Captivate, persuade, convince, and CLOSE.
YOUR PITCH IS NOT over until you close it down. After the final question is answered, bring up a “Thank You” slide, thank the audience, remind them of what you do, and close the presentation as strongly as you opened it.
RULE 42:
Take control of the close; do not let the last answer linger.
A very common mistake is to simply let the presentation end with a call for “any more questions?” followed by silence, followed by a very quiet, meek, “thank you.” That last, weak impression lingers in the mind of the audience and detracts from your otherwise great presentation.
Ensibuuko—[The Close]
“That is all the time we have for questions today. Ladies and gentlemen, access to finance is a basic need, and at Ensibuuko our goal is to deliver financial inclusion to the hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers across Africa, starting with those in Uganda. I welcome you to join us in this quest. Thank you.”
