Pitch Anything

An Innovative Method for Presenting,

Persuading, and Winning the Deal
Oren Klaff
McGraw-Hill Education © 2011
240 pages
[@] getab.li/17415
Book:

Rating Take-Aways

8
8 Applicability • How you present a pitch is fundamentally different from how people receive it.
7 Innovation • More pitches do not necessarily mean greater sales success.
8 Style
• To pitch profitably, you must keep your audience members’ attention.
• The human brain is divided into the “croc brain,” the midbrain and the neocortex. To
  reach the decision making neocortex, you must first win over the croc brain.
Focus • The croc brain responds to information emotionally and instinctually.
Leadership & Management • To impress the croc brain, use the “STRONG” pitching process: “set the frame, tell the
Strategy story, reveal the intrigue, offer the prize, nail the hookpoint and get a decision.”
Sales & Marketing
• Control the pitch process and remain the dominant person in the room.
Finance
Human Resources • Higher perceived status positions you and your idea as a prize to be won.
IT, Production & Logistics
• Never pitch for more than 20 minutes.
Career & Self-Development
Small Business • Gain and hold your audience members’ interest, make your pitch and then withdraw.
Economics & Politics
Industries
Global Business
Concepts & Trends

To purchase personal subscriptions or corporate solutions, visit our website at www.getAbstract.com, send an email to [email protected], or call us at our US office (1-305-936-2626) or at our Swiss office
(+41-41-367-5151). getAbstract is an Internet-based knowledge rating service and publisher of book abstracts. getAbstract maintains complete editorial responsibility for all parts of this abstract. getAbstract
acknowledges the copyrights of authors and publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this abstract may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, photocopying or otherwise –
without prior written permission of getAbstract AG (Switzerland).

This document is restricted to the personal use of MARTIN ALONSO GARCÃA MONCAYO ([email protected]) 1 of 5

LoginContext[cu=1901038,asp=4681,subs=3,free=0,lo=es,co=CO] 2018-09-27 18:04:24 CEST

getabstract

getabstract
Relevance
getabstract
What You Will Learn
In this summary, you will learn:r1) Why you must speak to each listener’s “croc brain” while making a pitch, 2) How
to use the “STRONG” pitching process and 3) Why “frame control” and high perceived status are essential to a
successful pitch.
getabstract
Review
Have you ever made a pitch or presentation that offered all the facts perfectly and countered every objection, but still
fell flat after all your efforts? Investment banker Oren Klaff suggests that how you pitch is more important than how
many pitches you throw. You can win your audience by knowing how the human brain reacts to new information
and by learning how to control each interaction by using “frames.” With Klaff’s pitching method, you engage each
listener’s emotional “croc brain” and keep your audience members in a state of “hot cognition” until you win their
business. getAbstract recommends Klaff’s perceptive methods and illustrative stories to everyone who pitches and
presents. You might have logical reasons to read this, but your emotional response is what will keep you interested.
getabstract
getabstract

getabstract
Summary
getabstract
Here’s the Pitch
Regardless of the business you’re in or the product you sell, common wisdom holds that
you must work harder to land more sales pitches and that you will make only a couple of
sales from every 100 pitches. Thus, sales is a numbers game that depends only on effort
getabstract
and volume.
“There is a
fundamental disconnect
between the way we
That sounds like a pretty difficult way to make a living, because it depends on the idea
pitch anything and the that – no matter how good your presentation skills – you are destined to strike out most
way it is received by of the time. Instead, you need to learn this crucial secret: As a presenter, the success of
our audience.”
getabstract your pitch is less about your presentation skills and more about how you get and hold your
audience’s attention.

Crocodiles and Business

To boost your pitch success percentage, take a moment to understand some basic
neuroscience. The brain is divided into three parts. The first and deepest part is the
“crocodile brain”: The “croc brain” responds first to all incoming messages and reacts in a
fundamental way, with raw emotion and a fast fight-or-flight reaction. The second part is
getabstract the midbrain, which responds next and gives meaning and thought to the input it receives.
“Pitches are sent from The last response comes from the neocortex – the part of the brain charged with making
the modern – and smart
– part of the brain: the sense of complexity and with solving problems.
neocortex. But they are
received by a part of the
brain that is five million This poses a challenge for presenters. You develop presentations and pitches in your
years older (and not as neocortex and construct your sales argument as a complex problem to solve. Then you
bright).”
getabstract share your solution with your audience. Your audience members, however, receive your
message through the croc brain, which responds one of three ways: losing interest, deciding
the message is a threat or passing the information on to the midbrain in a condensed form.
Sales pitches always face this cognitive process unless you are selling “a product so sexy
it’s irresistible,” like a Ferrari.

Pitch Anything                                                                                                                                                                       getAbstract © 2017 2 of 5

This document is restricted to the personal use of MARTIN ALONSO GARCÃA MONCAYO ([email protected])

LoginContext[cu=1901038,asp=4681,subs=3,free=0,lo=es,co=CO] 2018-09-27 18:04:24 CEST

 Making a Pitch Your Audience Will Catch
To impress the croc brain with your message, use the “STRONG" process. STRONG stands
for: “setting the frame, telling the story, revealing the intrigue, offering the prize, nailing
the hookpoint and getting the decision.”
getabstract
“A great pitch is not When you go into a business meeting, you must first set the frame. Try to establish a
about procedure. It’s
about getting and framework – a set of conditions – favorable to keeping your audience’s interest. Your
keeping attention.” audience members have likely seen several similar presentations. They will try to frame the
getabstract
meeting to get it to end as quickly as possible without having to engage with you. In terms
of the cognitive science at work, “the stronger frame absorbs the weaker,” and whoever
sets the frame prevails.

For example, consider the last time a police officer pulled you over for a minor driving
infraction. The cop had a number of tools that created an advantage over you – like sirens,
lights and a uniform. As the officer walked toward your car, you probably reacted with an
elevated heart rate and the desire to explain yourself; the cop was in charge before even
asking, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” The police officer controlled the frame.
getabstract
“Deciding that you like
something before you In a business situation, you need to control the frame and understand the frames that other
fully understand it – people present to you. Those who feel they are more important than others in attendance
that’s a hot cognition.”
getabstract will use the “power frame.” Such people expect you to defer to their status. Defuse this
tactic with a “power-busting frame” that includes a “mildly shocking but not unfriendly
act.” For example, if your audience member demonstrates personal power by doodling on
your handouts, take your handouts back to demand attention.

You also will encounter the “prize frame.” The task in this frame is to determine who is the
prize in a given discussion. You always want that prize to be you. If the main client you
plan to pitch to is absent from the meeting or running late, make yourself the prize. Instead
of pitching to staff subordinates, offer to wait a short while and then say that you will need
getabstract to reschedule for a later date at your office. While this might unnerve you the first time you
“Attention will be
given when information try it, you are reframing the discussion to make clear that the information you will present
novelty is high and is a prize worth pursuing.
will drift away when
information novelty is
low.” Another important frame is the “time frame.” Whoever controls the timing of the meeting
getabstract
controls this frame. Watch for signs that your audience is losing interest – at that point, they
control the time frame. Keep control of the timing of the meeting and wrap things up before
your audience cools and wants to move along.

Finally, there is the “intrigue frame,” which is often at war with the “analyst frame.”
Remember that the croc brain governs emotion and interest, which are “hot cognitions,”
while the neocortex handles problem solving, which involves “cold cognition.”

getabstract You want to keep your audience members involved in a hot cognitive process for as long as
“Whenever you are
entering a business possible. When they can analyze the puzzle you present and reach their own solution, they’ll
situation, the first lose interest. Maintain a sense of intrigue and challenge throughout your presentation to
question you must ask
is, ‘What kind of frame keep the hot cognition active.
am I up against?’”
getabstract
Accomplish this by telling a brief story in which you are the star. The story should pose some
sort of “risk, danger and uncertainty,” and a plot that forces you to solve the problem in the
story in a limited amount of time or face serious consequences. The element of risk and the
looming threat of bad results create necessary tension. You want the people in your audience

Pitch Anything                                                                                                                                                                       getAbstract © 2017 3 of 5

This document is restricted to the personal use of MARTIN ALONSO GARCÃA MONCAYO ([email protected])

LoginContext[cu=1901038,asp=4681,subs=3,free=0,lo=es,co=CO] 2018-09-27 18:04:24 CEST

 to feel that they must know how you will solve the problem. Their emotions remain active
as they journey through the story with you, and their analyst frames will not come into play.

Establish Your “Status”

getabstract How others view your status determines your ability to master a dominant frame and control
“To hold your target’s
attention, there must be the interaction. You don’t gain status by being nice. If you lack “high status,” you won’t
tension – a form of low- be able to get the audience focus you need to throw your pitch. Status is about taking
level conflict – guiding
the interaction.” the “alpha” position, the one with primacy and the most authority. If you don’t seize that
getabstract position, you will fall into the “beta trap” of being subordinate to the alpha. Nobody listens
to or pays attention to the beta. You must have status in order to persuade and to close.

Pitch meetings are almost perfectly designed to put you in a beta position. First there’s the
lobby, where a gatekeeper greets you and asks you to take a seat. The wait demands that you
cede control of the timing of your visit to whoever comes to escort you to the meeting. Such
“beta trapping” continues throughout the meeting, keeping you at a disadvantage. “Your
position in the social hierarchy is an artificial measure of your worth to others, a construct
based on your wealth, your popularity within society at large and the power of the position
getabstract
“We notice things that you hold.”
have movement through
space and time because
they are likely to be To assume the alpha position, manipulate the variables. Start by ignoring the rituals that
important.” exist to put you in the beta position. Do not be deferential, never join in pointless pre-
getabstract
meeting chatter and don’t let anyone tell you what to do. Also, ignore your customer’s
status. Look for ways to boost your frame and to shift the conversation to areas where
you can demonstrate expertise. Make yourself the prize and encourage your customer to
acknowledge your alpha status.

The Pitch
Many salespeople let a pitch go on for too long. To keep your listeners’ croc brains engaged
and the hot cognition going, limit your pitch to about 20 minutes.
getabstract
“If you wish to elevate
your social value in To introduce your idea, discuss “why now.” Speak to your presentation’s urgency by
any given situation,
you can do so by
examining the economic, social and technological forces that affect the aspect of the client’s
redirecting people into business that your pitch addresses. This is an important step in establishing “movement,”
a domain where you are another neurological trigger to maintaining interest – the brain is wired to see movement
in charge.”
getabstract and change, not stability.

This technique also allows you to grab your audience’s attention, which is crucial to
maintaining control of the pitch. You need to create both “desire and tension” in your
audience, and that requires understanding their neurochemistry. Both of these emotions
are linked to the production of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain. Dopamine
transmits the pleasant feelings a person gets when anticipating a reward. The brain creates
norepinephrine in response to tension. Manage the creation of these two chemicals, and
getabstract
you’ll have your audience members’ attention. Then, you can deliver your secret sauce,
“Our most important which is “the unfair advantage you have over others.” This sets you up to offer the deal,
messages have a which takes the least amount of time in your 20-minute pitch. Deliver it in four steps:
surprisingly low chance
of getting through.”
getabstract 1. “Introduce yourself and the big idea: five minutes.”
2. “Explain the budget and secret sauce: ten minutes.”
3. “Offer the deal: two minutes.”
4. “Stack frames for a hot cognition: three minutes.”

Pitch Anything                                                                                                                                                                       getAbstract © 2017 4 of 5

This document is restricted to the personal use of MARTIN ALONSO GARCÃA MONCAYO ([email protected])

LoginContext[cu=1901038,asp=4681,subs=3,free=0,lo=es,co=CO] 2018-09-27 18:04:24 CEST

 Bringing It Home
Your final step is to keep your audience members in hot cognition so they stay emotionally
excited about your idea. Once they are enthusiastic about the concept you’re offering,
demonstrate your alpha position by reinforcing your power through the frames you use, one
after the other, stacking the intrigue, prize, time and “moral authority” frames.
getabstract
“This is why you The powerful moral authority frame shows up quite often in daily life. Think of your doctor,
see presenters lose whose approach might be “the most powerful frame in the world.” The doctor commands all
more and more of the
audience as time goes the cues that demonstrate clout. A physician has specialized knowledge that can mean the
on – those who solve difference between life and death, or sickness and health. To attain that knowledge, doctors
the puzzle drop out.”
getabstract dedicate a significant part of their lives to education, and they earn commensurate salaries.
When you encounter your doctor, you are likely wearing a flimsy gown, while the doc is
dressed in business attire or a white coat. You accept your physician’s recommendations
almost as commands. By taking a piece of this moral authority and applying it to your
pitch, you can gain some part of the automatic response you give doctors or others with
moral authority.

Avoid looking needy as you pitch: “It’s incredibly bad for frame control. It erodes status.
It freezes your hot cognitions. It topples your frame stacks.” Neediness can torpedo your
pitch; the croc brain sees it as a threat and shies away just when you want it to engage.
getabstract
“Successful prizing
Neediness can be hard to avoid, because it arises from the natural human tendency to seek
restores calm and validation – to want feedback from your audience that says your pitch is acceptable. Avoid
poise to the social closing your pitch with statements such as “So, what do you think?” or “We can sign a deal
interaction.”
getabstract right away if you want us to.”

To combat neediness, use “the Tao of Steve,” a philosophy from the film of that name,
which is based on the qualities of actor Steve McQueen, TV’s Six Million Dollar Man Steve
Austin and Hawaii Five-O cop Steve McGarrett. The heroes evince three lessons:

1. McQueen shows how to “eliminate your desires” – Don’t want something.

2. Austin shows how to “be excellent in the presence of others” – Show expertise.
3. McGarrett shows when to “withdraw” – Stop while your audience still wants more.

In other words, keep your cool while your audience is thinking hot, demonstrate your area
getabstract
“Anything can be
of competency and stop even though your audience still wants more.
pitched in 20 minutes
by a pro.” Keep a sense of humor about your pitch. Remember the example of frame control that
getabstract
presidential candidate Ronald Reagan exhibited in his 1984 debate with his opponent Walter
Mondale. While Mondale wanted to take control of the campaign through a frame that
focused on Reagan’s advanced age, Reagan deflected this with the famous comment, “I will
not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes,
my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Mondale was 56 at the time. Reagan became the
alpha by taking control of the frame with good humor and a likable attitude. The American
electorate embraced his pitch and awarded him a second term.
getabstract
getabstract

getabstract
About the Author
getabstract
Oren Klaff is director of capital markets for the investment bank Intersection Capital, where his neuroscience-based
pitches have grown the firm’s assets to $250 million.

Pitch Anything                                                                                                                                                                       getAbstract © 2017 5 of 5

This document is restricted to the personal use of MARTIN ALONSO GARCÃA MONCAYO ([email protected])

LoginContext[cu=1901038,asp=4681,subs=3,free=0,lo=es,co=CO] 2018-09-27 18:04:24 CEST