SIMAC – How to pitch successfully?

What is SIMAC?

SIMAC is a pitching method that  has proven very successful in commercial and business contexts. The method originates from Procter and Gamble’s “persuasive selling format”.

 

How does it work? – overview

The method helps you create a pitch that contains five successive steps :

The method is universal and works in many situations : advertising, investors pitch, business presentations and even personal life. 

 

Example 1: Business pitch

SITUATION
– Consumers care more and more about the environmental impact of the products they buy
– NGO find it hard to gather funds

IDEA
Let’s create a market place that would only sell environment-friendly products and distribute a % of sales to relevant NGOs.

MECHANISM
The platform would work like all marketplaces for the end-consumer. There would be a screening process of the NGO. The economic model would be revenue share.

ADVANTAGE
– Marketplace is a proven model
– Positive value should facilitate media coverage and virality
– Low investment

CONCLUSION
Let’s invest $k500 in creating a test platform

Example 2: Advertizing

SITUATION
– Dirty sweaters
– Demanding kids
– Delicate fabrics

IDEA
Find an excellent laundry powder that would clean the sweater perfectly without damaging the fabric.

MECHANISM
The enzymes contained in the powder manage to remove  the stains from the fabric, powerfully but gently

ADVANTAGE
– a happy family
– very clean clothes
– sweaters that are still soft and as good as new

CONCLUSION
Buy the powder from the nearest store.

 

Example 3: Personal Life

SITUATION
– I’m tired from a day’s work
– I don’t feel like cooking
– But I’m still hungry

IDEA
Go to a restaurant tonight instead of staying home.

MECHANISM
– Choose a convenient time
– Book a table

ADVANTAGE
– Nice food
– No extra work

CONCLUSION
Let’s choose what kind of restaurant we want to go to.

 

How does it work? – details

Situation

• What should I do here?

This is the part where you state the key elements of context. In order to convince your audience, these elements have to be indisputable facts or issues commonly raised.

• How do I achieve this goal?

To state your situation, choose key elements that your audience cannot disagree on or discuss. E.g : reliable data, prior business analyses in your company etc. Explain your hypothesis with clarity so that your entire presentation goes on with a strong foundation. Doing this part well ensure that you can move onto the next part of your analysis with the audience convinced of your credibility and agreeing with your statements. To make it even more powerful, select your facts so that the idea you will expose in the next step is a natural response to the situation. Your audience should naturally be envisioning the idea as you state your facts.

 

Idea

• What should I do here?

This is where you give the solution the issue raised in the previous step. State your idea in a synthetic way. Focus on the essential. Your idea be quickly comprehensible.

• How do I achieve this goal?

You should be able to state your strategy and sum up your idea in one or two sentences. The simpler the sentence the better. Think of it as a sales pitch. The idea should in itself provide an answer to the issues you have raised in the situation. You will be able to expand your idea in the ‘mechanism’ section.

 

Mechanism

• What should I do here?

Explain how you will implement your idea. Justify the feasibility and the credibility of your product / strategy

• How do I achieve this goal?

Explain how you intend to achieve your objectives. If you already have an action plan, this is the place to state it. Otherwise, you should go into the details of how and with what means you intend to realize your idea. Remember to be realistic in terms of feasibility; otherwise your whole idea will lack credibility. We suggest using quantitative data here, like timing and resources needed, costs, that will give weight to your action plan and lend credibility to your work. It will also make it easier to act on your plan.

Advantage

• What should I do here?

This is where you highlight all your customer benefits and the positive outcome of your idea. Detail the positive impact your idea is going to have on the issues and facts stated in the first step ‘situation’ of the SIMAC.

• How do I achieve this goal?

Here you will detail the impacts your idea will have on your customers or on your business depending on the aim of your strategy. Some examples of advantages might be: bigger turnover, a better margin, gaining market share, lower production costs, gaining productivity, better customer satisfaction, higher average basket etc. Here again, where possible, give quantitative data. Your advantages will seem much more cogent if they have been quantified. And once again it will also help decision making.

 

Conclusion

• What should I do here?

This is your call to action. Define your next steps or define or clear and simple actions, so that your (now convinced) audience knows what to do to follow on.

• How do I achieve this goal?

This is the conclusion of your presentation. You have now shared your hypotheses, stated your idea, explained its mechanism and evaluated its impacts. It’s time to ask for approval/decision from your audience (client, manager…). Indicate clearly the type of response you are expecting from them: whether that is a go/no-go decision or an allocation of resources etc. It is also a good idea to explain your next steps and timing to give them a medium-term view of your strategy deployment.