What Is a Pitchbook?
Let me explain what a pitchbook is. It's a sales document that an investment bank or firm puts together to outline its key attributes and offerings. You use it to help your sales team pitch products or services and bring in new clients.
Think of pitchbooks as helpful guides for your sales force. They remind you of important benefits and provide visual aids when you're presenting to clients.
Key Takeaways
- A pitchbook acts like a field guide for a firm's sales force to highlight key points and remember important benefits.
- These documents often include visual aids to support pitches to prospective clients.
- The main pitchbook gives an overview and lists the main attributes of the selling firm.
- Product pitchbooks detail specifics about a particular product or deal.
How a Pitchbook Works
You should know there are two main types of pitchbooks. There's the main one, which covers all the key attributes of the firm, and another that focuses on details about a specific deal, like a company's initial public offering (IPO) or an investment product.
The main pitchbook provides a general overview of the firm. If you're at an investment bank, it might include details like the number of analysts, prior IPO successes, and the number of deals completed per year. For an investment firm, it would highlight the company's financial strength and the resources and services available to clients.
If a team or individual financial adviser is using the pitchbook, it might also include biographical information. All the details in the pitchbook are points you should focus on when selling the firm's benefits to potential clients.
Important Note
For start-up companies, what we call a pitchbook is more commonly known as a pitch deck. Keep that in mind if you're in that space.
Types of Pitchbooks
Let's break down the types. For an investment bank, the pitchbook focuses on all the benefits of the issue. It helps brokers and investment bankers show how the firm can meet the specific needs of potential clients. You'll find more detailed information about how the potential IPO process could unfold for the client, along with comparable IPOs in the same industry that the bank has successfully handled in the past.
For an investment firm, the pitchbook is more product-oriented. It might show the track record of an investment portfolio, using charts and comparisons to an appropriate benchmark. If the investment strategy is advanced, it would display the method of selecting stocks and other data to help the potential client understand the strategy.
Example of a Pitchbook
Here's a real-world example. In 2011, Autonomy was targeted for acquisition by several larger competitors, including Hewlett Packard and Oracle. HP ended up acquiring the software infrastructure company, but Oracle posted an IPO pitchbook developed by Qatalyst Partners on its website.
In that pitchbook, Qatalyst demonstrated how Oracle would benefit from acquiring Autonomy. It showed how it would boost Oracle's competitive advantage in areas where it had no presence. The book included key financial metrics of Autonomy, highlighting positive revenue and margin growth. It also featured the partners and customers Oracle would gain immediately, and went into detail about Autonomy's management team and directors.
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