Master Business Pitching Skills – Avoid Top Pitch Preparation Mistakes
February 06, 2024
Updated 16 December 2025
Do you want to improve your pitching skills? What is best practice for pitch preparation? How do you avoid business pitching mistakes? How do you improve your pitch preparation skills? How can business pitch training help you?
Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball
Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London. Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page.
Why Better Pitching Skills Matter
When you pitch in business, you want to be good, if not great. Your first pitch meeting might be your only chance to make a lasting impression.
The good news is: pitching in business is a skill that anyone can learn. With polished business pitching skills you are on your way to a more successful future.
Mastering the art of the business pitch can set a you apart from competitors. The perfect pitch does more than just introduce a business idea; it communicates the core value proposition in a way that resonates with potential investors or clients.
Whether you’re in a formal investor meeting or delivering an elevator pitch to potential customers on the fly, a well-structured pitch should capture attention, spark interest, and answer key questions before they’re even asked.
What does good pitch preparation look like?
1. Know your audience
The first step in creating a winning pitch is to know your audience. Think about the specific needs of your target: what pain points can your product or service solve?
2. Talk about benefits
For investor pitches, highlight the business model and competitive advantage early on. Investors want to see a clear path to profitability and evidence that the business plan is solid, while potential clients want to understand how your offering can directly benefit them. Addressing these factors head-on shows that you’ve thought through the details and are prepared for potential questions about your unique solution.
3. Clarify, Simplify, Explain
When pitching, clarity is essential – an essential skill. Avoid industry jargon, keep it concise, and only cover the most important points that align with your target audience.
4. Practise
Practice delivering the pitch until it flows naturally. By fine-tuning your presentation skills, you’ll appear confident and knowledgeable, which can be as important as the content of the pitch itself.
5. Use Storytelling
Finally, don’t overlook the power of storytelling. Sharing a quick case study, describing a success story, or explaining your journey can make the business idea more relatable.
A perfect business pitch combines facts, figures, and human interest in a way that leaves a lasting impression, so that your audience sees the potential for success as clearly as you do.
Top 13 Mistakes in Business Pitch Preparation
Let’s review each of these top tips in more detail:
1. Pitch Preparation Advice: Not preparing enough
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when pitching is not preparing enough.
A well-prepared pitch will be tailored to your specific audience. You will have run through it multiple times. You will have used a critical audience to tear your pitch apart and put it back together again. This means you need a clear understanding of your audience, their interests and concerns. You should be as prepared as a tennis player is when playing Wimbledon.
A good pitch helps your audience – whether it’s your customer or your board – with their needs. If you understand their needs, you can write a well targeted document. A badly written pitch document makes assumptions about what your audience might want. So, stop assuming and make sure your pitch is written to reflect what you know your audience wants to hear.
Creating an effective pitch is an essential skill for anyone presenting a new business idea. A compelling pitch does more than explain what your product or service does; it captures your audience’s attention, clarifies your unique solution, and demonstrates the full potential of your idea within the target market.
Whether it’s an elevator pitch or a detailed product pitch, the goal is to transform a complex concept into something that resonates instantly with investors or clients.
How to Avoid It:
To avoid this mistake, for a successful business pitch start by researching your target and tailor your pitch to their interests and concerns. Then, set clear goals for your pitch. Identify the key messages you want to get across and the outcomes you want to achieve.
Finally, practice your business pitch several times, making sure you grab attention at every stage. And prepare for an interactive pitch meeting, not a boring presentation.
To become really successful at pitching, look at our presentation and pitch coaching. You’ll transform your pitching skills.
2. Not having a clear story
Stories are a powerful way to communicate. They link facts together into a logical sequence and they have a natural rhythm that makes them a pleasure to read. Even the driest pitch document can be told as a story. When you write a business pitch, does your pitch contain enough stories?
One powerful tool to enhance your chances of success is storytelling. Case studies, short examples, or even personal anecdotes can bring your pitch to life, giving your audience a practical glimpse into how your solution works and why it matters.
Combining these elements with visuals can simplify complex concepts and ensure that each point lands effectively. The right visuals don’t just support your message—they make it memorable and engaging, taking your pitch to the next level.
3. Reading from Notes or Slides
Another common business pitching mistake to avoid is reading directly from notes or slides. This will make you sound robotic and uninspired. It will also make it difficult to connect with your audience and build rapport.
How to Avoid It:
To avoid this mistake, memorise your key points and only use your notes or slides as a guide. Even better, never even look at your slides. Let any visual aids be for the audience’s benefit, not yours.
Practice your business pitch enough times so that you feel comfortable enough to speak without relying on your notes. This will help you connect with your target and make your pitch feel more natural and conversational.
4. Focusing Too Much on Yourself
It’s easy to get caught up in your own nerves and concerns when pitching in business. However, if you focus too much on yourself, you risk losing your target’s attention and interest.
How to Avoid It:
To avoid these pitching mistakes, shift your focus away from yourself and onto your target. Talk about the value you are bringing to them and how you will create a great future for them.
Remember, the goal of your presentation pitch is to give your target a better future – whatever you are pitching in business. Your goal is NOT to showcase your own skills.
Why Pick Benjamin Ball Associates for Your Coaching
At Benjamin Ball Associates, we’ve been coaching business people to improve their business communication skills for over 15 years. Our coaching is fast and effective. We work with individuals and with companies, one-to-one and in groups. Call us today to learn more.
“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”
One of the most common mistakes you can make when pitching is failing to grab their attention. If your target is disengaged, they are less likely to like you and less likely to believe in you.
Psychologists have shown that our unconscious brain makes decisions faster than our conscious brain. That means you want to appeal to the unconscious brain from the start.
To avoid this pitching mistake, make sure your pitch meeting is interactive and engaging. For example, you could ask your target questions, encourage discussion, and use examples to make your points more relatable. Use Power Language throughout. By having a conversation with your target, you’ll keep them interested and motivated to take action.
6. Saying Too Much
When giving a pitch, it’s tempting to tell them everything they might want to know. But the more you say, the more complex your story becomes. The best pitch stories are clear, simple and compelling. But it’s hard work to simplify complicated business stories.
It is easy to say too much. It’s tougher to be succinct, engaging and compelling. People like reading short, pithy, powerful documents. So get someone to re-write it so it’s all very easy for your investor to read and for you to talk about.
How to Avoid It:
To avoid this mistake, simplify your pitch story. Make it as simple as you can. You’d be surprised how basic some of the best business stories are.
Creating this simple story is probably one of the hardest aspects of a great pitch. We’ve helped hundreds of firms with this and we use ourmessaging cracker process to get great results.
7. Speaking Too Quickly
Speaking too quickly is a trap many people, especially when nervous, fall into. This can make it difficult for your audience to follow your presentation, and can make you appear nervous or unprepared.
How to Avoid It:
To avoid this mistake, don’t just speak slower. Instead, speak at your usual pace, but add a pause every 6-10 words. Use shorter sentences. Use simpler words. And put more energy into your delivery. With this you will be much more impressive when you pitch.
8. Ignoring your audience
Another common mistake when pitching in business is to ignoring the needs and interests of your audience. If you’re not tailoring your pitch to the target’s expectations, you risk losing their attention and failing to make a connection.
Your target should be the star of your pitch, not you. Your audience does not want to hear about how great you are. They want to know what you can do for them. Check your pitch and see how many times the pitch says ‘we’ vs. ‘you’. How many ‘we’ or ‘I’ can be replaced with ‘you’s?
A good pitch is not about you. Instead, it’s about the target, their needs, and how you can help them. Anything else is just a brochure. So, go through your pitch and work out if your audience will feel as if they are the centre of your universe. If not, get someone to re-write it.
How to Avoid It:
Take time to understand your target’s needs and interests before you start preparing your pitch. Tailor your pitch to meet those needs by talking about the most relevant and important information. Use examples and stories that your investor can relate to and engage with. And ask questions. Lots of them.
9. Using jargon and technical language
While it may be tempting to use technical language and jargon to sound more knowledgeable and credible, this will backfire and alienate your audience. The most impressive entrepreneurs use the simplest language. Avoid this obvious pitching mistake.
Stories are a powerful way to communicate. They link facts together into a logical sequence and they have a natural rhythm that makes them a pleasure to read and hear. Even the driest pitch document can be told as a story. Does your pitch contain enough stories?
How to avoid it:
Use clear and concise language that is easy to understand. Avoid using technical terms and jargon unless you are absolutely sure that your audience understands them.
Use analogies, stories and metaphors to help explain complex ideas in a more accessible way. Imagine you are speaking to a 15 year-old when pitching in business. (Yes, it sounds counter-intuitive, but just try it. It works!)
10. Relying too much on slides
It’s easy to get caught up in your slides and forget about your audience. Many people pitching spend too much time working on their slides and even reading their slides, rather than chatting with their audience. This can lead to a disengaged target and a lacklustre presentation.
How to Avoid It:
Remember, your slides are a tool, not the main event. Use your slides to support your message, rather than relying on them to carry your pitch. Keep your slides simple and uncluttered, with only a few key points on each.
Instead of working on your slides, think about your target. Make eye contact, use body language to emphasise your message, and aim to build a connection. By putting your audience first, you’ll create a more engaging and memorable pitch. Imagine you are explaining your business and looking for a fit between their needs and your needs.
11. Confusing features with benefits
The second rule of sales (after ‘know your client’) is stress the benefits. Where features are listed it shows either laziness or that you do not understand investor needs well enough. Make sure every feature about your offer is turned into a benefit.
12. Making it hard for your target
Is your pitch a pleasure to read?
Is it summarised well?
Does each part push the story forward?
If not, you have not made it easy for the audience. Find someone to re-write, re-structure and re-edit until your document is as easy to read as a newspaper.
13. Not rehearsing enough
One of the most common business pitch mistakes is not rehearsing enough. Rehearsing your pitch is critical to ensuring that you deliver it smoothly and confidently.
Delivery is as important as content. Practice maintaining eye contact, use a confident tone of voice, and be mindful of pacing. Small details, like your tone, can reinforce confidence and clarity in your message.
Even the best ideas need a great presentation to unlock their potential. The next time you deliver a pitch, focus on these nuances to build rapport and ensure your audience sees the market opportunity as vividly as you do.
How to avoid it:
Practice, practice, practice: Rehearse your pitch multiple times to ensure that you are comfortable with the content and delivery. Use video: Record yourself practising your pitch and watch the footage to identify areas for improvement.
The next step is refinement. With each pitch, evaluate what worked, what didn’t, and how to make it even stronger. Testing new ideas, receiving feedback, and fine-tuning delivery can help transform a good pitch into a great one. Mastering these skills will not only improve your chances of winning support but also build a foundation for all future pitches.
Get critical feedback: Ask someone to listen to your pitch and provide constructive feedback on your content and delivery. Like this you can avoid pitching mistakes.
What Next To Prepare a Winning Business Pitch
The best way get a winning pitching skills is through practise and with feedback. We can help accelerate this process with intensive presentation and pitch coaching. We’ve been preparing pitch decks and pitches for over 15 years.
Why Choose Us: Transform your pitches and presentations with tailored coaching
We can help you present brilliantly.Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too.
“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”
Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky
For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice for leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We’ll help you improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.
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Unlock your full potential and take your presentations to the next level.
Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.
A great pitch is clear, concise and compelling. You should be able to explain your idea in a way anyone can understand, why it matters and what action you want the listener to take.
How do I prepare before pitching?
Start by knowing your audience. Research who you’re pitching to and tailor your message to their priorities. Then, write and refine your script around: – problem you’re solving – your solution – benefits for the investor – evidence to back up your claims
Should I memorise my pitch word for word?
No. Your pitch should be a conversation, not a monologue. Memorising will make you sound rigid. Better to learn the structure and key points so you can speak naturally. Practise until you can deliver the core message confidently without reading.
How important is storytelling in a pitch?
Very. People remember stories, not facts. Use a simple narrative: outline the challenge, show your idea, and explain the outcome. Tell stories about customers or results to connect emotionally.
What role does body language play?
A big one. Your body language shows confidence. Stand or sit tall, make eye contact and use open gestures. Avoid crossing arms, fidgeting or looking at notes too often.
How can I improve my delivery?
Record yourself and listen back. Notice pace, tone and clarity. Aim for a calm pace — not too fast, not too slow. Practise pausing after key points to let them land. Or work with a coach.
What if I get nervous?
Most people do. Use simple techniques to calm your nerves: – breathe slowly before you start – practise regularly – visualise a positive outcome You can also reframe nerves as excitement — it gives your voice energy.
How should I handle questions?
Think of questions as part of the conversation. Listen fully before answering. If you don’t know the answer, be honest and offer to follow up.
How long should my pitch be?
Keep it as short as it needs to be and no longer. A typical elevator pitch should be 60 to 90 seconds. For deeper discussions, plan a short overview followed by detail only when asked.
How can I make my pitch more persuasive?
Use proof: data, testimonials or case studies. Show credible evidence that your idea works or that you understand the market.
How do I follow up after a pitch?
Send a short summary and next steps within 24 hours. Reference key points you discussed and clearly state what you want the next action to be.
Can feedback help improve my pitching?
Feedback is one of the fastest ways to improve. Ask trusted peers to watch your pitch and give honest comments. Adjust based on what helps your message land more clearly.
What common mistakes should I avoid?
– Too much detail too soon – Talking only about features not benefits – Ignoring your audience’s needs – Speaking too fast – Not practising ahead of time
If you’d like help sharpening your pitch, explore our coaching and resources at Benjamin Ball Associates.
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