You will have 30 min 1:1 meetings with corporate reps as a way to practice and get feedback on your pitch and how you deliver it. A sales expert will possibly sit in on one of the meetings and debrief with you after the pitch to give feedback.
We highly suggest that you do not talk at the customer for the first meeting, but rather keep it conversational and only go into detail on the parts they have questions about or are more interested in learning about within your deck once you’ve given them the high level overview.
You do not -- and should not -- create a custom pitch for a customer on the 1st meeting. The best pitches are generic and thin. They succinctly and quickly explain (in this order):
What You Do (Should be evident in the first few moments)
How You Do It (This is where most entrepreneurs fail. Either in not explaining this quickly enough or not explaining it succinctly. Put this near the top, and get the articulation clear and simple).
How You are Different (Lay out clear differentiation from alternatives).
Visual is always better than non-visual.
If possible use comparables. For example, “It’s like ebay, but cheaper.” Also, show case studies of when it had been successful if possible.
Lastly, and most importantly, make sure to include the Team’s background and experience
Make the core presentation simple and short. And then stop, and start listening to the questions that come at you. Review the First Meeting section of Kris Duggan’s How to Get Your First 10 Customers Guide or watch his Video: KRIS DUGGAN'S HOW TO GET TO YOUR FIRST 10 CUSTOMERS to get a sense of the questions you can ask. Good standard questions are:
Is this of interest? If not, what is?
Tell Me More…
Why…
Then have a deep appendix you can reference in response to the questions as they come up.
For the Customer Summit, come prepared with your Pain & Vision Slides and your Customer Discovery / Development Interview questions, this will form the backbone of your sales pitch.