Do you love product pitches, or hate them? Get high off the adrenalin-filled moments before you walk into a room of retailers, or spend the entire week running over every awkward pause or poorly worded phrase?
Whatever your stance on product pitches, they’re a part of business. And if we have to do them, we may as well do them well. Whether you want to top up your pitching skills, or simply make the whole thing a little easier, there are many ways generative AI can offer a helping hand.
In this article, you’ll be learning about how generative AI can help boost product pitches to retailers, that could just be the difference between a ‘maybe next time’ and ‘I’ll take 100.’
Presentations that leap off the page
When you’re developing a pitch, constructing a presentation to act as your central ‘jumping off point’ is often the first step. But did you know there are online templates you can use as a PPT maker that combine easy-to-edit PowerPoint templates with generative AI functions? Insert your company logo, brand colours and fonts across the presentation formatting, and you’re up and running with a not-so-blank canvas.
These AI presentation makers can turn stifled, dreary slides into dynamic, 3D experiences that will captivate your audience, and provide a compelling foundation for your pitch. You can even collaborate with colleagues on the same presentation file, to ensure everyone’s creativity is utilised.
Pitches personalised to your audience
Apart from captivating graphic design, how else can generative AI create more engaging, personalised pitches? Well, AI-assisted personalisation can be as surface-level as repeating personal or company names to retain focus, up to a full analysis of retailer data which shapes your entire pitching strategy.
The more tailored your pitch can be to a retailer, the more likely they are to pay attention. Use AI to record past product preferences, market trends, and customer demographics, then, use this information to weave a narrative that appeals to the retailer in explaining why your product fits the bill – or gap – or demand. Generative AI has already been implemented in retail for customers through intuitive search and hyper-personalisation, such as by allowing customers to virtually ‘try on’ products so they can see exactly how great something looks on them. Show retailers you’re ahead of the curve by similarly personalising your pitches.
Bespoke content creation
If you’re not a fan of public speaking, or you know that written communication isn’t your strong suit, generative AI can help you out. Provide AI content creation services such as Chat-GPT with an overview of the key selling points of your product, then prompt it to draft a compelling speech. Or, provide it with your website’s product page, and ask it to summarise the most important information into digestible bullet points.
You’ll need to tweak and tailor the responses of course, but this can often become a much more approachable way to plan what you’re going to say, or the text you’re going to display, rather than starting from scratch. You can also prompt AI to create (or edit your own) text to make your language more persuasive, direct or clear, and stop retailers snoozing off during your pitch!
Immersive visual aids
If you’re selling an idea, visual aids can go a long way in helping retailers understand the vision. Generative AI is quickly developing its capabilities in image generation, which not only saves you from the licensing fees of commercial photography but also allows you to keep tweaking an image until it looks exactly how you want it.
You can also create simulations of your product being sold in retail stores, to help drive the imagery into an easily imagined reality. Think about showcasing your product in action, too. A product demonstration video like this one can showcase the potential of your product and service to real-world users, with far more impact than a verbal explanation, since retailers can watch and understand for themselves.
Simulated real-time scenarios & case studies
Ever been in a situation where someone asked you a question at the end of a pitch, and you didn’t know the answer? Mortifying, right? Generative AI can keep you from stumbling over your words and instead provide you with a confident way of responding to imagined or unknown scenarios.
Using market data, customer trends and other insights, you can quickly mock up sales projections that are backed by scientific analysis, rather than an educated (and ultimately biased) guess. No matter how persuasive you are, retailers are used to working with salespeople. Generative AI operates without an agenda, so they’re much more likely to be interested in promising, data-driven proposals responding to real-time statistics than punchy catchphrases and charming people skills.
Signposting your business’ adaptability
Whilst all these features are sure to boost your product pitches, they also signify to retailers that you’re up to speed with technological advancements in business. The fact is that generative AI is here to stay, so companies who adapt faster and learn to incorporate it into their daily operations, such as pitches, are highlighting their ability to keep up with innovations.
Retailers should already be aware that generative AI can help boost personalisation in the industry – which customers are increasingly expecting when shopping for products. A company that is using generative AI to personalise pitches is almost certainly one that will be able to apply the same practice to its target market. Provided what you’re offering ticks all the boxes, a well-crafted pitch that uses generative AI to sell a product, will inevitably end up selling the company too – which is essential for long-term retail partnerships.
Using Generative AI to boost product pitches
From drafting your initial presentation plans to demonstrating your business as a forward-thinking, innovative brand, we’ve covered how artificial intelligence can act as your sharpest wingman.
Let’s recap how you can use generative AI to produce more engaging, dynamic and relevant pitches to retailers you want to work with:
- Colourful, modern presentation templates that allow for easy editing and collaboration
- Using thorough analysis of retailer data to create compelling, personalised pitches
- Written content ideas and drafts of speeches that cater to retailer audience
- Image and video generation to produce immersive scenarios and product demonstrations
- Data-driven sales projections compiled from real-time market information
- Marketing your company as up-to-date and on the pulse with wider AI innovations
As you can see, generative AI is a tool that can streamline and improve processes, especially when it comes to product pitching for retailers. Try a few of these tricks for your next presentation, and see if you notice a difference.
