Resumo do Pitch Anything - Oren Klaff

O Oren usa sua metodologia na própria escrita do livro. Isso torna o livro extremamente envolvente, mas por outro lado ele é extremamente difícil de usar de consulta.

Ele não é formatado de modo lógico.

Então eu peguei todas as partes do livro que eu acho importantes e reorganizei de forma a ser fácil usar para consultar.

Importante: Se você ainda não leu o livro, esse resumo pode ser um pouco overwhelming.

1- Important 

Brain layers 

Our brains have developed at three different levels over the years, organizing itself into three different layers: 

The “croc brain”, or crocodile brain, was the first part of the brain to develop. That is your brain’s primitive part. It is simple, automatic and focused on survival. It is responsible for emotions such as fear, which alerted, for example, that they should get away from predators. 

The midbrain is the second layer of the brain. This part allows us to understand higher levels of complexity, and deal with social interactions and family relationships, for example. 

The neocortex is the most advanced part of the brain, which gives us the highest degree of intellectual distinction compared to other animals. Thanks to the neocortex we can reach a higher level of thinking, rationalize facts, and make analyzes to understand complex phenomena. 

When you pitch, you are using your neocortex to turn your ideas into words. But the problem is that the people who are watching your presentation are not necessarily using the neocortex to understand your pitch. 

Most of the time, the primitive ‘croc brain’ ignores the message, which it finds very difficult to understand, and begins to ignore the pitcher immediately. 

If you sound complex, you become invisible to the audience’s mind. 

That is exactly why you need to prepare your pitch so that the ‘croc brain’ understands you first, gradually adding more complexity. How? Being simple, clear and staying focused on your goal. 

To capture the attention of the crocodile brain, you need to add interesting aspects, novelties, and surprises in your pitch. 

It helps capture the attention of your audience’s primitive croc brain and allows you to reach the other two brain layers, the midbrain, and the neocortex.

Frame control 

“Only one frame will dominate after the exchange, and the other frames will be subordinate to the winner.” 

A successful pitch depends on your ability to build strong frames. 

A frame is a perspective; it is merely giving someone a lens to see what you see. Everyone uses frames, whether they realize it or not, and every social encounter brings frames together. 

In business and sales, you cannot crack a deal if you have two different perspectives for the same product or service. It is evident that when people come together, their frames collide, with one eventually winning over the other. 

Stronger frames always absorb weaker frames. In words of Oren, you have to Own the Frame, to Win the Game. 

Get their attention 

It is crucial to win and keep your audience’s attention. Without it, you will not get anywhere. How to do this? You need to provoke two things in your target audience with your pitch: Desire and Tension. 

On desire, people always want things that they can not reach. So this emotion comes when you offer them a reward, something they do not have but would like to. 

Then, tension comes into play. 

Even more powerful than arousing desire, is arousing fear of losing or not conquering something. When you show people that they could miss a great opportunity, or reach an object of desire, they get tense. 

Tension 

Tension comes from conflict. Some beginning presenters want to rely on their charisma (a pure form of novelty) and try to avoid all conflict in their pitch narrative. They want everyone to play nice. Only smiles, no grimaces. Why? Because in regular life, outside the pitch, confrontation can bestressful and nerve wracking, so it makes sense that we would try to avoid it everywhere. But in narrative- and frame-based pitching, you can’t beafraid of tension. In fact, you have to create it. 

The rudimentary patterns I have outlined below have proved extremely rewarding in my career. This might seem surprising—and not because patterns are so simple and basic,

but because they are intended to build tension. This is what has given me an edge. 

There are three tension patterns, each with an increasing level of intensity. These are conversational patterns you can use at any point in a presentation when you sense the target’s attention dropping. 

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.” 

Medium-Intensity Push/Pull Pattern. 

PUSH: 

“There’s so much more to a deal than just the idea. I mean, there’s a venture-capital group in San Francisco that doesn’t even care what the idea is—they don’t even look at it when a deal comes in. The only thing they care about is who the people are behind the deal. That makes sense. I’ve learned that ideas are common, a dime a dozen. What really counts is having someone in charge who has passion andexperience and integrity. So if you and I don’t have that view in common, it would never work between us.” [Pause.] 

PULL: 

“But that’s crazy to think. Obviously you value people over smart ideas. I’ve met corporate robots before that only care about numbers—and you are definitely not a robot.” 

High-Intensity Push/Pull Pattern. 

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 wherethere 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.]

There’s a two-way connection between pushing and pulling that, when it operates simultaneously, introduces enough tension to createalertness. If you always pull the target toward you, he or she becomes cautious and anxious. Constantly pulling someone in, also known as sellinghard, is a signal of neediness. It’s a balancing act, of course, because if you are constantly pushing them away, they will take the hint and leave. 

Eradicate neediness 

Showing signs of neediness is about the worst thing you can do to your pitch. It’s incredibly bad for frame control. It erodes status. It freezes your hot cognitions. It topples your frame stacks. 

“Do you still think it’s a good deal?” 

“So, what do think?” 

“We can sign a deal right away if you want us to.” 

This is the purest form of validation seeking and the most lethal form of neediness. And that was the end of that opportunity. Just that fast, the target’s excitement turned to fear and anxiety. And of course, I failed to get a term sheet or an investment offer. 

Plain and simple, neediness equals weakness. 

When you notice that audience members are uncomfortable, you feel yourself losing the deal. Your anxiety and insecurity start turning into fear, and you begin falling into acceptance-seeking behaviors. 

Real Example 

I made three points. Here’s what I told the Enterprise investors: 

1. This deal will be fully subscribed in the next 14 days. 

2. We don’t need VC money, but we want a big name on our cap sheet that will strengthen our initial public offering (IPO) registration. 

3. I think you guys are interesting, but are you really the right investor? We need to know more about you and the relationships and brand valueyour firm can bring to our deal. 

2- Types of frame 

Power frame

A “power frame” exudes status and authority. It is the most common opposing frame you’ll encounter in a business setting. A person who wields a power frame often displays imperial behaviors: arrogance, lack of interest in you, rudeness, and pursuit of her own interests over those of others. 

If you allow your target to maintain her power-frame dominance, she will quickly shut you out. If you can establish your own frame over hers, though, you will have a much greater chance of making a deal. Fortunately, it can be quite easy to disrupt a power frame, as those who use them aren’t used to being challenged. 

Power-busting frame 

First, do not react to your target’s power frame in ways she expects. Do not act overly polite or friendly, don’t engage in meaningless small talk, and don’t let her tell you what to do. If you play by her rules, you confirm her dominance. 

Second, look for an opportunity to use a “power frame disrupter”: a small act that lets your target know that you are not playing by her rules. In some minor way, deny her of something, or defy her. For example, if you brought visuals and you notice your target taking a peek, take them away and say jokingly, “Not yet” (a denial). Or, if your target says she only has 15 minutes, counter by saying you only have 14 (a defiance). Do it lightheartedly, but mean it. 

The key is to keep it light and use humor. If you keep it humorous, it is typically well received; she’ll see your challenge as a game and will enjoy the play. 

Analyst Frame 

The “analyst frame” is a logical, analytical way of perceiving the world that places more value on cold cognitions—data and numbers—than relationships and ideas. It is common in industries with engineers and financial analysts. However, you need your target to listen to your pitch with hot cognitions—desire, excitement, emotion—in order to prevent her croc brain from filtering it out. 

Excitement is generated in the croc brain and cools in the neocortex, and the analyst frame can kill your pitch by freezing out the excitement for it. Getting mired in technical details derails your momentum and saps enthusiasm from the room. 

Human beings are unable to have hot cognitions and cold cognitions simultaneously. 

Audience members will ask for details. You should respond with summary data that you have prepared for this specific purpose with the highest-level information possible. Then you redirect attention back to your pitch.

Example of summary data: "The revenue is 80 million USD, expenses are 62 million USD, the net is 18 million USD. These and other facts you can verify later, but right now, what we need to focus on this: are we a good fit? Should we be doing business together? This is what I came here to work on". 

1. I'm trying to decide if you are right for me 

2. If I decide yo work with you, the numbers will back up what I'm telling you, so let's not worry about that now 

3. I care about who I work with 

Keep the target focused on the business relationship at all times. Analysis come later. Time Frame 

The “time frame” is a time constraint thrown at you by your target. It is an attempt to force you to react to her restrictions. It asserts her dominance because whichever person is reacting to the other is not in control. 

It’s important you react assertively to this type of challenge. If you accept and go along with her restrictions, it signals to her croc brain that you have ceded control to her, and that you need her more than she needs you. She is now primed to reject you. 

3- Framebusters 

Time constraining frame 

Time frames are easy to defeat as long as you remain alert. “Running long or beyond the point of attention shows weakness, neediness, and desperation… When attention is lacking, set your own time constraint, bounce out of there.” 

Intrigue frame 

The most effective way to overcome the analyst frame is with an intrigue frame. 

People take great pleasure in being confronted with something new, novel, and intriguing. This is why you see presenters lose more and more of the audience as time goes on: those who solve the puzzle drop out. 

When your target drills down into technical material, you break that frame by telling a brief but relevant story that involves you. 

You need to be at the center of the story, which immediately redirects attention back to you. People will pause, look up, and listen because you are sharing something personal.

As you share your story, there has to be some suspense to it because you are going to create intrigue in the telling of the story by telling only part of the story. That’s right, you break the analyst frame by capturing audience attention with a provocative story of something that happened to you, and then you keep their attention by not telling them how it ends until you are ready. 

Your intrigue story needs the following elements: 

1. It must be brief, and the subject must be relevant to your pitch. 

2. You need to be at the center of the story. 

3. There should be risk, danger, and uncertainty. 

4. There should be time pressure—a clock is ticking somewhere, and there are ominous consequences if action is not taken quickly. 

5. There should be tension—you are trying to do something but are being blocked by some force. 

6. There should be serious consequences—failure will not be pretty. My Intrigue Story: 

"The Porterville Incident. Recently, I was traveling in our company plane with my business partner and our attorney. We were at an airstrip in Porterville, a small California town about 300 miles from San Francisco. While this tiny airstrip served mostly small local aircraft, jet traffic in the air was heavy because of the many commercial planes going in and out of San Francisco. A jet must make a rapid and steep ascent after takeoff to join in with the busy traffic pattern. In a pitch setting, I do not tell this story the way I just relayed it to you. When I was meeting with officials from a local airport, I told this story muchdifferently. Knowing that my audience was made up of aviators, engineers, and guys interested in jets, I came to the meeting with this story prepared and ready to deploy if needed. As it happened, I did encounter an attack from an opposing analyst frame, and this story easily brought the meeting back under my control. As the audience’s attention began to shift to analytical questions, this is what I said: This reminds me of the Porterville incident. A while ago, my partner and I flew to Porterville to look at two deals. You guys know, they have a tiny airfield; it’s visual-flight-rules-only and has no control tower.” Mostly they get single-engine traffic—Cessna Skycatchers and Beechcraft Bonanzas—and maybe a few small jets. So when we got there, our big Legacy 600 skidded to a stop at the far edge of the runway. But the landing was nothing compared with the takeoff. Since Porterville airspace is under San Francisco air traffic control, 260 miles away, the trick to getting out of there is to climb fast and mergequickly into the traffic pattern. We expected an aggressive takeoff. It was no big deal when we found ourselves accelerating hard into a steep climb. The Legacy 600 is a ‘muscle car’ of a jet. When it’s under full power, you feel it. So we’re heavy and deep in this full-power ascent, we’re having casual business conversation, and I would estimate that our altitude was 9,000 feet when abruptly the jet surges and then nosedives. We dropped 1,000 feet in a few seconds. My seat is facing forward, toward the cockpit. The door is open, and I can see the pilots. We are all clinging to our seats and cursing, a Klaxon is howling, and one of the pilots is saying, ‘It’s the TCAS! It’s the TCAS!’ But I didn’t evenknow at the time what a traffic collision-avoidance system was. I’m trying to figure this all out, and I’m thinking this is it—I’m done, Soy un perdedor. . . . As we’re plummeting in this nosedive, I look through the door into the cockpit and see both pilots with their hands on the throttle. Then the planerolls into a steep climb, and I see the pilots fighting, literally slapping each other’s hands off the throttle. The climb is short—just five seconds—andthen the plane goes into a nosedive again." 

Anyway . . . 

And I go right back into my pitch. Why does this strategy work so well? The most extreme explanation is that the audience becomes immersed in the narrative. They take the emotional ride with me. Sure, they know that we obviously survived, but I’ve piqued their curiosity—why were the pilotsfighting? They want to know. When I do not tell them, the intrigue spikes high enough to shock them out of the analyst frame. In my experience with this approach, the opposing analyst frame gets crushed by emotional, engaging, and relevant narratives like this. Attention redirects back to me, allowing me to finish my pitch on my agenda, my timeline, and my topics. 

After I finish the pitch, I complete the narrative arc by explaining the whole story. Prize frame 

If the key decision maker isn’t in the room when the meeting starts, hold your ground. Do not start. Wait 15 minutes and that person doesn’t show, get up and politely leave. Do not give the presentation, do not leave brochures, do not apologize. Your time has been wasted, everyone in the room knows it and you don’t have say anything. “Can you tell me more about yourself/your firm? We’re picky about who we work with.” 

4- Pitch Structure 

1 - Introduce Yourself And the Big Idea (5 min) 

Intro yourself (2 min) 

The key to success here is making it about your track record. Things you've built. Projects that actually worked out. Successes. Spend less than 2 minutes on it. 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 convesations, and analysis - there is still a lot to do. 

Your impression of someone is the average of the available information about them, not the sum. So telling people one great thing about yourself will leave them with a better impression of you than telling them one great thing, one pretty good thing and two mediocre things. 

Why now (2 min) 

Nobody wants to invest time or money into an old deal that has been sitting around. This is why you need to introduce a "Why now" frame. There are unspoken questions in the target's mind as to why your idea is relevant and important and why it should be considered as important now. By anticipating these questions and definitively answering them before they are verbalized, you will tick an important checkbox in target's mind and put the target more at ease. Everything your say from that point forward will have context, greater meaning and more urgency, reinforcing its scarcity. 

3 Market forces to help why now: 

Economic forces - What has changed financially in the market for your big idea. Social forces - What changed in people's behaviour patterns. 

Technological forces - What technological change makes the big idea possible now. 

A large part of the brain is devoted to detecting movement. This is what makes it so hard to find things you have lost like keys, cellphone. They don't move. Your brain grows accostomed to things that are not changing and they effectively vanish. 

Don't show people a static picture of how the world would be if your plan were implemented, but instead you show them how your idea is moving away from the current standard to a new way of doing things. 

The 3 market forces formula overcomes the potential for change blindness. Example on a real pitch (page 103). 

Into the big idea (1 min) 

You don't have to explain the big idea in great detail. Your target doesn't want the deal yet. So the pitch temperature is cool. Lots of details will turn it cold. The details come later. First you will establish the big idea using an idea introduction pattern: 

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]. 

2 - Explain the budget, competition and secret sauce (10 min) Projections 

How do you get around the skepticism that surely will fall on your plans? Focus on demonstrating your skill at budgeting, which is a difficult and highly regarded executive alent. Spend almost no time on your skills at projecting revenue - a task any simpleton can perform. 

Competition 

The act of introducing the budgets to the target will lead him to wonder: who does the big idea compete with? Two elements of competition: 

How easy it is for new competitor to jump in the game 

How easy it is for customers to switch out your product with another? Secret Sauce 

Describe your unfair advantage. This one thing will give you staying power against competition. 

3 - Offer the deal (2 min) 

In clear and concise terms, tell the audience exactly what you will be delivering to them, when it will be delivered and how. If they play a part in this process, explain what their roles and responsabilities will be. Don't drill down into a lot of detail. 

Push through this quickly for the sake of time and get back to framing.

4 - Stack frames for hot cognition (3 min) 

You have to stack 3 frames in quick succession to get hot cognitition to work on the target. 

Intrigue frame 

The purpose is to get a large dopamine dump into the croc brain of the target and build desire. I do this by introducing something the target is sure to want but cannot get right now. 

Narrative pattern for building an intrigue frame: 

1- Put a man in the jungle 

2- Have beasts attack him 

3- Will he get to safety? 

Intrigue frame example: 

“Guys, before we spend our last few minutes on financial details, let’s decide first if you love me and you love the basic deal. And look, if youdecide that you do love the deal, you’re obviously going to meet my partner Joshua,” I tell them. “He’s a very interesting guy, a great guy, but a little eccentric.” 

I see if I have their attention, which I usually do. People like to hear stories about interesting and slightly eccentric characters. 

“Last year, when the markets were volatile, I had this little deal, about $10 million,” I tell them. “It seemed easy because it was such a small deal, and I was the only one working it. Things were going like clockwork until the bank called and at the eleventh hour and backed out. No explanation; they just pulled out. That left a $3 million hole in the plan—the deal was falling apart fast. This had come out of the blue, and I was sure that theboard of directors of my company would fire me when they found out about the screw-up. I knew I had to go to Joshua with this.” 

My audience leans in. They want to find out how the problem was solved. And who is this Joshua? They are intrigued. 

“Joshua asked me, ‘Oren, is this a good deal?’ I said, ‘Yes, it’s good. Let me tell you all about it.” But he didn’t stick around to listen. Instead, he went to lunch, without even giving me time to grovel. What could I do? I had to save the investors—and myself too. I wanted to pitch Joshua, to do anything to convince him to save the deal. He, it seemed, just wanted to eat lunch. I was preparing for my funeral when I got the call from the board.They had mysteriously gotten the $3 million. Joshua had wired it in, from his BlackBerry, while having sushi. He didn’t ask me to sign any guarantees. He didn’t even ask to see the file. If he hadn’t made that wire, my investors would have lost a lot of money, and my reputation would have taken a hit. The thing about it is that he does this kind of stuff all the time. Wait until you meet him! 

Prize frame 

Pattern for building a prize frame:

1- I am the prize 

2- You are trying to impress me 

3- You are trying to win my approval 

Prize frame example: 

“Guys, I’m glad I was able to find some free time to come here and show you my deal. I don’t always get to meet the buyers. I know we’re havingfun here, but I have to wrap up. I have another meeting. We are busy, and there just aren’t many deals like this—and obviously none that include me —and I’m fortunate to be in demand. Getting serious for a moment, I do have to choose which investors to let in and which to turn away. Before things go any further here, I need to figure out who you people really are. Yeah, we have your bios and know your reputation. But we have to be cautious about who we bring on board. And I have to sell you to my partner, Joshua—who is going to want to know why I think you would be good partners. Can you give me that—can you tell me why we would enjoy working with you?” So what have I done in such a statement? I’ve delivered the prize frame, and the basic elements include: 

1. I have one of the better deals in the market. 

2. I am choosy about who I work with. 

3. It seems like I could work with you, but really, I need to know more. 4. Please start giving me some materials on yourself. 

5. I still need to figure out if we would work well together and be good partners. 6. What did your last business partners say about you? 

7. When things go sideways in a deal, how do you handle it? 

8. My existing partners are choosy. 

Time frame 

There is scarcity bias in the brain and potential loss of a deal triggers fear. Find the right balance between fairness and pressure and set a real time constraint. 

Time frame example 1: 

“Guys, my company, Geomark, is a great deal, and you can’t bluff me about what you are thinking; I know you agree. Consider the situation we’re in. We are here for a third meeting at your corporate headquarters. Right now I’m looking at your team: four Boeing executives, three engineers, and two of your consultants. Why are you here in force? Because you love the deal. And you should love it. The deal is hot, that’s no secret, and I’ve never used this fact to pressure you, but we can’t ignore it either. For this reason, we have all got to make a decision about the deal in the next week. Why one week? This time constraint is not under my control; it’s the market working. It’s harsh but true: We have to decide by July 18 if you’rein or out.” 

Time frame example 2: 

“Guys, nobody likes time pressure. I don’t like it, and you don’t like it. No one does. But good deals with strong fundamentals are like an Amtrak train, or more like a deal train. They stop at the station, pick up investors, and have a set departure time. And when it’s time—the train has to leave the station. 

You have plenty of time to decide if you like me—and if you want this deal. If you don’t love it, there’s no way you should do it; we all know that. 

But this deal is bigger than me, or you or any one person; the deal is going ahead. There’s a critical path, a real timeline that everyone has towork with. So we need to decide by the 15th.”