# Pitch Anything ## Metadata * Author: [Oren Klaff](https://www.amazon.comundefined) * ASIN: B004H4XL7E * ISBN: 0071752854 * Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004H4XL7E * [Kindle link](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E) ## Highlights Here’s the “big idea” in 76 words: There is a fundamental disconnect between the way we pitch anything and the way it is received by our audience. As a result, at the crucial moment, when it is most important to be convincing, nine out of ten times we are not. Our most important messages have a surprisingly low chance of getting through. You need to understand why this disconnect occurs in order to overcome it, succeed, and profit. This book tells you how. — location: [46](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=46) ^ref-57402 probably need to also have a pitch for the book itself --- acronym STRONG: Setting the frame Telling the story Revealing the intrigue Offering the prize Nailing the hookpoint Getting a decision — location: [261](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=261) ^ref-8924 --- As soon as the pitch or presentation begins, one critical thing must happen: The target must feel at ease. In the vast majority of cases, they don’t because they don’t know how long they’re going to be stuck listening to you, and you’re a stranger. Most people just don’t want to sit through an hour-long pitch. To put them at ease, I have a simple solution: It’s called the time-constraint pattern. This is what you say, exactly, to let the target know he isn’t trapped in the typical hour-long-meeting: “Guys, let’s get started. I’ve only got about 20 minutes to give you the big idea, which will leave us some time to talk it over before I have to get out of here.” Doing it this way puts the target at ease. It shows that you know what you’re doing and that you’re a pro. Anything can be pitched in 20 minutes by a pro. It also shows that you’re busy because you have a strong idea and you can’t hang out too long in a single meeting. What’s important here is not your mastery over the details but your mastery over attention and time. Instead of trying to achieve what is virtually impossible—holding the target’s attention for longer than 20 minutes—we need to observe the limits of the human attention span. — location: [1270](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1270) ^ref-23908 --- 1. Introduce yourself and the big idea: 5 minutes. 2. Explain the budget and secret sauce: 10 minutes. 3. Offer the deal: 2 minutes. 4. Stack frames for a hot cognition: 3 minutes. — location: [1281](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1281) ^ref-57246 --- introductory chitchat, where you establish status and use frame control, it’s natural for the target to ask, “What’s your background?” or “How’d you get started in this?” At this point, you can begin the pitch, starting with your track record of successes. Not a — location: [1286](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1286) ^ref-3310 This is know your strength from chapter 2 --- So telling people one great thing about yourself will leave them with a better impression of you than telling them one great thing and one pretty good one. And it gets worse if you tell them one great thing, one pretty good thing, and two mediocre things. Stop with one great thing. Get your track record on the table, and do it fast, clean, and problem-free. This is not the place to get hung up with questions, deep conversations, and analysis—there’s still a lot to do. — location: [1302](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1302) ^ref-24487 --- around. This is why you need to introduce a “Why now?” frame. It’s vitally important that the target knows that your idea is new, emerging from current market opportunities and that it’s not some relic left over from bygone days. — location: [1310](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1310) ^ref-39222 Moonshot why but decomposed into what the problem to solve, what is the radical solution and how you will get there. --- What I have discovered over time is that in every business there are three market forces that together triangulate to answer the “Why?” question, and you can use these forces to create a strong “Why now?” frame. — location: [1317](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1317) ^ref-52304 --- Economic forces. Briefly describe what has changed financially in the market for your big idea. For example, are customers wealthier, is credit more available, is financial optimism higher? Increases or decreases in interest rates, inflation, and the value of the dollar are considered as prime examples of forces that have significant impact on business opportunities. 2. Social forces. Highlight what emerging changes in people’s behavior patterns exist for your big idea. An obvious example in the market for automobiles, concern over the environment—a social force—is driving demand for electric vehicles. 3. Technology forces. Technological change can flatten existing business models and even entire industries because demand shifts from one product to another. In electronics, for example, change is rapid and constant, but in furniture manufacturing, — location: [1321](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1321) ^ref-15112 --- There is one more detail about how the brain works that you need to know, and it’s called change blindness. It is surprising, but if you show people two pictures in rapid alternation, and one of them has some change in it—even a relatively major one—people will not see it. You can replace grandma with a tree. It does not count as movement, and the brain ignores it. You can hunt and hunt for what is different between the two pictures as they go back and forth and think they are identical. It is only when your attention is focused deliberately on the thing that is changing that you can finally “see” it. Once you know this fact about how your audience’s mind works, you realize that you cannot just show audience members two possible states and hope that the difference captures their attention. You need to show them the movement from one to the other. — location: [1362](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1362) ^ref-53633 --- idea introduction pattern. The venture capitalist Geoff Moore developed this pattern in 1999, and it still works today. The Idea Introduction Pattern This idea introduction pattern goes like this: “For [target customers] Who are dissatisfied with [the current offerings in the market]. My idea/product is a [new idea or product category] That provides [key problem/solution features]. Unlike [the competing product]. My idea/product is [describe key features].” — location: [1385](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1385) ^ref-20986 --- Because the brain pays attention to things that are in motion, you paint a picture of the idea moving out of an old market into a new one. Doing it this way, you don’t trigger change blindness, which would make your deal easy to neglect. — location: [1444](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1444) ^ref-65410 --- Dopamine is the neurotransmitter of desire. Norepinephrine is the neurotransmitter of tension. Together they add up to attention. If you want someone’s undivided, fully engaged attention, you have to provide these two neurotransmitters. — location: [1504](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1504) ^ref-21801 --- To give a dopamine kick and create desire, offer a reward. To give a norepinephrine kick and create tension, take something away. You’re going to learn the patterns for triggering the desire and tension right now. — location: [1508](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1508) ^ref-41106 --- You create novelty by violating the target’s expectations in a pleasing way. — location: [1520](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1520) ^ref-63839 --- A short product demo provides novelty. A new idea provides novelty. Good metaphors for otherwise complex subjects provide novelty. — location: [1521](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1521) ^ref-26476 --- Tension indicates consequences and therefore importance. There’s no reason for the target to pay attention when there are no stakes—when tension is absent. — location: [1551](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1551) ^ref-20906 this is opportunity cost -- I don't like the sales tactics but explaining the risks is important --- Low-Key, Low-Intensity Push/Pull Pattern. PUSH: “There’s a real possibility that we might not be right for each other.” [Pause. Allow the push to sink in. It must be authentic.] PULL: “But then again, if this did work out, our forces could combine to become something great.” — location: [1570](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1570) ^ref-36321 --- PUSH: “Based on the couple of reactions I’m getting from you—it seems like this isn’t a good fit. I think that you should only do deals where there is trust and deals you strongly believe in. So let’s just wrap this up for now and agree to get together on the next one.” [Pause. Wait for a response. Start packing up your stuff. Be willing to leave if the target doesn’t stop you.] — location: [1582](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1582) ^ref-15800 --- One of the most celebrated examples of this push/pull in the Pitch community involves Mad Men’s Don Draper, a pitchman for a fictional ad agency who gets a negative reaction from a client during a pitch. He pushes. “Looks like there’s not much else to do here. Let’s call it a day,” he tells the client, extending a handshake. “Gentlemen, thank you for your time.” Draper stands up to leave. I’ve watched the clip on many occasions, and the result always leaves me with a greater appreciation for the perfect push/pull delivery, one that creates a blast of norepinephrine in the client’s brain. In the clip, the tension grows as the client, surprised, asks, “Is that all?” Draper replies, “You’re a nonbeliever. Why should we waste time on Kabuki [theater]?” — location: [1589](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1589) ^ref-772 --- thought. But my pitch was all dopamine and no epinephrine—that is to say, all promise of reward and no tension. — location: [1610](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1610) ^ref-15403 --- A word of caution, however, as you approach these topics: Every experienced buyer and investor knows that you will be doing these two things: 1. Saying that your budgets are “conservative” 2. Preparing absurdly aggressive and optimistic plans To the investor, for example, every pro forma looks the same, a hockey stick chart that shows the following: We need lots of money today, and way down the road we’ll make it back (sometimes it works out that way; usually it doesn’t). — location: [1654](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1654) ^ref-26609 --- The attractiveness of an idea is based on the industry it’s in and how much competition there is. Yet almost no one describes the competition they face in adequate terms. Let’s do it right in the pitch. Here are the two major elements of competition: 1. How easy it is for new competitors to jump in the game? 2. How easy it is for customers to switch out your product with another? — location: [1664](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1664) ^ref-11800 --- you’ll need to show what your competitive advantage is based on. This one thing will give you staying power against competition. In almost every pitch situation, you need something special. Briefly describe it as your “secret sauce”—the unfair advantage you have over others. — location: [1669](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1669) ^ref-51791 this is the strengh + the analysis of you will scale --- Here are the four frames we’re going to stack in quick succession. (Doing this correctly will move you quickly into the last part of the pitch—the hookpoint.) Hot cognition 1: the intrigue frame. Hot cognition 2: the prize frame. Hot cognition 3: the time frame. Hot cognition 4: the moral authority frame. — location: [1807](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=1807) ^ref-45578 --- Showing signs of neediness is about the worst thing you can do — location: [2084](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B004H4XL7E&location=2084) ^ref-63520 ---