How to Give A Killer Pitch with Precious L. Williams (The Killer Pitch Master)

Are you ready to master the art of delivering a captivating pitch? Today, I'm thrilled to have a conversation with none other than Precious L. Williams, renowned as The Killer Pitch Master.

Precious talks about her extensive knowledge of infusing life and personality into her pitching style. Known for her dynamic and spellbinding presentation techniques, Precious shares invaluable insights on how to engage and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, a seasoned professional, or simply looking to add excitement to your brand messaging, this episode is a treasure trove of game-changing strategies. It's time to break free from the ordinary and set yourself apart.

Prepare for an electrifying conversation set to change the way you approach the art of pitching and branding.

Here are the highlights from this episode:

11:06 - Precious’ Shark Tank experience

20:23 - How to deliver a good pitch

27:58 - Pitching tips for coaches to grow their brand

31:37 - Common pitching mistakes

33:32 - Pitching tips for introverts

35:02 - The importance of testimonials when building a brand

38:27 - Precious’ badass superpower

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star rating along with a brief review.

About Me
Hey there, I'm Joelly - the Branding Badass. My badass superpower is helping you build a brand that matters. From branded merch to brand consulting, when you work with me, you get results!

Need help creating brand awareness?
Learn more here BADASS MERCH

Let's stay connected!

instagram - @Branding_Badass
linkedIn - Joelly Goodson
website - BrandingMatters.ca
email - jgoodson@genumark.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] Joelly: Hi, I'm Joelly, your branding badass. And welcome to another edition of Branding Matters, a podcast I created and host to help you build brand equity for your business. Today I'm sitting down with the one and only Precious L. Williams, famously known as the Killer Pitch Master. During our incredible conversation, Precious shares her expertise on how to bring life and personality to your pitching game.

[00:00:29] Joelly: Known for her dynamic and captivating presentation style, Precious provides invaluable insights on how to captivate your audience and stand out from the crowd. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a professional, or someone looking to spice up your brand messaging, this episode is filled with game changing strategies to break free from the mundane and leave a lasting impact.

[00:00:50] Joelly: Get ready for an electrifying conversation that promises to revolutionize the way you approach pitching and branding. Precious, welcome to Branding Matters.

[00:01:00] Precious: I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

[00:01:02] Joelly: Oh I am super excited to have you here. I love your energy. You know, I've seen you interview quite a few times and I've seen some videos and your energy is just completely contagious.

[00:01:13] Joelly: So thank you for taking the time. I know you are super busy. So thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to be here. So let's dive right in because we have a ton to cover. First question I have for you is, What does the L in Precious L. Williams stand for?

[00:01:30] Precious: I love the way you're already starting.The L is for LaTanya. LaTanya. Precious LaTanya Williams. I'm named after my grandmother, but our middle names are very different.

[00:01:39] Joelly: Okay. The reason I asked you is because some people, when they have a name, and with Google and with algorithms, they change it up slightly. They add something to it just so it's different.

[00:01:49] Joelly: And it sometimes doesn't even mean anything. So, I was just curious. So, thank you for sharing that. Alright. Well, I'm going to get right into it. You know, I've heard you describe your childhood [00:02:00] as dark and abusive, and you've experienced terrible abuse, both physically and emotionally. Your father was a drug addict.

[00:02:08] Joelly: Your mother has almost beat you to death. You're very open about this, so I hope you're okay with me starting with this.

[00:02:15] Joelly: Okay, great. Well, I really appreciate it, first of all, for your openness. Do you mind sharing a bit about how old you were when that experience with your mom happened? But more importantly, how did you overcome that to become the success that you are today?

[00:02:27] Precious: I got to tell you, I was just in Chicago keynoting a conference and my college classmate said something so important. It's going to relate to this question. She said, a long time ago, you were so in your pain, it was very difficult to talk to you.

[00:02:45] Precious: She said, but I watch you on stage and you've reframed your pain into power. And I thought, I was like, Ooh, I never heard it explained like that. So growing up was very, very difficult as, as you could imagine. I mean, learning that my mother wanted to leave me at the hospital. [00:03:00] After giving birth to me and always knowing she just never liked me or being put down all the time in comparison to my light skinned green eyed sister.

[00:03:08] Precious: It was so difficult and yet I just thought I was a star. I don't know how to explain it. I knew I was going to make it. I knew that I was signing my autograph when I was a little girl. I knew I'd be on a billboard in Times Square. That makes no sense if you're in the hood of St. Louis. And, you know, knowing that my father was, wasn't still as a drug addict, it was hard.

[00:03:29] Precious: It was hard. And even as I look back, there's, there's a part of me that can't go so deep. It was really, really difficult. And I, I can only explain to you that as I got older. I had to confront what happened, even if my parents could never say I'm sorry, or even if I never felt their apology. I really feel like I was put on this earth for a specific reason.

[00:03:53] Precious: Because I truly believe that most people don't feel seen, I don't think they feel heard. I think that we're sold a bill of [00:04:00] goods by society, you should look, sign, and act like Hollywood. And if you don't, you're going to find yourself alone and want to 44 years old. I'm a black woman. I have some meat on my bones, so I know what it's like to feel unwanted, unloved and uncared for.

[00:04:13] Precious: And at some point I was going to have to love me in order to love on my clients and my customers. And to be like, as much as you want that perfect life, it doesn't exist. What does exist is the very things they say that's wrong with you or actually what's right. There are more of us who've been through hell than those who've always had it.

[00:04:31] Precious: So embrace it and you will find ways out of situations that people who've never been through trauma, drama, stress ever will. And in the last 3, 4, 5 years with the pandemic, economic downturn, inflation, recession, Baby, I've eaten out of garbage cans. Baby, I've gone to hell and back. This is light work now.

[00:04:46] Joelly: Well, first of all, I just want to say you are the epitome of a badass. You can see on my t shirt I have badass on here called myself the branding badass or I rebranded myself because I'd gone through some challenges in my life, [00:05:00] especially starting in 2015, really, and kind of hit rock bottom or so what I thought was rock bottom.

[00:05:05] Joelly: I mean, Nothing compared to what you went through and I, I don't think we can compare each other's successes or each other's challenges or failures to other people. Right? It's just, it was my path and what I had to do to rise above it. And, you know, I say badass is someone who gets knocked down 10 times, but get ups 15 times.

[00:05:22] Joelly: So when I learned about your story, I'm like, If there was ever a badass on this earth, it is you precious. So it's just incredible. And the other thing too is I've had other guests on my show, some very successful people who've also experienced childhood trauma as well. And the interesting thing is that no matter how successful they have become.

[00:05:43] Joelly: That childhood trauma, if you never deal with it, it never leaves you. So what people see, and they see this incredibly vivacious, exciting, successful woman, not knowing the backstory. I would say if you don't know the what, why behind the what, it goes with you. Because [00:06:00] of you, when you were born, you said your mom wanted to leave you at the hospital and didn't want to raise you.

[00:06:04] Joelly: Do you think there's a part of you that the reason you're so driven for success is because you, from a little kid, tried to earn love by being the best and being perfect? What's your take on that?

[00:06:16] Precious: I definitely believe that's what happened and honestly, I had to get the world to love me. I thought if the world would love me, my parents would.

[00:06:24] Precious: And that's a very childlike thought. But I think a lot of, I think a lot of people who are driven, something happened where they might've felt unwanted or not seen. I mean, I wasn't a pretty little girl or pretty teenage. I just didn't feel it. Yet there was something to me that said, I have something that they don't have.

[00:06:45] Precious: I have real talent. And even if I couldn't understand what my talent was, because you know, it's developed over time. I'm a former attorney. I didn't even feel seen with that. I was an award winning, but still I didn't feel seen the way. I [00:07:00] wanted to be seen. And so you're, you know, badass. I mean, I actually won the 2020 badass business woman of the year.

[00:07:08] Precious: So I will always love that.

[00:07:10] Joelly: We're going to get you a tshirt.

[00:07:10] Precious: Oh, I got to have a t shirt represent as well. But the thing is when I finally embraced everything, like, yeah, I was unwanted. Yeah. I'll let that happen. Run tell it because I'm gonna tell it first now. I'm not gonna allow the past to hold me in a choke hold I'm not gonna let the fact that I have tiger stripes.

[00:07:31] Precious: I'm not gonna let the fact that I don't look a certain way Hold me back because I would I think that's what holds back what 90 percent of people. How about this news flash? It's a plot twist. Let's flip the script. That's the only way they tell you you can make it Then you'll start to understand why people like me get hated on so much by people, because you broke the mold when they couldn't and they believed it.

[00:07:53] Precious: And I just don't believe it. I believe that you can see that we're in a different day and time than my grandparents. Your [00:08:00] grandparents are like, we're in a different day and time. I'm gonna seize every opportunity and it's a time point. Can we be honest? It took time. Oh yeah, of course. The social media version is always.

[00:08:11] Precious: Oh, I had an idea and I was in a Lambo and then I was dating the most exotical. I was dating an Adonis and you know, I'm flued out. I'm like, okay, it didn't happen in four days. It took a little bit longer than that. And that's why I appreciate it so much more. I have a foundation.

[00:08:30] Joelly: I totally get that. And, you know, you talk about social media. I mean, the reality is, you have to take social media for what it's worth. And I think anyone out there realizes that.

[00:08:38] Precious: And I don't think they do. I don't think they do. I don't. I honestly think that fake is so much more appealing than the real. I really do. I think if all you're fit is a diet of, and when I say porn, I don't mean like porn porn, I mean like, what celebrities do all day. What do influencers do all day? You looking at your life like.

[00:08:58] Joelly: But you know what? I don't [00:09:00] disagree with you. This is, we're kind of going on a bit of a tangent here, but this is really.

[00:09:02] Precious: Yeah, my bad, Queen.

[00:09:05] Joelly: You know what? That's what this podcast is all about. There's no script. It's about keeping it real. And on that vein, and you know, It's called Branding Matters and I actually love that you brought this up because branding is all about being authentic and branding is how you connect with the people you're trying to serve is by being authentic and is by being vulnerable and I think one of the reasons you're probably as successful as you are is because you are so open with your story.

[00:09:28] Joelly: You know, people do know the back story and you are being vulnerable. And I think that's what is helping you be more successful. And we talk about that with brands all the time and whether it's a personal brand or corporate brand, maybe people were liking the whole glossy look, but I think it is changing. think there's more of a demand for that.

[00:09:45] Precious: I can agree. I can certainly agree with that. I can certainly agree with that. That things are changing. I just know our young people. It takes a lot longer time. And that's up to us. I think women and men of a certain age. [00:10:00] Okay. We already know.

[00:10:02] Joelly: Yeah, you know, it's interesting when you talk about demographics, I think the older generation, they are the ones that have the facade because they used to like, don't, you know, men don't cry and don't show your emotion and be very professional.

[00:10:15] Precious: What happens here stays here. That's why you're all sick now.

[00:10:18] Joelly: Yeah, no, right? But that's the older generation. I think the younger ones coming up, they want more realness, more authenticity and everything else. So I'm hopeful that it's going to change and I'm starting to see it and, you know, brands are stepping on board.

[00:10:31] Joelly: And honestly, when I did my research about you and learn more about your past and what you went through, instantly that tugged at my heartstrings and made me more attracted to you and, you know, that connection, right? And that's why I'm very open with my story too. I was talking to someone the other day and I was talking about the period I went through and I was so insecure and she's like, you?

[00:10:47] Joelly: I'm like, yes. I said my self-esteem took a nose eye when I went through all my shit. Pardon of my French, right? Yes. We're human. So thank you for being so open and for sharing that. I really appreciate. It says a [00:11:00] lot about who you are today. So let's talk about something fun and exciting and I wanna hear about your experience on Shark Tank.

[00:11:05] Joelly: Like, when were you on Chantel? Girl? Girl, what? Okay, so Inquiring Minds wanna know.

[00:11:13] Precious: Oh my goodness. First of all, so when were you on, first of all, Season eight in 2016, I flew out September 11th, we filmed September, was it 15th or 16th? They came and did a home visit. That's how I knew I made it. Cause I said, I'm the anchor of the show because I had the home visit.

[00:11:30] Joelly: Tell me about the, how did you even get on? What was the story?

[00:11:33] Precious: A few of my clients had already been on and been successfully funded. Cause you know, create their pitches, right? Yeah. And you know what people do and you'll never be on Shark Tank. I was like, if I play my chords, right. I'll be on. And I always wanted to do a private audition.

[00:11:47] Precious: I didn't want to stand in line, none of that sort of thing, crazy to even think that way, but that's how I felt. So I got a phone call from the producers. Yeah. I had a private audition, and I pitched Curvy Girl. It was my company at the time, Curvy [00:12:00] Girl's Lingerie, the ultimate shopping experience, full, big and deep, plus size, especially.

[00:12:05] Precious: And I remember, like, right afterwards, they were like, Okay, you have to fill out the application because we'd love to have you. And they sent that plane ticket. My business coach at the time, she flew out because she didn't want me to, you know, be there by myself. Even though she couldn't be on set or anything with me.

[00:12:20] Precious: I was also filming a movie at the same time. It was called Coaching Movie. And they changed the name to Leap. So there was so much happening at that time. So it was double filming. I get to LAX and I'm just blown. And then the PA drives you to this hotel, Culver City. And I couldn't believe it. I swear I could not believe it.

[00:12:39] Precious: And then when we were driven to Sony Picture Studios, Jeopardy, like I was just crazy. I thought I was like,

[00:12:47] Joelly: You're pinching yourself going, is this happening?

[00:12:49] Precious: Right. And so then we did on the set and they did, they flipped the script and they did something that was just so reality. So fake reality. So reality.

[00:12:59] Precious: After y'all [00:13:00] going home today. Wait, what? Say that again. Half of y'all going home today. You're going to pitch to the big producers and they say, Oh, killer pitch, man. Dang. That's my name. They said, you're first to pitch. When I tell you my mind went blank, I swear to you, my mind was blank. I don't even get blank minds.

[00:13:16] Precious: And I had to pitch as if the sharks were there, but it was the big, big producers. When I finished, they were like, yeah, you can stay. So anyway, the set has to be put together with the lingerie and everything like that. And I remember the day we filmed, going back on that lot, going on to the set before you go on to the set.

[00:13:35] Precious: And they asked me, are you ready? My four figure divas were there. Yes, they got four figure divas from Cali. And put them in the lingerie. Make sure they went through all the, all the things. Make sure nothing popped out. And they asked me, am I ready? I was, I was born ready. I was scared out of my mind. And so that door opened, I'm walking down and then the door opens and I see the sharks.

[00:13:56] Precious: And it was like the most amazing experience because I wasn't afraid [00:14:00] then because I knew I'm gonna look each and every one of y'all in the eye. And I'm going to let you know, I'm a 13 time national pitch champion.

[00:14:10] Precious: And then action. And it just went on for an hour, hour and 15 minutes, because you only get one take. So people just think you just pitch and it's over in five minutes. No, you get one take. If you mess up, you stumble all of that. Hey, it is what it is. I didn't stumble when I finished. I said, okay, ladies, now let's get in formation.

[00:14:31] Precious: The door opened, my full figure divas came out, and it was just heartwarming to see my lingerie on there. And Mark Cuban said, You go, girl! And Robert Herjavec said, Watching you is like watching a master at their craft. Oh my God. I could've cried my eyes out. And then the questions started, and it was like a volleyball match.

[00:14:51] Precious: It was just... Going in and I never once was scared. Never. I was looking him in the eye. I'm answering these questions because I know my, I [00:15:00] know my shit. And I'm about to give you real television. I'm about to give you that drama, that energy, that funk and that noise. But I knew I didn't go there to get a deal.

[00:15:08] Precious: Oh really? Oh no. That's not something you tell producers. I really did want to show them the best in the world at what I do. Producers are there, you know, they have their role and I have mine. Mine was to teach, I am the killer pitch master. I'm gonna slay everybody. But better deals come later. And this is what you got to understand about television.

[00:15:26] Precious: So you understand about a lot of things. Some of the best investors, some of the best people you're going to meet are not the show is people who watch later and see the gold mine will offer you more. And most people will never know that. You know, your first offer you ain't taking, but you don't know. In the beginning, you're taking everything.

[00:15:43] Precious: It's like, dude, no, you got to make a compelling case. Your pitch has got to be solid, but you also have to stand and deliver and show when they come in and hit you at all angles, hit me with your best shot, cause I'm going ham on ham and cheese and put a bread and jelly on you. So remember, Damon John, I think the last one was Mark Cuban, right?

[00:16:00] Precious: So, you know, you trying to fake negotiate. I'm not negotiating, but you know, I got a fake negotiate. What game are you playing? Branding is a game. Marketing is a game. Sales is a game. And most people are playing the wrong game. And so when you're a master, it's a totally different thing. And so when Mark Cuban, I think he was the last one.

[00:16:16] Precious: He said, I'm out. I have to tell you, in that moment, tears fell from my eyes. And even the producers were like, what was wrong? And I said, I just want to prove that a black person get on this show and go head to head and never once buckle. They're like, yeah, you did that. And so that was my experience. I think Shark Tank is a wonderful show, but it can never teach you about real pitching.

[00:16:38] Precious: It can never, because there's so much that is involved. And it's a television show, so you have to understand who their audience is. Their audience is not necessarily the audience that you're really playing to. So understanding the difference between the audiences that they play to and who you play to.

[00:16:55] Precious: Even when you think about branding, I think I always think about packaging and positioning and then pitching. Because if you're just pitching and you don't know what you're doing, you sound generic to everyone. And that's horrible. So on Shark Tank, none of the shows are plus size women. Full figure divas, right?

[00:17:11] Precious: Is anybody on Shark Tank that so why would I think I could pitch because they're all related to someone who is and if you don't have your numbers, if you don't know your company backwards and forwards, you can't answer the basic of question the most and the most hardcore questions shouldn't be in this game.

[00:17:26] Joelly: But it was a great experience for you and it helped leverage your own brand and I guarantee you, you walked out of there and everybody knew who the killer pitch master was, right? And to this day it's discovered.

[00:17:35] Precious: But at the end of the day, it taught me a very valuable lesson. Curvy Girls was to introduce me as a killer picture master. And so when that was really over, the beauty remained is I'm still a killer pitch master.

[00:17:50] Joelly: Hey, it’s Joelly here. Just thought I'd check in to see if you're enjoying the show so far. Have you learned anything new? Are you excited to build your brand and skyrocket your profits? You know, they don't call me the brand name badass for nothing. For more than 20 years, I've been helping businesses like yours unlock their brand's untapped potential. And on January 1st, 2021, I launched Branding Matters as a way for you to have free access to some of the world's most brilliant leaders who provide valuable branding tips to help you build your brand.

[00:18:19] Joelly: But let's be honest, information is not the answer, implementation is. So, if you want help implementing everything you're learning here, check out the link in my bio. I'm offering a free 15 minute consult, but spots are limited, so don't wait. Act now and let's see if what I have to offer will help you unlock your brand's untapped potential. Reach out to me today and let's make your brand matter. So, where'd you come up with the name Killer Pitch Master?

[00:18:43] Precious: I didn't. My last competition was Black Enterprise on May 16, 2013. And Robert Townsend from the Five Heartbeats, famous director, Black director and actor, and MC Lyte, the rap stress herself.

[00:18:57] Precious: When I won that nationwide 10,000 check, they walked up to me and they said, you are the killer pitch master. And they said, cause you slay all competition. They said, you do one in the first 10 seconds of your first pitch. You look people in the eye and you said, this money's mine. I'm about to go ahead and handle this.

[00:19:15] Precious: So let me break y'all off real quick. And they said, it was so cool watching you. But you slay, you're not afraid of anyone on stage, I don't care if they have a bigger name than you. You're like, Oh, welcome to my house. I've been doing this since I was 16. I’m 44.

[00:19:28] Joelly: The reason I asked you that question is because I think it's a great name, but also when you're building your personal brand, and we talk about differentiating yourself and standing out, I assume you're the only one out there, right?

[00:19:38] Joelly: If I look up Killer Pitch Master, and that was the same thing with me with Branding Badass. There's no other Branding Badass out there. You go out there, you can Google it. and I'll come up. And I think that's a lesson when you're trying to brand yourself. You have to really differentiate yourself in every aspect of it, whether it's your name or, you know, whatever it is that you're doing.

[00:19:55] Precious: Sometimes people say killer pitch master and people just know exactly who I am. They don't even get to precious. They're like, Oh, Precious!

[00:20:01] Joelly: Yeah. I love that. No, it's funny. I was out this summer with my boyfriend and we walked into a bar and someone goes, are you the branding badass? And he laughed and I was all, I turned red.

[00:20:10] Joelly: I'm like, Oh my God. But you know, like I said, it's. Just differentiating yourself from everybody else. Okay, let's, I want to get back to pitching because that is, you know, you're the killer pitch master. So I want to talk about pitching and the role it plays in building brands. Can you share how giving a good pitch, I guess, do you say giving a good pitch? Is that how you say offering a good pitch?

[00:20:29] Precious: Well, I look at a pitch as a performance anyway. I look at a pitch is how are you going to introduce your business, your books, your brands, your product, and a service? They get you closer to the sale or building the type of relationships where people know how to refer you, put you on blast, pitch you for profit.

[00:20:48] Precious: And so when I think about pitching, I always, I always relate it to this. Just think about the most delicious holiday meal. You're going over somebody else's house. You know, you're not cooking. You own somebody else's house. Those are the best holiday meals, aren't they? I think right. So, you know, you know, dinner's about to be served.

[00:21:03] Precious: So you start putting things on your plate. And then someone says grace. And you pick up your fork and your spoon and you stick it in the first thing that you want to have a taste of. The plate is everything that represents you. The business, the brands, the books, the products, the services, your network, your skill set, your talent, your abilities, your content.

[00:21:20] Precious: All of that great stuff. That's what that plate is. But that fourth, that juicy, juicy, juicy morsel you're about to eat, that's your pitch. A juicy morsel gives them a taste of more to come. So when you think about a pitch, what's going to hook them? What's going to give them a little taste? They're like, oh, I need a little bit more.

[00:21:40] Precious: Oh, you want a little bit more? I got you. Most of us are giving the full plate of everything about us. Nobody cares. Your name and the name of your company is irrelevant until you give me a reason to care. So never start your pitch off with your name and the name of your company. I don't care. It means nothing to me.

[00:21:56] Precious: So when you are pitching, focus on your audience and who they are related to. What is their main challenge or problem? And their words, not yours. So when you think about it, Start off with a question, a startling statistic, or a quote. I promise you, you're interrupting the pattern of boring. I can't tell you how many places I be in.

[00:22:16] Precious: My name is, this is what I do, da, da, da. I don't even care. I'm waiting for a bug to run across the floor in this nice establishment, which isn't going to happen. I'm waiting for the paint to dry because this, you're so boring. So interrupt the pattern of boring. It could be a quick little story. It could be whatever.

[00:22:31] Precious: And that's why sometimes I walk in, Lady, raise your hands if you want to be a bad bitch with the power, bitch. Raise your hands if you want to be a bad man with a masturbation plate. See, I ain't forgot nobody in this room, all of y'all want to know about pitching, but you don't want to pitch the salesy way.

[00:22:48] Precious: I want to teach you how to sell without selling, but still selling. I want to teach you how to slay all competition with a killer pitch. I want to show you how to get earned media. Cause you might not have a big PR budget, but you still need to be out there in them streets. How do you become the only choice that matters?

[00:23:03] Precious: And how do you be attracted close with E? Come see me. I'm Precious Williams, the killer pitch master, and my company is Perfect Pitches by Precious. And if you like what you've heard, you've already heard the rest, now you've heard the best. They call me the female MacGyver of business. I'd have to agree.

[00:23:20] Precious: My name is Precious Williams, proud founder and CEO. For 50 Cents by Precious, the killer creature master has arrived. You know what I'm saying? Like changing things up with the cadence and stuff like that, but I didn't tell you all that I do. I didn't tell you the 13 time anything. I didn't tell you that either.

[00:23:37] Precious: When we get into conversation, somebody is going to come out because now you want to know how to get LinkedIn, Google, Microsoft, Federal Reserve Bank, get to a quick book, HubSpot, Sirius XM is my clients and I'm black on both sides. No Brazilian butt lift, no six pack abs. Yet I've been in movies and documentaries around the world. I ain't paid for that. You know what I mean?

[00:23:54] Joelly: Okay. Yeah, I do. And I love that. I mean, holy cow. But here's the thing. I mean, what you just did was phenomenal. Is that, do you do that when you're up on stage and you're doing a presentation or if you just, hold on, hold on. If you walk into a room and I meet you for the first time and I go, hi, Precious. Nice to meet you. So what do you do?

[00:24:14] Precious: Do you just go right into that? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's why they're different pitches for different audiences. So there's still conversational pitches. And I hate being asked, what do you do? As everybody does it.

[00:24:24] Joelly: And especially you go to a networking event.

[00:24:26] Precious: I know people do it, but often I'm the speaker. So it's a, it's a different thing with me. But when having a conversation, I used to throw it back on them because I'm more interested in what they're going to say and relate something I do to what they do. So I'm paying more attention to making them the focus and not myself. So when I hear, what do you do?

[00:24:47] Precious: I'll be honest. They're telling like, you really don't care what I do. I care about what you do. Tell me a little bit more about yourself. I might bring up something like, I'm from St. Louis, right? So I'm from the show me state. So if you're bad, show me. Tell me a little bit about yourself. You know what I mean?

[00:25:02] Precious: And it just come out of them like, whoa, but I interrupted the pattern because it wouldn't matter what I do. If you don't give a f k about me, right? So let me make you the center point. When I'm doing presentations, depending on what audience I'm in front of, I can be in front of a women's group. I can be in front of a stadium.

[00:25:21] Precious: What is the theme? And build around that theme in my presentation. If I'm going to train a sales team at like LinkedIn, or they have a new SKU that they're coming out with. I need to understand what it is and break it down and build it back up. A lot of times people have a mental block before they can even do anything.

[00:25:39] Precious: So let's figure out ways to even get around it. So you truly understand. So they call me the atmosphere shifter. You freaked out. You tow up from the flow up. I'm not going to come in and say, we're going to learn pitching today. So here are the basic elements of a pitch. You don't hire me for that. The thing I want you to understand and I want other people to understand is.

[00:25:56] Precious: When I stand up and introduce myself, that's very different when you're doing a pitch and you've got 30 seconds versus when you meet someone on a bus or a train. It's totally different. You're making it conversational and making it more about them so they feel heard. And if you throw little things in there like, yeah, you know, I was just in Chicago at the ASI ASI conference?

[00:26:17] Precious: Yeah, it's about promotional products and it's more than just pens and pencils. They had all these cool things like awards, business things or whatever. Oh, work? You were speaking. Yeah, I was speaking because the promotional products industry is all around the world. But in this economy, a lot of these promo products companies feel like they have to shut down or no one's listening to them.

[00:26:36] Precious: And so what I was brought in to do was to change their perspective on who their clientele can now be. Even if the ones they've been serving before no longer have the resources or finances to be able to do it. What? Yeah. And then going a little bit deeper. It's a totally different experience. When you truly understand a conversation versus a sales pitch versus an interview versus a [00:27:00] speaker pitch versus what you post on social media, all of these are pitches, but how do you do it depends on your audience and still making their needs.

[00:27:09] Precious: More important than you saying how big and bad and bold you are. You just feed into it and make them want to learn more about you.

[00:27:17] Joelly: I love that. So let's say someone's listening and they just recently started their own business, but they're having a hard time getting it out there. You know, I meet, tell me what you think about this.

[00:27:26] Joelly: I meet so many people and I'll be like, so what do you, I do the question, but you know, you're at dinner. I was at dinner the other night. What do you do? Oh, I'm a coach. What kind of coach? I'm a personal coach. Do you know how many personal coaches I meet day and day? And I don't know what differentiates them. So let's say I'm a personal coach. I've just started my coaching.

[00:27:44] Precious: I don't even know what a personal coach is at all.

[00:27:44] Joelly: Exactly. So can you, what advice would you?

[00:27:48] Precious: I've heard life coach. I've heard like business coach. So

[00:27:50] Joelly: So what advice would you give though? If I, if you're saying, okay, if you're starting a coaching business, here's some tips to help you with a pitch to grow your brand. Go.

[00:27:58] Precious: Okay, so here's some tips that will help you if you are a coach to help you build your brand. Number one, be very specific about the coaching that you do. If you say something like personal coaching, that means nothing to me. So build a set of scene in the audience's mind of where you want them to go.

[00:28:16] Precious: So life coaches, when they say help with life and when life be life and You're going to call me in. So what does life be like? You might be depressed. Things haven't worked out well for you. You've done everything you can and you cannot move past whatever mental block or this. I'm about to pull my hair, I'm about to snatch her edges and my edges.

[00:28:35] Precious: I cannot out think, I can't think my way out of being stuck. That's a totally different way of describing life coaching than I'm a life coach. Do you show life in your pitch because you ain't showing me that right now. The second thing I want you to be able to do is as you are building that story up from quick story like snatching edges or whatever you can't think your way out of the situation, you know, you need help.

[00:29:00] Precious: You might want to talk about someone that you have helped or whoever you're, you're, I guess your avatar really is. What is your secret sauce when it comes to life coaching? Because so many people will tell you to get you out of unstuck. What was the situation you were stuck in that you got out of? Or what's the thing that someone else was stuck in and you got them out of?

[00:29:19] Precious: And what did you realize about your skill set, your talents, and your ability? What are you offering that's different from most coaches? And this is where you got to get real with people. You can do the fluff and BS. You get treated like average random and ordinary. I want you to become extraordinary as you're giving your bitch, whether it's conversational or not, have a call to action.

[00:29:39] Precious: That's really something. Do you want them to get on a call with you? Do you want to just spend time talking right now and give them a personal attention? And invite them to spend a little bit more time with you. Do you want them to talk to one of your clients? And let's say you don't have any clients. Do you have a website?

[00:29:57] Precious: Do you want them to go visit something? Is there something, a little nugget you found? And the reason why I'm saying all these things is I want people to understand pitching is not easy. You may think there's an easy formula. There's no easy formula to brand it. That's why you notice there's only certain brands that have that name recognition.

[00:30:11] Precious: For the rest of us, you've got to build it. And building isn't a cookie cutter thing. So, for the person who is the life coach or the personal coach, go deeper than that. Set a scene in their mind. And take them there and you have to do it graphically at times to give them your secret sauce. What do you do that no one else can do?

[00:30:33] Precious: And if you really are the only choice that matters, that should be evident of the time you finish. What is that unique call to action? What do you want to immediately do afterwards? Remember, whatever their challenge is, deal with. But if you make yourself sound generic. You lost the battle already. You've got to convince me, but you've got to convince yourself first.

[00:30:55] Precious: So if you're telling me what type of coach you are, like, if you're a business coach, but you don't really have a business, you can't be my coach. Period. If your life isn't something worth emulating, I'm good. And I don't want to be working with someone who's regurgitating a guru. You either become the guru, but if all you're going to do is regurgitate, I'm going to hear it immediately, just like you, Queen.

[00:31:17] Precious: When it comes to branding, you hear things, and you're like this. It goes on one ear and out the other.

[00:31:21] Joelly: Yeah, I love it. I love it. Oh my god, I love your energy and your passion. So, with that said, you've talked about some things to do that are going to help you with your pitch. Can you maybe share one or two things that you see people doing all the time that are wrong with their pitches?

[00:31:37] Precious: Girl, yeah. Here are the top things that are wrong. Okay. You're boring. Boring! Like no inspiration whatsoever, and I'm talking, I'm not even talking about for introverts. I'm talking about for everyone. Like there's just, I did this, no one's heard that. You sound boring. So add some funk and some flavor.

[00:31:55] Precious: That's why I always say, start off a different way. You've got to interrupt the pattern of boring. Number two. You really can't articulate what you do because it's not clear in your own mind. You have drank the Kool Aid of gurus. You think you can do what they do. You can create a course. You can do all these sort of things.

[00:32:11] Precious: If you have no network, what the hell are we talking about? What are we talking about? So I need you to become clearer and clearer. You have to create 150 reasons why someone should hire you, book you, refer you. The first 10, 15 you can do on your own. Start asking your network and that gets your network.

[00:32:27] Precious: And I'm talking about your trusted network. I'm going to tell my family and friends. They don't tell you if things good about you and you don't buy nothing from you. But the trusted network, like Queen, do you know why I'm hired so much as a speaker and a trainer? It was, it shocked me. Why? It shocked me. Why? My pitching's a given. They're like. Energy for sure.

[00:32:45] Joelly: Well, that doesn't surprise me.

[00:32:47] Precious: Of course, but, but, but it surprised me because I would think, oh, you know, because I've, yeah, they're, they're like, no, no, no. Oh, that's a given. Your energy from a video, your energy on stage is crazy because people don't expect that.

[00:33:00] Precious: They expect you learn. Yeah, exactly. Learn, and you come on stage. You, you rap your way to the stage. Like you are, like you a rapper, you 44. Everything that the world tells you is wrong with me is actually what's right and I'm on this stage because I defy all of that just like I need you all to defy expectations.

[00:33:18] Precious: I need you to go above and beyond. So if you want average random ordinary life, keep living the life you live. But if you really want to attract the people who are going to take you to the next level, the clients, the customers, you get those type of referrals when you're not even in the spaces yet. That's why you come to me.

[00:33:32] Joelly: For all those introverts out there who aren't us. I mean, I'm an extrovert like yourself and I get excited and I, you know, people tell me I have high energy, but for all the low energy introverts, can they still give a good pitch? And how do they tap into that to become not boring?

[00:33:49] Precious: Well, introverts can be a quiet storm. The one thing you want is all eyes on you. So it was where I come in with big energy, you know, can you imagine having 10 of me? You need introverts and extroverts, you really, really do. I often tell my introverts, you are a quiet storm. We don't have to have the same talent, skillsets, and abilities.

[00:34:07] Precious: What I want to do is work on your strength. When you speak, make it count. Drop a set of books. Wait till all eyes on you and give them the business. You can change up your cadence a bit. We are people in our families who, when they speak, everybody shut up. They don't speak that much, which means you're about to get a goldmine.

[00:34:26] Precious: And whereas you may think that people with all this energy and noise is what people want. No, there's some people who want quiet energy and quiet storms and you need that on stage. You need that at events. You need that all over the place. I promise you when I meet introverts, and that's always the question I get all the time.

[00:34:46] Precious: I'm like, you don't know who I used to be. I was quiet because I felt I had to be quiet as a black woman. It didn't serve me. This was always my personality, but I was too afraid to show it. Don't you be afraid to show your real personality. You don't have to be gregarious and still win.  

[00:35:01] Joelly: Okay two more questions.

[00:35:02] Joelly: We have time. Are you good? Yeah. Okay, so you touched on it earlier and I wanted to elaborate a bit. You mentioned about testimonials. How important are testimonials when it comes to building your brand? Without pitching yourself, where do testimonials fall in?

[00:35:16] Precious: So testimonials, I think, are so awesome, and I think I'm almost at 300 on LinkedIn.When it comes to testimonials, the quality and the depth and breadth of those testimonials mean something. So I used to think, oh, well, if they all come from big companies, no, no, no, no, what are they saying about you? What do they say about your speaking, your training, or your books? All of that matters because different audiences are looking for different things.

[00:35:41] Precious: Let's say you're a conference organizer and event planner. She created speaking in different environment. Let's say you want to, you're an author, you want to. Get your book at an author event and be able to speak about the book, need a book. Do you have testimonials about the book? Who's purchased the books?

[00:35:58] Precious: Can you show them to these places? When you want to get media, when you want to get some sort of media, what have people said about you that makes you appealing? It doesn't sound like what everybody else is doing. So testimonials are so crucial and I literally get in my inbox on LinkedIn and in my email inbox.

[00:36:18] Precious: I saw this person wrote about you, uh, B2B and I don't know HubSpot. Could you do that training for us? Why yes I can. So it works out in a lot of ways. Also your social media posts where people post comments. I consider those testimonials because you're posting about something you've done and people are like, Oh, I loved it or whatever.

[00:36:36] Precious: Don't think other people aren't in the comments looking like. I want to go just to see if she really all day in a bag of chips or if she a bum.

[00:36:44] Joelly: Yeah. And so how do you, how do you recommend sharing those testimonials? Because I'm someone who, whenever I get a review on my podcast, I share that review because I think it's the best way for people to hear other people's, like you said, experience with you, experience with your business, experience with your podcast, experience with your brand, whatever.

[00:37:00] Precious: So usually on Tuesday, my team will post up a testimonial. It's called Testimonial Tuesday. And you post it all on your social.

[00:37:09] Joelly: They do. But I guess where I'm going with this is when you get all these testimonials from the different things that you do, what do you do with these testimonials? How do you promote them?

[00:37:18] Precious: So the testimonials are posted but they're always in a spot where if I need to pull it out because someone's asking for different testimonials from different things that I've done, I have them in one source. And then with the actual testimonials, I'll post on social media. I'll post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. And what it does is show if I could do that for that audience, what can I do for yours?

[00:37:41] Joelly: So you're a fan of it and you recommend people do that.

[00:37:44] Precious: I recommend that people ask for testimonials. Yeah. I recommend that you show off your testimony because a lot of times what you look like is you just talk about yourself. And I mean, you can talk about yourself all day long. But it's so much more powerful when it's about you. Yeah, I love that. It's part of branding.

[00:38:01] Joelly: It's part of branding. Well, that's why I brought it up because it 100 percent is and I talk about that quite frequently and you know, I've done posts about user generated content and to build brand advocates, don't, you don't need to tell people how great you are, let other people tell them because it's so much more impactful and meaningful.

[00:38:15] Joelly: So I love that you said that. Okay, last question, killer pitch master, you ready? I actually think I know the answer to this, but I'll be curious to hear what you say. So I asked this, this is the one question I asked all my guests. So precious. What is your badass superpower?

[00:38:30] Precious: I mean, I could be talking about it all day long. It is my rockstar competence in pitching.

[00:38:35] Joelly: Okay, I lied. I have, first of all, that's a great answer. And I lied. I do have one more question. Do you ever get intimidated?

[00:38:39] Precious: Hell yeah. Yes. Yes. And so how do you deal with that? Um, I use it as fuel. It's, it's kind of like what Beyonce says. She likes people to make her mad before she hits the stage because she's going to get the best performance ever.

[00:38:51] Precious: So sometimes you're underestimated, even though people have hired you, paid you, but they'll make you seem like you ain't on the level. Now I'm already upset with myself, like they just don't do. And then I use it as fuel. When I get on that stage, I'm going to make you understand the best in the world of what I do.

[00:39:08] Joelly: So to get over your intimidation, you fuel into your badassery.

[00:39:12] Precious: I do. I fuel into my badassery, but I also think that what it also does is makes me rise to the occasion. I feel like if you were going to be a, you know, badass at marketing and branding, badass at pitching, the... Underestimation should bring out your A game.

[00:39:29] Joelly: Well, I'm glad that you said that because I, I, I thought your answer was going to be you never get intimidated.

[00:39:34] Precious: Lies. I still get nervous before any speaking engagement. Lies. I'm so nervous before getting on with you. Oh, come on. I do. I do. I do because I don't want people to pigeonhole me as one dimensional.

[00:39:45] Precious: I get nervous that the only thing people ever think about with me is homelessness or addiction and just coming through that. And I'm like... I have 44 years on this earth. I've loved. I've lost. I've cried. I've been through a lot of situations. And even with all of that, I still have joy in my heart. I still have joy creating pictures.

[00:40:04] Precious: I still have joy writing speeches. I still have joy when I ask for a testimonial and I get it. And I have to keep fighting for all six months to get it because five years ago, nobody picked up the phone when I called.

[00:40:14] Joelly: Well, that joy shines through your eyes sparkle and you have a big, beautiful smile. So what a great, what a great way to end it.

[00:40:23] Joelly: I'm just so honored that you came on here and I'm. thoroughly enjoying this conversation. So if people want to learn more about you or they want to connect, what is the best way for them to do that?

[00:40:35] Precious: The best way that your audience can connect with me is on our new website, perfectpitchgroup.com on LinkedIn.

[00:40:45] Precious: I am Precious L. Williams, Killer Pitch Master. On Facebook, I'm at PerfectPitchP. And other ways to check in with me is on our YouTube channel, Perfect Pitches by Precious. So those are ways you can get in contact. You can see some of the events that we have on our website and, uh, write me, I promise you I'll write back.

[00:41:06] Joelly: That is so great. So any closing words before we say goodbye?

[00:41:08] Precious: Yes. I love my parents and we're talking about branding today. I could have braided myself as always unwanted, unloved, kicked to the curb. My parents went through very difficult situations. It's hard to raise people, hurt people, hurt people, but what they also did is fuel a fire in me to not do that to anyone else and to love myself.

[00:41:33] Precious: And so when I say I love the life that I have, it's because I know what it's like to have nothing and I know what it's like to struggle and to look at my parents face today and say, Thank you for giving life. Thank you for giving birth to me. And thank you. My mother said to me on Mother's Day, you're the strongest woman I have ever met.

[00:41:52] Precious: And I wish I had given you attention when you were a little girl. I just couldn't do it. I said, well, I'm born a strong woman who made me stronger. And the fact that you take responsibility and you know what you did. It means that my birth mattered and not only am I strong, I'm beautiful and I'm loving and I'm kind and I'm compassionate and I come from good stock and I just wish you see you the way I see you.

[00:42:18] Precious: We're both human. We both went through hell. You're not a bad woman, you made bad choices. So if you're at a point in your life where you know you made a lot of mistakes, don't allow those mistakes to hold you hostage. There is light at the end of the tunnel and it's always darkest before dawn. So in branding and in pitching, it does get better if you stay consistent and persistent and you beat all resistance.

[00:42:43] Precious: My name is Precious Williams. I'm the proud founder and CEO of Perfect Pitches by Precious. We're going to be the perfect pitch group and fortune always favors the bold. Period.

[00:42:53] Joelly: Well, you're making me all of a clamped. I just want to say that. Pretty touching. And I just want to say kudos to you for forgiving your parents and for loving your parents because I know people personally that have gone through sort of similar situations.

[00:43:07] Joelly: When you forgive people, it's actually not about them, it's about you. Because when you forgive people, it opens up your heart and releases all, or maybe not all, but it releases a lot of that pain that you carry your whole life. So thank you. I really, really appreciate you sharing that. What a beautiful way to end it.

[00:43:23] Joelly: And I hope we're going to stay in touch and I hope I get to meet you one day in person. You will, Queen. All right. Well, take care. Okay. Thank you, Queen.

[00:43:31] Precious: Okay. Bye.

[00:43:33] Joelly: And there you have it. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed the conversation and hopefully you learned a few things to help you with your branding.

[00:43:43] Joelly: This show is a work in progress, so please remember to rate it and leave a review on whatever platform you listed a podcast. And if you need help building your brand, send me a private message and I would love to help you out as well. You can reach out to me on my website at brandingmatters.ca. I promise you, I reply to all my messages. So thanks again, and until next time, here's to all you badasses out there.