IIMB PGP 2018-20 - Managerial Communication 2 General Brief: Persuasive Pitch

Making a Persuasive Business Pitch

Assignment Brief: General [Specific Briefs/Topics will be given separately]

In business, we constantly seek to persuade colleagues, managers, prospects, clients,

suppliers, and other stakeholders to buy, sell or do something to further our business
interests. In other words, we are constantly pitching. Pitches could range from large-scale
business proposals to sales promotions to routine informal offers to colleagues and
associates in the course of our daily business life. Good business pitches are often the
products of well-coordinated teamwork.

In MC2–S-09, you are required to make a persuasive pitch to one or more target audiences
that you are familiar with and understand – namely, any or all of students, staff,
administration and/or faculty (families included) that constitute the IIMB community.

You will work in teams, with a topic assigned to each team. The topic will describe a
product, service, or idea that you would pitch for on behalf of your company or
organisation. These products or services have been chosen to be reasonably relevant to
one or more of the segments of the IIMB community.

Your assignment is to persuade your audience to buy into your idea, product or service.
Your pitch will be driven by a central presentation (with or without the use of presentation
aids as you decide) of what you have to offer and the related benefits and value proposition
to the prospects in the audience. The emphasis should be on your persuasive skills in
convincing and satisfying the audience about your proposition.

Assumptions may be made on company name, brand name of product/service, features,

technologies, pricing, consumer insights, etc. However, these have to be in the realm of
practicality and cannot be fantastic (For e.g. statements such as “This revolutionary new
laptop computer priced at Rs. 1,000/-”, or “Our magic comb improves your memory while
combing”, etc. are not acceptable). Please note that these are serious business
presentations; no skits please.

Methodology

Each team will comprise three (3) or four (4) members, and all of them need to be present
on stage and participate in the presentation as well as the interaction. Please plan your
respective roles so that you come across as a cohesive team. Team-wise Topics will be
notified to you in advance.

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IIMB PGP 2018-20 - Managerial Communication 2 General Brief: Persuasive Pitch

The time limit for the entire pitch is a maximum of seven (7) minutes (excluding Q&A),
and nine (9) minutes for teams of four. Each member of the team is required to speak for
approximately 2 minutes. The specified time limit is the outer limit and not extendable;
the team will need to make a hard stop immediately on the completion of eight minutes,
irrespective of the status of your pitch. Interlaced speaker sequencing (e.g. S1-S2-S1-S3-
S1) is not permitted.

The Q&A/interaction will be driven by your instructor and guest evaluator, with the
participation of the rest of the class.

You may use presentation aids of your choice, including handouts or props. Or you may
choose not to use any aids at all – it is entirely up to you. You may dress as appropriate
in your judgment for the occasion.

Evaluation of your Pitch will be carried out by an external Guest Evaluator as well as your
Instructor. The evaluation will be team-based and all members will receive the same score.
Broadly, you will be evaluated on:
 Strength of the value proposition
 Persuasive content and communication
 Creativity and Innovation
 Team effort
 Audience appeal
 Handling interaction and questions
 Overall effectiveness

A proforma feedback and evaluation sheet is on the page that follows.

The final measure of overall effectiveness of your persuasive ability will be determined by
our assessment of the question: “How many of us (the target audience) are ready to say
‘Yes’ to buying what you have to offer?”

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 Persuasive Pitch Presentation Feedback
IIMB PGP 2017-19 Managerial Communication - 2

Section F Cohort Team No. Date

Topic, Product or Service Roll No. Name

Evaluator Name
Comments
E G S NI P

Value Proposition
IIMB PGP 2018-20 - Managerial Communication 2

Creativity & Innovation

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Persuasive Ability

Managing Interaction

Audience Appeal

Team Effort
General Brief: Persuasive Pitch

Overall Effectiveness

Legend: E = Excellent, G = Good, S= Satisfactory, NI = Needs Improvem

Score :