Pitch  Anything   An  Innovative  Method  for  Presenting,  Persuading,  and  Winning  the  Deal   By:  Oren  Klaff     Cheat  Sheet  by:  Kerwin  Rae       Chapter  1   The  Method     The  three  basic  parts  of  the  brain  are  shown  in  Figure  1.1.     First,  the  history.  Recent  breakthroughs  in  neuroscience  show  that  our  brain   developed  in  three  separate  stages.  First  came  the  old  brain,  or  “crocodile  brain”   –  we’ll  call  it  the  “croc  brain”  for  short.       It’s  responsible  for  the  initial  filtering  of  all  incoming  messages,  it  generates  most   survival  fight-­‐or-­‐flight  responses,  and  it  produces  strong,  basic  emotions,  too.       But  when  it  comes  to  decision  making,  the  croc  brain’s  reasoning  power  is…well,   primitive.  It  simply  doesn’t  have  a  lot  of  capacity,  and  most  of  what  it  does  have   is  devoted  primarily  to  the  things  it  takes  to  keep  us  alive.  When  I  am  referring  to   the  croc  brain,  I  am  referring  to  this  level.     The  midbrain,  which  came  next,  determines  the  meaning  of  things  and  social   situations.  And  finally,  the  neocortex  evolved  with  a  problem-­‐solving  ability  and   is  able  to  think  about  complex  issues  and  produce  answers  using  reason.           Figure  1.1    Three  parts  of  the  brain. Messages  that  are  composed  and  sent  by  your  young  neocortex  are  received  and   processed  by  the  other  person’s  old  crocodile  brain.     With  a  computer,  if  I  send  you  an  Excel  spreadsheet  file,  you  open  it  and  read  it   in  Excel.  This  is  how  I  thought  the  brain  worked.  If  I  created  a  message  in  my   smart  neocortex  and  “sent”  it  over  to  you  (by  telling  you  about  it),  I  figured  that   you’d  be  opening  that  message  in    your  neocortex.     But  no  pitch  or  message  is  going  to  get  to  the  logic  center  of  the  other  person’s   brain  without  passing  through  the  survival  filters  of  the  crocodile  brain  system   first.     So  instead  of  communicating  with  people,  my  best  ideas  were  bouncing  off  their   croc  brains  and  crashing  back  into  my  face  in  the  form  of  objections,  disruptive   behaviors,  and  lack  of  interest.     Ultimately,  if  they  are  successful,  your  pitches  do  work  their  way  up  to  their   neocortex  eventually.  And  certainly  by  the  time  the  other  person  is  ready  to  say   “Yes,  we  have  a  deal,”  he  is  dealing  with  the  information  at  the  highest  logic   center  of  his  brain.  But  that  is  not  where  the  other  person  initially  hears  what   you  have  to  say.     1. If  it’s  not  dangerous,  ignore  it.   2. If  it’s  not  new  and  exciting,  ignore  it.   3. If  it  is  new,  summarize  it  as  quickly  as  possible  –  and  forget  about  the   details.  And  finally  there  is  this  specific  instruction:     4. Do  not  send  anything  up  to  the  neocortex  for  problem  solving  unless  you   have  a  situation  that  is  really  unexpected  an  out  of  the  ordinary.     These  are  the  basic  operating  policies  and  procedures  of  our  brains.  No  wonder   pitching  is  so  difficult.     First,  given  the  limited  focus  and  capacity  of  the  croc  brain,  up  to  90  percent  of   your  message  is  discarded  before  it’s  passed  on  up  to  the  midbrain  and  then  on   to  the  neocortex.  The  crocodile  brain  just  doesn’t  process  details  well,  and  it  only   passes  along  big,  obvious  chunks  of  concrete  data.     Second,  unless  your  message  is  presented  in  such  a  way  that  the  crocodile  brain   views  it  to  be  new  and  exciting  –  it  is  going  to  be  ignored.     Third,  if  your  pitch  is  complicated  –  if  it  contains  abstract  language  and  lacks   visual  cues  –  then  it  is  perceived  as  a  threat.  Not  a  threat  in  the  sense  that  the   person  listening  to  your  pitch  fears  he  is  going  to  be  attacked,  but  a  threat   because  without  cues  and  context,  the  croc  brain  concludes  that  your  pitch  has   the  potential  to  absorb  massive  amounts  of  brain  power  to  comprehend.     And  that  is  a  major  threat  because  there  just  isn’t  enough  brain  power  to  handle   survival  needs,  the  problems  of  day-­‐to-­‐day  life,  and  existing  work  problems  plus whatever  unclear  thing  you  are  asking  it  to  do.  Presented  with  this  kind  of   situation,  a  circuit  breaker  in  your  brain  is  tripped.       The  result?  A  neurotoxin  gets  attached  to  the  potentially  threatening  message   (your  pitch).  This  is  like  a  FedEx  tracking  number,  which,  in  turn,  routes  your   message  to  the  amygdala  for  processing  –  and  destruction.     Pitches  are  sent  from  the  modern  –  and  smart  –  part  of  the  brain:  the  neocortex.   But  they  are  received  by  a  part  of  the  brain  that  is  5  million  years  older  (and  not   as  bright.)  This  is  a  serious  problem  if  you  are  trying  to  pitch  anything.     • Boring:  Ignore  it.   • Dangerous:  Fight/run   • Complicated:  Radically  summarize  (Invariably  causing  a  lot  to  be  lost  in   the  process)  and  pass  it  in  severely  truncated  form.       Rules  of  Engagement     There  are  the  two  questions  we  always  ask  ourselves  after  we  have  made  a   presentation  or  pitch:       1. Did  I  get  through?   2. Was  my  message  well  received?     Only  way  our  pitch  stands  any  chance  whatsoever  because  the  crocodile  brain   wants  information  a  certain  way  –  simple,  clear,  nonthreatening,  and  above  all,   intriguing  and  novel.  You  need  to  communicate  in  these  ways,  or  you  are  never   going  to  capture  people’s  attention.     • Going  to  ignore  you  if  possible.   • Only  focused  on  the  big  picture  (and  needs  high-­‐contrast  and  well-­‐ differentiated  options  to  choose  between).   • Emotional,  in  the  sense  it  will  respond  emotionally  to  what  it  sees  and   hears,  but  most  of  the  time  that  emotional  response  is  fear.   • Focused  on  the  here  and  now  with  a  short  attention  span  that  craves   novelty.   • In  need  of  concrete  facts  –  it  looks  for  verified  evidence  and  doesn’t  like   abstract  concepts.     When  I  learned  these  rules  of  engagement  for  dealing  with  the  crocodile  brain,  I   had  my  big  “Aha”  moment.       I  understood  two  very  important  things:     First,  I  finally  got  the  fundamental  problem  you  and  I  have  when  we  pitch   something:  We  have  our  highly  evolved  neocortex,  which  is  full  of  details  and   abstract  concepts,  trying  to  persuade  the  crocodile  brain,  which  is  afraid  of   almost  everything  and  needs  very  simple,  clear,  direct,  and  nonthreatening  ideas   to  decide  in  our  favor. Second,  I  realized  that  when  my  pitches  had  gone  well,  I  had  inadvertently   adhered  to  the  five  rules  of  engagement  contained  in  the  bullet  points  above.  I   had  made  the  crocodile  brain  feel  safe;  I  was  feeding  it  short  vignettes  of  clear,   visual,  and  novel  information;  and  I  wasn’t  making  it  do  much  work.  (I  also   understood  that  when  I  didn’t  stick  to  those  rules  of  engagement,  I  usually   failed.)       What  Comes  Next     As  you  will  see,  it  begins  by  setting  the  frame    for  your  pitch,  putting  your  big   idea  into  an  easily  understood  context.  And  then,  once  the  frame  is  established,   you  must  seize  high  social  status  so  that  you  have  a  solid  platform  from  which  to   pitch.  Then  you  must  create  messages  that  are  full  of  intrigue  and  novelty.     To  make  this  process  easier  to  remember,  I  use  the  acronym  STRONG:     Set  the  frame   Tell  the  story   Reveal  the  intrigue   Offer  the  prize   Nail  the  hookpoint   Get  the  deal       Chapter  2   Frame  Control     Frame-­‐Based  Business     Sales  techniques  were  created  for  people  who  have  already  lost  the  frame   collision  and  are  struggling  to  do  business  from  a  sub-­‐ordinated  or  low-­‐status   position.       The  sad  fact  is,  these  methods  are  typically  ineffective  and  usually  end  up   offending  people  instead  of  promoting  pleasant,  mutually  beneficial  business.     When  you  fail  to  control  the  social  frame,  you  probably  have  already  lost.     Frame-­‐based  business  promotes  the  use  of  social  dynamics,  stacking  things  in   your  favor  before  the  game  even  begins.     When  you  own  the  frame,  you  are  positioned  to  reach  an  agreement  with  your   buyer.  And  you  are  also  in  a  position  to  decide  which  deals,  orders,  or  projects   you  want  to  work  on  instead  of  taking  what  you  can  get. Own  the  Frame,  Win  the  Game     1. Everyone  uses  frames  whether  they  realize  it  or  not.   2. Every  social  encounter  brings  different  frames  together.   3. Frames  do  not  coexist  in  the  same  time  and  place  for  long.  They  crash  into   each  other,  and  one  or  the  other  gains  control.   4. Only  one  frame  survives.  The  others  break  and  are  absorbed.  Stronger   frames  always  absorb  weaker  frames.     5. The  winning  frame  governs  the  social  interaction.  It  is  said  to  have  frame   control.       Choosing  a  Frame     Whenever  you  are  entering  a  business  situation,  the  first  question  you  must  ask   is,  “What  kind  of  frame  and  I  up  against?”  The  answer  will  depend  on  several   factors,  including  the  relative  importance  of  your  offering  to  the  business   interests  of  your  buyer.       But  know  this:  Frames  mainly  involve  basic  desires.  These  are  the  domain  of  the   croc  brain.  It  would  be  fair  to  say  that  strong  frames  activate  basic  desires.     Going  into  most  business  situations,  there  are  three  major  types  of  opposing   frames  that  you  will  encounter:       1. Power  frame   2. Time  frame     3. Analyst  frame     You  have  three  major  response  frame  types  that  you  can  use  to  meet  these   oncoming  frames,  win  the  initial  collision,  and  control  the  agenda:       1. Power-­‐busting  frame   2. Time  constraining  frame   3. Intrigue  frame   There  is  a  fourth  frame  you  can  deploy.  It’s  useful  against  all  three  of  the   opposing  frames  and  many  others  you  will  encounter:     4. Prize  frame       The  Power  Frame     The  most  common  opposing  frame  you  will  encounter  in  a  business  setting  is  the   power  frame.    The  power  frame  comes  from  the  individual  who  has  a  massive   ego.  His  power  is  rooted  in  his  status  –  a  status  derived  from  the  fact  that  others   give  this  person  honor  and  respect. You  will  know  that  you  are  facing  a  power  frame  when  you  encounter  arrogance,   lack  of  interest  (a  vibe  that  conveys  “I’m  more  important  than  you”),  rudeness,   and  similar  imperial  behaviors.     They  are  also  the  most  vulnerable  to  your  power-­‐busting  frame  because  they  do   not  expect  it.     When  you  approach  an  opposing  power  frame,  your  first  and  most  important   objective  is  to  avoid  falling  into  the  other  person’s  frame  by  reacting  to  it.     Observing  power  rituals  in  business  situations  –  such  as  acting  deferential,   engaging  in  meaningless  small  talk,  or  letting  yourself  be  told  what  to  do  –   reinforces  the  alpha  status  of  your  target  and  confirms  your  subordinate   position.  Do  no  do  this!     As  the  opposing  power  frame  approaches,  when  you  first  encounter  the  person   you  are  meeting,  you  must  be  prepared  for  the  frame  collision  to  happen  at  any   moment.       Prepare  well  and  your  frame  will  disrupt  his,  causing  a  momentary  equilibrium   in  the  social  forces  in  the  room,  and  then  your  frame  will  overtake  and  absorb   his.     To  instigate  a  power  frame  collision,  use  a  mildly  shocking  but  not  unfriendly  act  to   cause  it.  Use  defiance  and  light  humor.  This  captures  attention  and  elevates  your   status  by  creating  something  called  “local  star  power.”  (You  will  read  about  status   and  local  star  power  in  Chapter  3.)       Taking  the  Frame     1. Perpetrate  a  small  denial,  or   2. Act  out  some  type  of  defiance       Examples     You  place  a  folder  on  the  conference  table  that  is  labeled  “Confidential  –  John   Smith.”  When  the  target  reaches  for  the  file,  you  grab  it  and  say,  “Uh-­‐uh,  not  yet.   You  have  to  wait  for  this.”     If  you  deal  in  creative  work  and  you  brought  visuals,  let  the  target  sneak  a  peek   and  then,  when  you  see  him  curiously  looking,  turn  it  over,  take  it  away,  and   deliver  a  soft  reprimand  that  says,  not  until  I  say  you’re  ready.     This  is  a  quick  tease  followed  by  a  strong  denial,  and  it  is  massively  disruptive  to   the  target’s  croc  brain.  What  you  are  doing  is  not  offensive,  and  it’s  not  mean.  It’s   playful,  and  it  tells  the  target  subconsciously,  “I’m  the  one  in  charge  here,  not   you,  my  friend.” TARGET:  “Thanks  for  coming  over.  I  only  have  15  minutes  this  afternoon.”   YOU:  “That’s  ok,  I  only  have  12.”  You  smile.  But  you  are  serious,  too.     Keep  it  fun,  do  it  with  a  grin  on  your  face,  and  the  moment  the  power  shifts  to   you,  move  the  meeting  forward  in  the  direction  you  want.       When  you  are  defiant  and  funny  at  the  same  time,  he  is  pleasantly  challenged  by   you  and  instinctively  knows  that  he  is  in  the  presence  of  a  pro.       The  Prize  Frame     Another  common  situation  occurs  when  the  key  decision  maker  does  not  attend   the  meeting  as  was  agreed  to.  This  situation  requires  a  special  kind  of  response   that  not  only  will  reaffirm  your  control  of  the  frame  but  also  will  establish  you  as   someone  unlike  anyone  else  they  have  dealt  with.     Let’s  say  that  you’ve  done  everything  right  so  far.  You’ve  come  into  the  business   interaction  and  quickly  asserted  strong  frames  and,  hopefully,  frame  control  with   the  people  you’ve  just  met.       You’re  ready  to  start  your  pitch  and  are  waiting  for  “Mr.  Big”  to  come  in,  when   his  assistant  steps  in  to  announce,  “I  am  so  sorry.  Mr.  Big  just  called.  He  can’t   make  the  meeting  for  another  hour.  He  says  to  start  without  him.”     You  have  just  lost  the  frame,  and  there  is  nothing  you  can  do  about  it.  However,   this  does  not  mean  that  you  do  not  have  choices.  Your  options  are:     1. Go  ahead  with  your  presentation,  even  though  you  know  you’ve  lost  the   frame,  hope  for  the  best,  and  hope  that  maybe  Mr.  Big  will  join  the  group   toward  the  end  of  the  meeting.  I  would  not  recommend  this.     2. Stop  everything.  Reframe  using  power,  time,  or  prize  frames  (which  are   covered  in  this  chapter)  or  perhaps  all  three.  Immediately  take  the  power   back.     This  is  what  I  usually  say  in  this  situation:     “So  you  guys  are  asking  me  to  delay  the  start?  Okay.  I  can  give  you  15  minutes  to   get  organized.  But  if  we  can’t  start  by  then,  then  let’s  just  call  it  a  day.     “I  can  wait  15  minutes,  but  then  I  have  to  leave.”  That’s  enough  to  get  the   message  through.     When  you  own  the  frame,  others  react  to  you.     And  if  he  does  not  show  at  that  point,  you  leave.  You  do  not  deliver  your   presentation,  you  do  not  leave  brochures,  and  you  do  not  apologize.  Your  time   has  been  wasted,  and  you  don’t  even  need  to  say  it.  They  know. If  it  seems  appropriate,  and  if  this  is  a  company  with  which  you  want  to  do   business,  tell  the  most  important  person  in  the  room  that  you  are  willing  to   reschedule  –  on  your  turf.  That’s  right,  you  offer  to  reschedule  and  acknowledge   that  these  things  happen  (we  have  all  missed  meetings  before),  but  for  the  next   meeting,  they  must  come  to  you.     What  prizing  subconsciously  says  to  your  audience  is,  “You  are  trying  to  win  my   attention.  I  am  the  prize,  not  you.  I  can  find  a  thousand  buyers  (audiences,   investors,  or  clients)  like  you.  There  is  only  one  me.”     It  also  conveys  to  your  audience  that  if  they  wish  to  get  any  further  information   from  you,  they  will  first  have  to  do  something  to  earn  it.       Prizing  101     To  solidify  the  prize  frame,  you  make  the  buyer  qualify  himself  to  you.  “Can  you   tell  me  more  about  yourself?  I’m  picky  about  who  I  work  with.”  At  a  primal,  croc   brain  level,  you  have  just  issued  a  challenge:  Why  do  I  want  to  do  business  with   you?     When  you  rotate  the  circle  of  social  power  180  degrees,  it  changes  everything.       The  Time  Frame     Frames  involving  time  tend  to  occur  later  in  the  social  exchange,  after  someone   has  already  established  frame  control.  Again,  if  you  want  to  know  who  has  the   frame,  it’s  easy  to  observe.  When  you  are  reacting  to  the  other  person,  that  person   owns  the  frame.  When  the  other  person  is  reacting  to  what  you  do  and  say,  you   own  the  frame.     Time  frames  are  often  used  by  your  Target  to  rechallenge  your  frame  by   disrupting  you  and,  in  the  moment  of  confusion,  unwittingly  take  back  control.   As  long  as  you  are  alert,  time  frames  are  easy  to  defeat.     You  will  know  that  a  time-­‐frame  collision  is  about  to  occur  when  you  see   attention  begin  to  wane.  You’ve  been  pitching  for  a  few  minutes,  and  the   temperature  in  the  room  in  noticeably  cooler.       The  game  you  initiated  was  fun  at  the  beginning,  and  now  the  audience  has   cooled  and  might  be  a  little  bored.  There  are  limits  to  the  human  attention  span,   which  is  why  a  pitch  must  be  brief,  concise,  and  interesting.       When  you  see  attention  begin  to  bottom  out  and  expire,  that’s  it.  You’re  done.   Stay  in  control  of  time,  and  start  wrapping  up.  Running  long  or  beyond  the  point   of  attention  shows  weakness,  neediness,  and  desperation.         When  attention  is  lacking,  set  your  own  time  constraint,  and  bounce  out  of  there: “Hey,  looks  like  time’s  up.  I’ve  got  to  wrap  this  up  and  get  to  my  next  meeting.”  If   they  are  interested  in  you,  they  will  agree  to  a  follow-­‐up.     The  mistake  people  make  when  they  see  their  audience  becoming  fatigued  is  to   talk  faster,  to  try  to  force  their  way  through  the  rest  of  the  pitch.  Instead  of   imparting  more  valuable  information  faster,  however,  they  only  succeed  in  helping   the  audience  retain  less  of  their  message.       CUSTOMER:  “Hi,  yes,  um,  well,  I  only  have  about  10  minutes  to  meet  with  you,   but  come  on  in.”   SALES  PERSON:  “I  really  appreciate  your  time.  Thanks  for  fitting  me  into  your   busy  schedule.”     YOU:  “No.  I  don’t  work  like  that.  There’s  no  sense  in  rescheduling  unless  we  like   each  other  and  trust  each  other.  I  need  to  know,  are  you  good  to  work  with,  can   you  keep  appointments,  and  stick  to  a  schedule?”   YOUR  TARGET:  “Okay,  you’re  right  about  that.  Yeah,  sure  I  can.  Let’s  do  this  now.   I  have  30  minutes.  That’s  no  problem.  Come  on  in.”     You  have  just  broken  your  target’s  time  frame,  established  that  your  time  is   important,  and  he  is  now  giving  you  focused  attention  instead  of  treating  your   visit  like  an  annoyance.         The  Intrigue  Frame     How  many  times  have  you  been  giving  a  presentation  when  suddenly  one  or   more  people  in  the  room  take  a  deep  diver  into  technical  details?  That’s  the   analyst  frame  coming  at  you.  This  is  especially  common  in  industries  that  involve   engineers  and  financial  analysts.  This  frame  will  kill  your  pitch.     The  moment  your  audience  does  a  “deep  drill-­‐down”  into  the  minute  details,  you   are  losing  control.  The  cognitive  temperature  of  the  audience,  which  was  hot   when  things  got  started,  naturally  will  cool  as  audience  members  listen  to  your   pitch.  But  once  you  give  their  neocortex(es)  something  to  calculate,  they  will  go   cold.     Problem  solving,  numerical  calculations,  statistics,  and  any  sort  of  geometry  are   called  cold  cognitions.  Nothing  will  freeze  your  pitch  faster  than  allowing  your   audience  to  grind  numbers  or  study  details  during  the  pitch.     It  is  important  to  realize  that  human  beings  are  unable  to  have  hot  cognitions  and   cold  cognitions  simultaneously.  The  brain  is  not  wired  that  way.  Hot  cognitions   are  feelings  like  wanting  or  desire  or  excitement,  and  cold  cognitions  come  from   “cold”  processes  like  analysis  and  problem  solving.       To  maintain  frame  control  and  momentum,  you  must  force  your  audience  to  be   analytical  on  its  own  time.  You  do  this  by  separating  the  technical  and  detailed   material  from  your  presentation. So  what  should  you  do  if  someone  demands  details?  You  respond  with  summary   data  that  you  have  prepared  for  this  specific  purpose.     You  answer  the  question  directly  and  with  the  highest-­‐level  information   possible.  Then  you  redirect  their  attention  back  to  your  pitch.     In  financial  deals,  I  respond  with  something  like  this:     “The  revenue  is  $80  million,  expenses  are  $62  million,  the  net  is  $18  million.   These  and  other  facts  you  can  verify  later,  but  right  now,  what  we  need  to  focus   on  is  this:  Are  we  a  good  fit?  Should  we  be  doing  business  together?  This  is  what   I  came  here  to  work  on.”     If  you’re  pitching  a  product  and  the  drill-­‐down  is  on  price,  don’t  chase  this   conversation  thread.  Do  answer  fast,  answer  directly  with  high-­‐level  details  only,   and  go  straight  back  to  the  relationship  question.       What  this  tells  the  audience  is  that  (1)  I’m  trying  to  decide  if  you  are  right  for  me;   (2)  if  I  decide  to  work  with  you,  the  numbers  will  back  up  what  I’m  telling  you,  so   let’s  not  worry  about  that  now;  and  (3)  I  care  about  who  I  work  with.     Keep  the  target  focused  on  the  business  relationship  at  all  times.  Analysis  comes   later.  This  is  the  best  and  most  reliable  way  to  deal  with  a  target  who  suddenly   becomes  bored  and  tries  to  entertain  himself  with  the  details  of  your  deal.     Remember,  when  you  own  the  frame,  you  control  the  agenda,  and  you  determine   the  rules  under  which  the  game  is  played.     When  it  no  longer  seems  that  communication  is  flowing  back  and  forth,  the  other   person  is  in  something  called  a  nonreactive  state.  It’s  like  the  other  person’s  mind   is  wandering  or  thinking  about  something  else.  This  is  a  state  of  disinterest  that   you  can  correct  for  if  you  recognize  it  in  time  and  act  quickly.     You  can  tell  that  this  is  starting  to  happen  when  you  notice  remarks  or  body   language  that  indicate  that  your  presentation  is  not  intriguing.     Most  intelligent  people  take  great  pleasure  in  being  confronted  with  something   new,  novel,  and  intriguing.  Being  able  to  figure  it  out  is  a  form  of  entertainment   like  solving  the  Sunday  puzzle.     When  the  target  agreed  to  the  meeting  with  you,  what  he  or  she  really  was   saying  was,  “This  is  a  puzzle  I  am  interested  in  solving.”     No  one  takes  a  meeting  to  hear  about  something  that  already  know  and   understand.     “I  have  a  solution  to  one  of  your  problems.  I  know  something  that  you  don’t.”   This  is  why  people  agree  to  take  meetings  and  to  hear  a  pitch.