on pitches and proposal writing.

How it works.

  • We arrange a meeting at your office, if you’re based in Melbourne.  Or a phone call if you’re not.  A call works just as well.
  • I assess your proposal to determine what you are doing right and where you need help.
  • We work together to shape your proposal.  Ensuring it has the right balance of emotion and logic, connecting your features to the client’s emotional drivers.
  • We then distil the core message so it’s clear, concise and connects to your client in a way that’s relevant to them.
  • We can work together on as many pitches or proposals as you like. These’s no end to my help.
  • You get as much of my time and as many of my ideas as you need to shape your proposal.
  • If for some reason you lose, everything is totally free.  That’s right, my ideas, time, everything, totally free.  If you win, you pay me 10% of the value of the contract or your fee.

  Contact me today about your current pitch or proposal

What people say about my No Win No Fee.

Marcus has helped me restructure my proposals in a completely new and inspiring way. He is very insightful and has the gift of quickly pinpointing the key information to include, often from a completely different angle. Marcus helped me to simplify my messaging and clearly articulate what I do, so the proposals connect with my potential client in a relevant way. I look forward to working together on future proposals.

Sue

Owner, Liquid Creativity. Melbourne.

Marcus has added significant value to our client presentations and ultimately the final result. His creative ideas have enabled us to achieve results beyond our expectations.

Mark bennet

Partner, KLM retail. London, UK

KLM Case Study
I met Marcus through necessity, as my sales team were missing that one key ingredient to complete and close off the sales cycle. Not only did Marcus find the missing ingredient but he never failed to amaze me. He not only has exceptional skills but also the fortitude to grasp the genesis of a concept and run with it.

It is rare in this day and age to find people who don’t see the glass half empty but rather half full and without fail Marcus will inevitably ask “How do we top it up?”

His enthusiasm is contagious and brings a certain element to any business that breeds success.

Damian Arena

Co-Founder and Director of Sales, IDOM. Melbourne

About Me

I emigrated from the UK in late 2017, where I’d worked as a trainer and coach, specialising in selling, pitching and influencing.  I am now taking my skillset directly into companies to help them win more business with my No Win No Fee offer.   That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped training, far from it.  I’m still training and running courses.

Here are some of my clients from the UK; Google, Unilever, P&G, Trinity Mirror Group, Thomson Reuters, KLM, Royal Bank of Scotland, ABN Amro, Close Brothers, GCHQ, FCA, over 50 different advertising and media agencies, tech start-ups, big pharmer and many more.

Learn More About Training

Marcus Corah.

Pitch Consultant and Corporate Trainer.

Like to meet up?

Living and working in Melbourne means I love coffee.  If you would like to meet up for a chat about how I can help you win your next pitch or if you want to talk about training, feel free to reach out.  It would be great to meet you.

Loving coffee is optional.

KLM Retail case study

The Client.

KLM Retail are a boutique property solutions firm based in London, England.  They have been invited to pitch against their tier one competitors, for the right to sell a £65 Million retail asset in the south of England.

The Challenge.

They have been told to create a 7 slide PowerPoint presentation which they have to send to the client (a UK bank). The bank doesn’t want anyone to come in and make a formal presentation, they just want to see the PowerPoint.

KLM’s original presentation started with two pages of their features.  I didn’t look at the remaining 5 slides because I knew the bank wouldn’t either.

The Solution.

To create a compelling 7 slide PowerPoint that would win KLM Retail the right to sell the asset.

Our solution was to create a 7 slide PowerPoint centred around the bank’s values, and why and how KLM Retail were best placed to sell their asset for £65 Million. This took 5 slides, with no more than 20 words on a slide.

We used the remaining two slides for testimonials (Social Proof) one of the Key tools for influence from Robert Cialdini’s work on influence.

The Outcome.

Against the odds, KLM Retail were awarded the contract.

Learn about training

Most popular course - 2018

Supercharge your sales – a one day training program.

This is an end-to-end system designed to generate more sales.  Taking you through the essential tools you need to grow your business.  Learn the fundamental questions to ask in client meetings to create greater engagement with your product or service.  Then apply the answers directly to your proposals.  Allowing you to craft proposals which connect powerfully to the client’s deep emotional drivers.   

Training Overview

I’ve run training for all levels of seniority within a business and across many different sectors, from banking and finance to tech startups.  I’ve also trained in APAC, North America and EMEA.

Pitch and Presentation Training

Based on the latest techniques, my pitch training will take you and your team’s abilities from beginner to advanced.  Teaching everyone the essential skills to create winning pitches.

We look at how you can become more engaging and persuasive in your pitch.  You will understand how to structure engaging content that not only answers the client’s business objectives, but also takes them on an emotional journey.  It’s this combination that helps you to convert more pitches.

Influence Training.

There are many ways to influence people.  The most common often involves wrestling people to the ground hoping they will be won over by your force of will or your authority.

Real influence, when it’s done correctly, doesn’t feel like influence.  There’s no wrestling to the ground, there’s no struggle.  People just find themselves going in the direction someone else wants them to go in.  Learn this style of influence, it’s much more powerful.

Sales Training

Traditional sales training focuses on selling features and benefits.  If you’re only selling using features and benefits, it means you’re becoming more like your competition and that means you selling on price.  So learn how to use a combination of emotion and logic to inspire and instil confidence in your clients, motivating them to buy from you.

What people say about my training.

This training was truly transformative. Empowering attendees with communication and influencing tools and skills sets which can be applied to all manner of client (and personal) relationships.  After 20 years of working for WPP this training was, without doubt, the most impactful and relevant.

MEC

This has built on many influencing and management skills courses to give me an extra set of tools and further understanding. Royal Bank of Scotland

This was one of the most useful and interesting courses I have attended. Important information and practice, presented in a way that is easy to understand – will definitely implement in my work. Thomson Reuters

My training philosophy

 

Why don't delegates apply what they learn in trainings?

All trainers deliver new skills and knowledge to their delegates. And that’s it….  That’s where 90% stop.  And that’s the problem.  If it were just about skills and knowledge everyone would be applying what they have learnt.  Right?   So what’s missing?  Well, sometimes delegates have trouble contextualising the content.  OK, that’s an easy fix.  For me, the real problem is delegates leave the training room still running all their negative beliefs about their abilities.  If a trainer doesn’t tackle these negative beliefs, then delegates will never fully apply the content.

Here’s what I do.

  • Yes, I deliver the latest skills and knowledge.
  • I also make sure delegates can contextualise the new techniques to their roles.
  • But most importantly, I help them overcome their negative beliefs.  Right there and then in the training room.

Job done.

Want to learn more? 

"Marcus uses these three magic letters, NLP, to cut to the core of what pitching (and good business) is all about. Influencing People."

Melanie Portelli.  New Business Director.  Saatchi & Saatchi.

CALL ME

Mobile: 0488428899

EMAIL ME

marcus@nlpartners.com.au