How to close your next deal: a minute-by-minute breakdown of what to do in the first 15 minutes

Feb. 28, 2013 at 3 P.M. Eastern, Noon Pacific

Achieve better outcomes for your and your organization by learning how to pitch and present more persuasively, every time.

Based on real science and proven through more than $400 million in deals, the Pitch Mastery approach will enable you to make great pitches, the kind that can make you a lot of money – starting now!

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Pitching and closing deals is a fast-moving business. What makes a great pitch so hard to pull off? One reason is the attention span of the people you are presenting to is even shorter than you think. And your current pitch is probably too slow, too long and too detailed to be convincing. It’s never easy to give that one great pitch, but it gets more manageable when you can leverage your strengths. That requires the right tools. The Pitch Mastery toolbox is stocked with a few powerful apps and tools that have made big differences in the impact we create when we present. It’s all about tilting the odds in your favor, right? Get and hold people’s attention. Make complex ideas simple. Tell your story in a way that others can repeat after you’re gone. That’s where these tools help.

Join.Me
When you email someone a file, and discuss it by phone, you assume they’re looking at the same page as you. Usually, they’re not. To literally get on the same page, use free and simple collaborative screen sharing from join.me. This enables you to get your far-away audience on the same page. No more emailing bulky files back and forth, and you control the pace of the discussion. It’s a must.

Visit: http://join.me/

Rapportive
Rapportive shows you everything you need to know about your contacts right inside your inbox. You can immediately see what people look like, where they’re based, and what they do. This is especially useful when someone is using their gmail account to contact you. Rapportive finds who they really are and shows you their details. This is a tool we couldn’t live without.

Visit: http://rapportive.com/

InDesign
The persuasive power of gorgeous design cannot be over-stated. The correct image can stop your audience in their tracks – and help them follow the pitch you’ve created. InDesign is a sophisticated software package that we use every day to construct visual stories that move an audience. Learn to use it and it will become one of your most valuable tools. To see how we apply this tool, take a look here www.pitchanything.com/pitchdecks

Visit: http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html

Blue Parrot B250-XT+ Bluetooth headset
Talking into your phone hands-free is convenient … for you. For the other guy, many times it sounds like you’re talking through a ski mask. Or when your mic is picking up so much road noise that it sounds like you’re in a wind tunnel, it can be a very distracting to your pitch – the kind of friction you do not need when you’re in the middle of putting a deal together. This headset was made to military-grade specifications and that means you will be heard loud and clear, even when you’re blasting down the freeway with the windows down.

Visit: Amazon.com

Were you born with the blood of master deal maker? If not, you’re just like the  rest of us, and you’ve discovered that to sell your big ideas, you have to get the small things right.

It’s time to admit: we are cursed to believe that we’re better than we actually are. It’s this overconfidence that causes so many million-dollar presentations to flame out. Here’s the good news: You can get a lot better at making pitches and presentations by avoiding some common pitfalls. Here are some things to watch out for as you prepare your next pitch:

1. Don’t tell your listeners, “Stop me anytime if you have questions.”

When you welcome an interruption, it signals to your audience that you don’t have a short, tight presentation, and that you’re about to go into a meandering ramble that will not be focused and on point. It says to them that you have no confidence in the explaining power of your presentation. What you can do: Plan instead to have a short question-and-answer period near the end of your presentation.

2. Never apologize (or display neediness) 

Everyone has a day where things aren’t going your way. You might feel like you have to say:

• “Sorry we’re late.”
• “Sorry we don’t have the numbers ready yet.”
• “Unfortunately the brochure isn’t done.”
• “We hate to admit it but the engineering staff didn’t get the demo uploaded.”

Instead of apologizing, focus on delivering a really spectacular pitch using what you have, and forget about what you’re lacking. Why be unapologetic even when it IS your fault? Because being apologetic frames you as needy, and that is a swift and deadly deal-killer (see Chapter 6 of Pitch Anything for a comprehensive discussion of the pitfalls of acting needy, and how to avoid this.)

3. Do not quote famous people (Stephen Hawkins, Warren Buffet), or famous dead people (JFK, Ben Franklin), or magazines, newspapers and other sources (NY Times, Wall Street Journal).

It’s a classic mistake to try and hijack the credibility of others for your deal. Why? Because the audience knows that you’ve cherry-picked this quote or reference, and that you’re reverse-engineering some unrelated quotes to make it work for you. What you can do instead: You need to be the wellspring of your content – you are the expert. The authority. The Word. You need to be framed as the highest expert in whatever you a pitching.

4. Limit any handouts.

The more written material you rely on to explain your ideas, the weaker your presentation is. The best in-person pitches are human-to-human interactions with limited supporting visuals. Speak directly to your audience; do not ask them to look at paper or read slides instead of listening to you. What you can do: Limit slides and handouts to visuals that reveal new, simple and interesting thoughts, or that show design elements. For example, the US Air Force kept the design of its new spy blimp a secret,  describing it only in words. Result? The $275 million program got cancelled. Now they’ve released the images of the project, which are so cool and provocative,  everyone wants the spy-blimp program back.

5. Avoid getting problem and solution backwards.

Too often you see the person introducing WHAT they have, and explaining the problem it solves, or WHY they made it. This is the reverse of solid pitch structure. Great pitches begin with the big idea, and proceed to a statement of the problem, and only then introduction of the solution. This is an organic story structure that will enable you to get past the blocking filters of croc brain and to the neocortex, which we write about extensively in chapter 1 of Pitch Anything.

6. Don’t ask rhetorical questions.

“You’d all be interested in making more money, right?”
“How many of you have lost reception when you entered a parking garage and missed an important text or call?”

It may be tempting to set up a “yes” response, but your audience recognizes this as a cheap trick to establish “rapport.” Rhetorical questions annoy your audience. And it lowers your status. (I write extensively about the importance of status in Chp 3pg. 69 of Pitch Anything). Asking rhetorical questions is a failed technique that trivializes your content, infantilizes your audience and lowers your status. What you can do: Provide real insight on your subject that let’s the audience know you’re an expert they can rely on. For example, when I recently helped a company that makes a Genetic Diagnostic pitch to investors, I could have said, “Do you realize that tiny changes in your DNA are so unique, they can be used to identify you with 100% certainty.” Everyone already knows THAT. Instead, I explained the difference between DNA Markers and Proxy Markers, which an interesting new subject.

Watch the replay video of Oren on the Chase Jarvis LIVE show where he discusses how to pitch creative services to command higher rates in industry tiers, how to avoid getting crammed down and how to make YOU and YOUR WORK become “the prize”.

If you like what you see, and want more, here is a link to the follow-up webinar video on How to Pitch Your Creative Services.

I first met Derrick when he contacted us by email:

Oren,

I’m hustling to get a job with a large health business as their Creative Director.
Sent a note to the CEO. Went in with a prize frame. Like gangbusters got a very positive response from both the CEO and the COO within the hour saying they would like to meet with me.

Then, nothing. Radio silence. It’s a bummer because I’ve done my research and I could crush this job.

Any thoughts on how to follow up without conveying neediness?

If this situation hasn’t happened to you … don’t worry, it will. Why? Because as you become better at giving your pitch, you’ll be playing at the highest level of business. And the folks on that level – CEO’s, investors and bankers – are busy. While they get excited about new ideas  quickly,  almost as fast, something new and even more interesting enters their field of view, and they have moved on to the next thing.

Truth is, the CEO of a growing company will pay attention to whatever flashy object is in front of his face.

This behavior is also found in toddlers, where it’s called “object impermanence”,  You can see this part of human nature when a child has reached for an object that is partially hidden, indicating knowledge that the whole object is still there. However, if the object becomes completely hidden, the child makes no attempt to retrieve it. He forgets that it ever existed.

Recognizing  this out-of-sight-out-of-mind part of human nature and breaking it down into such simple terms helped me understand a crucial dealmaking concept: If you receive initial excitement about your deal, but are now being ignored, the deal is not dead. It can be restarted. But you must clearly identify what is causing the problem: you have low status and a weak frame. Not only is your frame weak, you have lost frame control. (A frame is the way your brain mentally packages your power, authority, strength, information, and social status)

Listen to the brief call I had with Derrick, in which I helped him how to use the Moral Authority Frame to restart his dead deal. 

 Below is a copy of the exact email I wrote for Derrick. It’s short and direct, but don’t mistake that for simple. There’s a lot of sophisticated framing here: 

Susan, John [the company's CEO] had contacted me on 10/9 about getting together for 15-20minutes, and neither of us did a very good job of locking it down. Probably best to calendar this through you. Can you set up a call next week tuesday or wednesay. I can do a short call mid-morning on either.
- Derrick

And here’s the email I told Derrick to send to their CEO:

John, have been on a large assignment for Chevrolet, sorry I couldn’t meet with you earlier, but am back on the grid now. Let’s do a :15min call early next week, talk about your creative director needs. If it’s not right for me, I can connect you with some strong candidates.

I’ll calendar through your admin,
Regards, Derrick

The following morning: success!

Oren, 

Wanted to give you a quick update. 

Sent off the script you suggested. An hour later, I have an interview scheduled for Tuesday.  I really appreciate it.

Is this kind of framing universally applicable, to be used in all kinds of business/social interactions? I think it is.  If you want to learn more about the framing and the STRONG method, go to pitchmastery.com and enter your email for videos and to attend our next online event.

Here is a video of Oren’s discussion to a group of entrepreneurs at the Founders Institute on where to find investors.

Listen to this segment from week 5 of our Pitch Mastery acceleration call on how to reframe your competition. It’s important to create a HIGH CONTRAST between your product/service and that of the competition. (Listen time 16:38). Contains strong language. 

Tell me what you think below.

REASON 01: The Aesthetic-Usability Effect

Take a look here at the behind the scenes shot from our new video series. This was taken with a robotic boom camera, and shows off the killer set design by David Saint. He took advantage of the the aesthetic-usability effect: the important truth that aesthetic designs are perceived as better and higher quality than less-aesthetic designs.

This perception tends to exist whether or not a service is actually easier to use. And it’s not just a mind-game, because perception is an important part of the user experience (and the two are inexorably connected in the brain).  The aesthetic usability effect has been replicated in social science experiments, and has important implications for the acceptance, use and performance of any service you might have. Here’s one way to think about it. 

In the early days of the personal computer, all the display screens were black and white. When color screens were first introduced, they were amber or green. Green text (instead of white text) color added no discernible value for everyday work. But when people first saw a monitor with green or amber text instead of white, they wanted one. It just seemed better. THEN, color monitors came out. Since all games and software sucked at that time, from a cognitive point of view, the color added no value that could not be provided with the use of shading on a regular monitor. But despite the fact that the interface community could find no scientific benefit, people insisted on buying color monitors. For some reason, color was fulfilling a need, but one that could not be measured.

Not only are aesthetic designs easier to use, they also have a higher probability of being used.  So even if something is designed in a very user-friendly way, if it is not aesthetically pleasing it is less likely to be used, making it’s usability of less value.

The rule means that first impressions count.  For instance, humans who are more attractive tend to be perceived and treated better, as their initial impact influences the formation of attitudes and perceptions of others.

We build this professional presentation environment in a real studio, with professional cameras and a robotic book to create a positive perception for our new video series, Pitch Mastery.

David and I discussed the cost of the set and the production, more than $25,000 for a single day, and whether it would be worth the investment. In the end, we concluded that aesthetic designs encourage positive feelings such as patience, loyalty and affection, and we wanted those feelings around our product. We felt it would lead to much greater long term usability and that people would learn my material more easily when presented this way.  These positive perceptions – we believed – would also encourage creative thinking and problem solving, whereas less aesthetic studio (like a Skype recording) would lead to negative feelings and tend to narrow thinking, and stifle the feeling of wanting from my audience. 

The aesthetics of a product have far reaching consequences. The desire to posses attractive items is an innate part of the human condition and we should use this to help our businesses. I spend an enormous amount of time considering my pitches and how they look, sound and feel. Anattractive product will be perceived as easier to use. Ease of use is often a criteria in purchase decisions – easy to use products require less training and support. So by improving the attractiveness of a pitch, it increases the perceived high-quality of a deal – improving the chances of getting a deal done. 

Spending time and money on the outward appearance of your product, pitch or presentation makes a lot of sense and that it can more than pay for itself in increased sales volume or users. So, if users are complaining that your product isn’t user friendly, your training is boring, or your pitch is too long and detailed, it might not be a problem with you, the product or your interface mechanics – it might be their way of saying that what you’re presenting them just it isn’t attractive enough, and that they don’t WANT it.

Here is the big idea: there is a fundamental disconnect between the way we pitch anything in the way it is received by our audience. You need to understand why this disconnect occurs in order to overcome it, succeed, and profit.

Below I have provided the first chapter of Pitch Anything which addresses the croc brain, how to leverage it to your benefit, and outlines the STRONG framework.

Download your complimentary first chapter here.

Your pitch deck matters. It speeds up your capital raise and protects your price.

This is a deal I own, and we raised the financing in 7 days. I am providing it here to the Pitch community to give you the understanding that pitch decks, while once tactical, are now strategic and a vital tool.

Download the Deal Book Here

Click here to download the full deck