Everyone has tips and tricks when it comes to pitching and presenting. As I mentioned earlier, there are hundreds of books, blogs, and articles focused on presentation skills from experts all over the world. I have quoted or made reference to many of them in this book. However, one of my favorites is by a fictional character from a sitcom from way back in the early 1970s—The Brady Bunch. Jan Brady had to give a presentation to her entire school and was very nervous. Her father, Mike Brady told his daughter to picture the audience wearing only underwear when she had to be on stage. While it goes against my cardinal rule of respecting the audience, it is a funny reminder that the audience members are just people, who like you and me, wear underwear. Mr. Brady’s reasoning was that it is hard to be afraid of a group of people in their underwear! I have yet to try this exercise because I am afraid I will start laughing and lose my train of thought.
That said, I want to close the book with what I consider two of my secrets for delivering successful pitch presentations. As someone who has given pitches for close to 30 years, I have learned quite a lot of what some would say they are tricks of the trade. But truth be told, they are things I learned by growing up in a Jewish household.
Kibitz
Kibitz is a Yiddish word to describe someone who is quick to offer an opinion, or someone who likes to make conversation. I am an expressive, so I like to talk and get to know people. I learned early on in my career—do not be so formal and wait for the meeting to begin. I like to get to the pitch early, set up the room, and walk around to kibitz with the people as they file in. I find that you learn more about people’s wishes, wants, and needs during the small talk before the actual pitch begins. Sometimes critical client team members shut down during the pitch because the bosses are in the room. My goal is to get to them before that happens. You may gain insight and can call attention to it during the pitch. I learned this first hand when I was invited to pitch to a large university in the Boston area. I am chronically early to almost every meeting. So I got to the conference room 30 minutes ahead of schedule. I set up my laptop, checked my slides, changed the thermostat to cold, and sat down to wait. Fifteen minutes passed and people started coming into the room. We started chatting about the weather, the city, and eventually we got around to the school and their online marketing issues. I heard everything from complaints, disappointments to actual finger pointing and blame. The room was now filled with about 20 staff members. Everyone was talking about the problems at hand. I was learning so much! At the top of the hour, the director walked in and everyone clammed up. It was amazing to witness. The good thing is that I had heard everything before he entered, so I used it all in the presentation as key talking points. Needless to say, the director was quite stunned with the amount of knowledge I had; I won the pitch.
When a presentation starts, it becomes a formal affair and there are these unwritten rules of when people can speak and when they need to be quiet and listen. It is after all a performance. Just like at the theater, audience members chat it up before the lights go down and once the performance begins the audience goes quiet. I like to think that when the presentation starts the four personalities (driver, analytical, amiable, and expressive) are turned on. So, before the curtain goes up, use that time to talk with the audience and gain as much insight as you can.
Nosh
Another Yiddish word, nosh, means, to snack. Growing up Jewish I noshed a lot. Who am I kidding? I still nosh a lot! I always remember going to my grandparent’s house and my grandmother would always have a tray of food out on the dining room table. We would all gather around the food so we could kibitz and nosh. My favorite was my grandmother’s meatballs. Some of my fondest memories are sitting around the table listening to my relatives tell stories and noshing. It was comforting and homey. I always went home full of food and happiness.
One day many years ago, my agency had the opportunity to pitch a large restaurant chain. We were one of two agencies that made finals. Taking my own advice, some of which I talk about in this book, I realized this was a chemistry test. The client knew we could do job, so this was a time to shine and differentiate ourselves from the competition. Krispy Kreme doughnuts was all the rage, so I picked up four dozen glazed doughnuts and brought them to the pitch. We spent the first 30 minutes kibitzing about and eating doughnuts. It was a huge hit!
Based on that story, my advice to you is to bring something to nosh on to every pitch meeting you have. Everyone loves free food, and everyone loves to kibitz about it. In addition, if you are creative (e.g., cookies with the client logo on them), the nosh can act as an icebreaker. While the doughnuts were a great choice, a good friend of mine suggested that chocolate is the best thing to bring. Everyone not only likes candy but chocolate is also euphoric and everyone will leave the meeting feeling good. Also, a little sugar in the morning or after lunch is always a good thing to wake them up and keep them alert!