How to :: Pitch my App

Learn how to pitch your app in front of your client

When do you have to pitch your app ?

As you have learned in the Toucan Project Methodology, the project is divided into sessions from 2 to 3 weeks, called iterations. At the end of each iteration, you will have to pitch your app! It can be in order to get feedback from your client before integrating your client’s data or at the final delivery for example.

How should you prepare yourself to pitch ?

Make sure to be well aware of the reason why your client wanted to implement Toucan Toco, what is essential to him. Think about the Key Success Factors you defined together and what are the end-users needs. For example “you told us that the application should work on all mobile devices since your employees are always traveling, so we ensured to create a responsive app”. Then, organize a 30 minutes meeting with the Sales on your project to be coached for your pitch.

Note

Don’t forget to create a generic username for the presentation with the appropriate access of the instance.

What should you say to introduce your app ?

First of all, don’t forget that when you’re pitching your app, you’re telling a story! Data storytelling is our finger print 😃 So instead of going straight into your application, you should first remind your audience why the project was crucial, what was the pain of your client and where we are in the project (e.g. design phase) At that time, you have to take off your technical hat in order to speak the Sales’ language and be users oriented!

The PUCCKA method can help you summarizing to your client why the app you’ve designed is going to meet his/her needs better than other solutions on the market. It stands for :

  • Pain : is the business problem you identified
  • USP (Unique Selling Point) : is the reason why Toucan Toco is the best solution for its pain
  • Compeling event : is the thing that forces your client to find a solution to its pain right now
  • Champions : are the ones who will help for your app’s adoption (people with both “influence” and “authority”)
  • Key players : are the other people involved in the implementation process (including sponsors)
  • Align purchasing process : is the process which make sure your client not only has a need but also has budget, resources and an approval process to work with you

Here we go! You can now make a demo of your app 🔥

How to structure your app demo ?

1. Start your presentation by the App Store and then click on your app

2. Explain the global structure and the different point of views allowed by your design (in other words, the date requester, the view and the chapters - BUT BE CAREFUL NOT USING THE ALIAN WORD “REQUESTER” IF YOU DON’T WANT YOUR CLIENT TO RUN AWAY 👽). Instead of saying, “there is a filter/requester there”. Prefer, “you can switch between your kpis thanks to these buttons; this way you have an overview of all your indicators in one click.”

The idea here is to present your whole app in 10 minutes, with the different stories and levels of navigation, in order to give an overview of the app to your audience before going deeper into the app. This way, it should also avoid you to be interrupted 😉

3. Now explain the stories you design and help your audience project itself through your storytelling of its data by creating a link between the story you’re telling it and the user data driven journey.

As Nathalie, a salewomen, I need to plan my entire week on Monday. In order to do so, I need to know which clients need my help during this specific week and this awesome app will help me with that! First thing, looking at the red tile on the home screen, I discover that last week, one of my largest client has dropped his orders (by 7%). So I click on the tile to deep dive into this variation. I see that the orders evolution has been slowly decreasing for 4 weeks. Something must have happen then! I note in my planning to call them asap to know more about this. And right before that, I share an annoted screenshot of this story to my colleagues to ask for their advices.

4. Don’t show the whole app at the same level, create interest and spotlight some screens that create a lot of value for the user. For example “You wanted to understand changes in cash flows or income statement, here we have a Waterfall chart -or bridge- which allow you to analyze evolution between actual and budgeted amounts and to understand how a net value is arrived at through gains and losses over time.

5. Don’t forget to speak about the collaborative functions! The focus is not only on the stories, it is essential to highlight the ability to annotate and share, chat, export data, and the availability of the glossary. Sometimes your client may have communication issues in his/her organization so here again is one solution provided by your app. Be careful to have a positive tone, you should rather say “the app will help you streamline communication” rather than “we know you do not speak together so the app will help you!”

Finally ?

Be proud of your work. Enthusiasm is contagious! 🎉