The Power of the Pitch
The Power of the Pitch
Whether you’re inside a company doing PR or a consultant, you make presentations. The objective always is to get people to buy into your idea, your concept, your program. At the end of the meeting you want people walking out of the meeting agreeing with you – whether it is to undertake a new PR direction or to have you be appointed their PR counsel.
Gary Hankins has an impressive background of making pitches himself and in assisting others. With more than 30 years of sales, media and professional experience; he gives very sage advice on how to walk out of the meeting with the business in your hands.
We never really thought about it before but he is correct that we (and professional sales people) spend all of their time prospecting and preparing business proposals that are “guaranteed” to win the business. However, the presentation us usually the last minute, throw the pieces together effort. It’s ironic once you think about it in those terms because the visual/verbal presentation is where you get people to agree with you and actually win the business.
The guidelines that Hankins provides work as well for new business presentations as they do in helping your staff members prepare their conference and convention presentations.
In clear, understandable terms you can put to immediate use, he spells out the vital steps you have to undertake before and after the presentation. Sandwiched in between that he provides you with specific guidelines on how to organize your presentation for maximum impact.
Hankin does an excellent job of giving you clear, concise examples of presentation techniques and specifics. The examples can be immediately put to use.
The author doesn’t talk down to you in this book but he starts you out with the basics and we mean the very basics (many of which you’ll think are obvious until you analyze your past presentations with brutal honesty). Don’t skip the first chapters including those on how to package yourself, your voice and nonverbal signals you send out during the presentation. Going back to the basics start you out with the right foundation and can probably help you unlearn some bad habits that have crept into your presentations.
In addition to spelling out the five mistakes most of us make in a new business presentation, Hankin takes you step by step through the anatomy of a winning new business presentation. But the tools go far beyond getting the business or losing it. The book is extremely useful in putting together a wide range of business presentations.
This is a very current analysis of your presentation opportunities – 1:1, conference/convention and even web based meetings. Once you’ve read, digested and implemented Hankins’ presentation guidelines a few times you’ll come to understand and appreciate that making a presentation can be fun and rewarding.
We have already used the points he discusses in helping clients prepare conference and seminar presentations that were only designed to “sell” them as an expert in the field. The guidelines have also been extremely helpful in our development of new product presentations when we have taken clients on editorial tour roadshows.
After 30 years in the PR business and working with many members of the press for a long time, it is too easy to think of them as friends and business associates you don’t have to pitch. But after going through The Power of the Pitch for the third time we came to realize that to be really successful, every presentation had to be addressed as though you had to win new business.
Then it becomes fun because what you want to do is have your audience – even your editorial audience – agree with the points you are making. You really want them to come to the conclusion that what you are presenting is something they want to participate in and support.
At the end of the day what you want to have happen is that everyone (prospects, present clients, editors and audiences) to agree with you.
The most difficult part of the book? Trying to figure out how he came to name is company Pygmalion Inc – The Greek king who created a statue and then fell in love with it. For awhile we thought it was because people work so hard on a presentation they fall in love with it and forget it’s not real. However for Pygmalion, Aphrodite brought the statue to life for him. Maybe Hankins is our Aphrodite because after reading The Power of the Pitch we believe he will have given you the tools to bring your presentation (your work of art) to life.
We didn’t feel like a Greek god after our three readings of the book but we were able to significantly improve our presentation skills and more importantly we’ve been able to help clients improve their presentation skills.
Don’t think about simply using The Power of the Pitch in new business situations. Use the information Hankins provides in all of your presentations because after all, you do want to win every time! Don’t you?
The Power of the Pitch - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
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Let us warn you at the outset. You don’t simply The Power of the Pitch or Transform Yourself into a More Persuasive Presenter and Win More Business. It’s a book that you have to read, digest and then read a second or third time. Actually we read it once; skip read it a second time and worked with some of our staff using it as a study guide and workbook.
Whether you’re inside a company doing PR or a consultant, you make presentations. The objective always is to get people to buy into your idea, your concept, your program. At the end of the meeting you want people walking out of the meeting agreeing with you – whether it is to undertake a new PR direction or to have you be appointed their PR counsel.
Gary Hankins has an impressive background of making pitches himself and in assisting others. With more than 30 years of sales, media and professional experience; he gives very sage advice on how to walk out of the meeting with the business in your hands.
We never really thought about it before but he is correct that we (and professional sales people) spend all of their time prospecting and preparing business proposals that are “guaranteed” to win the business. However, the presentation us usually the last minute, throw the pieces together effort. It’s ironic once you think about it in those terms because the visual/verbal presentation is where you get people to agree with you and actually win the business.
The guidelines that Hankins provides work as well for new business presentations as they do in helping your staff members prepare their conference and convention presentations.
In clear, understandable terms you can put to immediate use, he spells out the vital steps you have to undertake before and after the presentation. Sandwiched in between that he provides you with specific guidelines on how to organize your presentation for maximum impact.
Hankin does an excellent job of giving you clear, concise examples of presentation techniques and specifics. The examples can be immediately put to use.
The author doesn’t talk down to you in this book but he starts you out with the basics and we mean the very basics (many of which you’ll think are obvious until you analyze your past presentations with brutal honesty). Don’t skip the first chapters including those on how to package yourself, your voice and nonverbal signals you send out during the presentation. Going back to the basics start you out with the right foundation and can probably help you unlearn some bad habits that have crept into your presentations.
In addition to spelling out the five mistakes most of us make in a new business presentation, Hankin takes you step by step through the anatomy of a winning new business presentation. But the tools go far beyond getting the business or losing it. The book is extremely useful in putting together a wide range of business presentations.
This is a very current analysis of your presentation opportunities – 1:1, conference/convention and even web based meetings. Once you’ve read, digested and implemented Hankins’ presentation guidelines a few times you’ll come to understand and appreciate that making a presentation can be fun and rewarding.
We have already used the points he discusses in helping clients prepare conference and seminar presentations that were only designed to “sell” them as an expert in the field. The guidelines have also been extremely helpful in our development of new product presentations when we have taken clients on editorial tour roadshows.
After 30 years in the PR business and working with many members of the press for a long time, it is too easy to think of them as friends and business associates you don’t have to pitch. But after going through The Power of the Pitch for the third time we came to realize that to be really successful, every presentation had to be addressed as though you had to win new business.
Then it becomes fun because what you want to do is have your audience – even your editorial audience – agree with the points you are making. You really want them to come to the conclusion that what you are presenting is something they want to participate in and support.
At the end of the day what you want to have happen is that everyone (prospects, present clients, editors and audiences) to agree with you.
The most difficult part of the book? Trying to figure out how he came to name is company Pygmalion Inc – The Greek king who created a statue and then fell in love with it. For awhile we thought it was because people work so hard on a presentation they fall in love with it and forget it’s not real. However for Pygmalion, Aphrodite brought the statue to life for him. Maybe Hankins is our Aphrodite because after reading The Power of the Pitch we believe he will have given you the tools to bring your presentation (your work of art) to life.
We didn’t feel like a Greek god after our three readings of the book but we were able to significantly improve our presentation skills and more importantly we’ve been able to help clients improve their presentation skills.
Don’t think about simply using The Power of the Pitch in new business situations. Use the information Hankins provides in all of your presentations because after all, you do want to win every time! Don’t you?
The Power of the Pitch - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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