Most failed pitches will share the characteristic of too much content. They fall into the  irresistible trap of more is best, cramming in every salient fact,  compelling case-histories, blinding statistics, unique reasearch findings, unassailable track records, irrefutable claims of superiority and differentiation. 

This ignores the simple truth. It’s not what you put in to a pitch that matters. It’s what your audience takes out. At best this will be three or four key messages and an emotional response that will always outweigh the rational one.

This is where storytelling comes in.  Since that famous time, immemorial, stories or narratives have been shared in every culture. Booker Prize writer, A.S.Bryant: “narration is as much a part of human nature as breath and the circulation of the blood. Indeed as human beings we are all natural storytellers…. some more innately skilled than others, but we all have stories to tell”.

So the morale of this particular tale is to sacrifice some content and tell a story. As long as it has some relevance it can come from personal experience or be a formal case history described anecdotally. Just as they did when children, your audience of hardened business professionals will listen and engage with your story, with their imaginations coming into play. They will remember the stories long after they forget the rest of your important argument.

The other plus side of the story is this. It is much easier in the heat of a pitch to tell a story naturally, and with confidence, than it is to present the compelling arguments.  And the sooner you bring in your stories, the sooner you and your audience will relax.

Build on this confidence by acting the story, as you would for children. Pause for dramatic effect ( the wolf  dressed as grandma), expansive open gestures (the beanstalk reaching the sky)  and smile (the happy ending).  All are aspects of your performance that  can say ‘you are delighted to be here’.

Remember, in any pitch, storytelling is the way to make the emotional connection and that you, the storyteller are the most important element. It’s all about you and your team.

 The recent exhibition on Modern Day Slavery deserved a ”best ever” accolade for three good reasons. The first of these being  that it  was in was the right place.  After all where else would you be, if you want to reach MPs to alert them to slavery in Britain, than the House where the slave trade was abolished in 1807?

However, permissions to this hallowed place are not easily come by and time to build comes a poor second to the demands of division bells. Tradition, winding corridors and impressive staircases combined with stringent security regulations present seemingly unsurmountable barriers. An irresistible “we shall overcome” approach of  the  head of the Human Trafficking Foundation, Anthony Steen, prevailed.

The next positive was the way the exhibition ‘commanded the space’ ( see previous post).  In the vastness of the House of Commons, with its lofty ceilings and the ‘weight’ of history, most exhibitions are  lost, diminished and apologetic. Not this one. An ambitious structure , designed cleverly to work  in the venue of the Upper Waiting Hall stood out and demanded the attention of  MPs, scurrying along endless corridors of power.

 And to cap it all there was a singleminded idea, so often absent from pitches like this.  Capturing the essence of the slavery problem, that it is invisible and secret with slaves fearful of talking,  the theme, “The Hidden Agenda”, was compellingly brought to life.

 Display panels with headlines like “Hide and Seek-for children this is not a game”, text reinfocing the hidden nature with curtains, crates and doors hiding the poignant stories. Together with actors role playing victims, the message  to MPs was unmissable- there are slaves hidden in your constituencies .

The result?  A positive reaction from the many MPs who had the chance to meet a number of former slaves (no longer hidden) and, most importantly, a ringing endorsement from David Cameron. He promised personal support to an initiative aiming to take slavery from hidden to exposed, moving it up the political agenda.

For more on slavery, www.humantraffickingfoundation.org

One of the first things drummed into aspiring actors is the need ‘to command the space’. They learn that this calls for stage craft and it calls for emotional intensity and presence. It is the latter that tends to distinguish the great from the good.

Everything has now been written about Margaret Thatcher. As an orator she does not compare with Obama. She could not work a room like Clinton who made whoever he was talking to feel like the only person who mattered. A skill he can also bring to the public stage. Nor did she have the folksy charm of the great comunicator, Ronald Regan - a special relationship.

 However in her inimitable (but much imitated) way she was a hugely effective communicator. She had a sense of drama and was tuned to the theatre of politics. She, more than any of her rivals, knew how to command the space. Whether the conference platform, the Front bench, a television studio or a walk-about she commanded the audience expectation before she spoke.

 As a supreme professional she worked hard on the craft, playing brilliantly her take on ‘woman in a man’s world’. She fashioned a signature look of suits, blouses, hairstyle and handbag. As journalist Liz Jones wrote: “She proved you didn’t have to dress like a man to be powerful….always feminine, always meticulous about her appearance…said to have invented power-dressing yet her look was always controlled. This was not vanity, it was focus, her attention to her image.”

The same focus embraced advice from the ablest communication experts Gordon Reese, Tim Bell and Maurice Saatchi,  pioneered the photo opportunityof hard hats and boiler suits (plus handbag) and handled  the tough task of modulating her voice. She created the most recognisable political brand since Churchill.

And that’s what powerful brands do. They command the space- on shelves, on table tops and in the high street- and people reach out for them first, confident in what they offer. The truly great brands however are built on more than craft. Take Nike where an attitude, first expressed as”just do it,” has inspired global success.

Margaret Theatcher’s craft played its part, right down to the handbag, her Nike swoosh. But it was, of course, through her personality and presence that she exerted such command.

 ”She conquered the word through the passionate strength of her conviction.”

On March 13th we heard that the little known Cardinal Jorge Begoglio, 76 years old, from Agentina was to be Pope Francis. When he first appeared on that balcony, looking somewhat pensive, we did not know the now familiar ‘back-story’. He takes the bus, cooks for himself and lives in a small flat… He had been given only 70 minutes to prepare to meet the world.

He then made the greatest first impression in history!

The ‘crowds in St Peter’s Square went crazy’. The billions viewing seemingly made their minds up, instantly, that they liked, even loved this man and read in him a new style for the Church, a welcome change in attitude and behavior. All this within a few minutes.

It may have been God given, but it was communication artistry as well.

His so well chosen first words “Brother and Sisters - Buona sera” , so simple, but totally unexpected from a Pope, captivated us and gave him a relaxed start. He smiled naturally and often, non Pope-like. His gestures were also natural and open without ceremony. He used story telling and gentle humour- about his selection: ”And it seems they went almost to the ends of the earth to find him. But we’re here”.

He  paused and took his time,  engaging in a gentle one-on-one conversation not delivering a speech to the watching millions. He ended by wishing us all “Buon pranzo”- Have a good lunch. And smiled again.

As the saying goes, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Pope Francis knew this.

Any pitch, however run-of-the mill, requires some level of performance if those pitching are to stand out from their competition and, more importantly, have an impact on their audience. It is show-time. Regrettably, so much effort and energy goes into cracking the strategy and preparing the content that little time is left to stage the show itself. 

And all too often the aspect that is overlooked is the opening - the overture.

Musical definitions include “a prelude that introduces overarching themes’, a composition that “sets the mood for whatever it introduces” and a “foretaste of what to expect”. Composers, from Rossini to Tchaikovsky, all had in common their understanding of  the importance of engaging the audiences’ senses from the outset, raising the emotional temperature and building anticipation.

While ambitions might be less vaulted in the professional pitch, the emotional responses sought are the same and if you are to engage them you need your own overture (which, conveniently, in its alternative meaning stands for ‘a gesture initiating a relationship’).

 A surprisingly effective overture is the simple telling of a story. For example, if your pitch is about how you will “transform” a business, a transforming story from personal experience, easily told, will capture interest and engage as an overture that  inspires both you and your listeners. One perceptive musician said “what the overture does is create a state of mind”.

Most pitches and presentations can be judged under three headings. Firstly, those that are little more than a one -way proclamation and re-gurgitation of a document, typically chart or PowerPoint heavy on supporting facts and track record. These are “information transmissions”. Few succeed. 

 Then we have the “professional communications” covering a majority of pitches, where a few key messages deemed important to the audience are coherently and clearly articulated. Unless they are up against the final group, many will succeed.

The final ones, the ideal, are those that make “emotional connections“. These are pitches built around the understanding that people (including prospects) might conclude rationally but they act emotionally. And an emotional response  to a pitch calls for performance! As Paul Arden, in his world-best-selling-book, said when you pitch “you are putting on a show”.

While performance in a pitch may not reach the rarified level of the concert musician there are some valuable lessons. The musician makes a clearer distinction between the practice and the performance.  The former is naturally essential. Through rigorous practice they  set out to know the piece so well that they have no need to think during performance since “too much conscious thought during performance impedes the ability to perform”.

Put another way “it does not allow surrender to the moment” or to “letting go”. It does not give them, as one talented musician told me, the opportunity to be “a touch ridiculous”.  These are characteristics that move playing from the technically competent to the performance that commands emotion.

In the business pitch it is “too much thinking about the content” that undermines the performance. Where there has been a cut-off called on content change and where serious rehearsal has taken place, normally average presenters can deliver, letting-go, and relish  showing -off. They  become performers. It’s not so ridiculous.

Some years ago Martin Jones, then of the AAR a body helping clients through the pitch process, wrote a thoughtful article on the learnings from receiving over 600 pitches. Essentially, he concluded that for the most part decisions were not based on track records, strategic insight or clever solutions.  They were influenced hugely by these three emotionally based concerns.

Do I  like these people? Do they like each other? How hungry are they for my business?

It is the second of these, ‘do they like each other’, which tends to be overlooked, on the assumption that as business colleagues a pitch team will be assumed to get on ok.  But is this enough when the client’s instincts are on high alert for the tiniest clues to help them arrive at the choosing of  a partner who may change their life. 

It calls for more than well organised teamwork, with defined roles. It calls for a sense of oneness, a spirit of cohesion and sublime interplay. In sport we think Barcelona.  In music, think ensemble playing where the concept of breathing together is  everything.

 They must understand instinctively the role of each instrument, trust and respect the  individual ensemble musicians and share a collective emotional sense of the music. It is not a mechanical process, it is one of  ’breathing together’. It can produce magic.   Last week, after only 3 days practising together, the 20 strong Brillig ensemble produced a ”captivating performance and a joie de vivre” - so much more than  than the output of mere teamwork.

(A TED talk by Eugene Lee discusses Leadership lessons from the Musical Ensemble. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctoJfe4_t4o)

 Speaking in public is high on the list of fears for most people. Much has been written by psychologists about finding the right coping strategies and many will work given the luxury of  time. For those who can’t find that time, here is an entirely practical approach to the problem.

In essence, do not tackle, as a single daunting task, an unbroken, say, 20 minutes of deathless prose. Think in terms of  five short ‘ part-works’ that will make-up the whole. They are easier to write, easier to deliver and easier on your audience - who mostly will not be hostile!

Prepare your material using the classic ‘rule of three’ structure. In all, five components. The ‘overture’- when you introduce yourself, declare your subject or challenge and three supporting themes (A,B,C). Then develop these in three ‘acts’, each with no more than three scenes. Lastly your ‘finale’, drawing your 3 themes together into an inevitable conclusion.

 Think of your 3 headings, and subs, as verbal signposts, to be emphasised at the start and end of each section. These signposts not only keep your audience on track, they keep you on track. Remember them and you will find remembering your script much easier. 

  Cultivate the     PAUSE. It is probably the easiest  thing to do that will improve your presentation style, increase your confidence and manage nerves. In normal conversation, naturally, you pause for thought.  Quite simply, consciously reproduce this in the big speech. Pause between every small change of subject, longer pauses between acts. Use the spaces between the blocks in the diagram to plot your pauses. 

In The King’s Speech, we learnt that King George was forced to pause to overcome his impediment but the resulting speeches were seen as both powerful and hugely confident. Most of us are not forced to pause, but when we do we become more confident and we are seen as confident.

Finally, practice, or better still rehearse to someone, and work on one short act at a time. Try not to worry about the words and focus on your signposts and your pauses. The rest will follow more easily!

The words ‘getting in the mood’ are normally followed with ‘for sex’. While this, sadly perhaps, is not the subject of this post it is about being in the right mood for performance when it really matters. An Olympic hundred metres final, a Carnegie Hall concert and, yes, the all-important pitch.

In high performance sport and, I’m sure, in the performing arts, the difference between the good, the technically excellent and the great is an ablility to rise to the occasion, to harness not merely physical perfection or virtuosity but the emotional power and focus that lifts performance to the extraordinary.

All great performers seem to have this ability to manage their ‘inner game’. Televised tennis,  more than most sports, allows you to witness players summoning up the right mood, often at change-over between sets. Currently the best competitor in the world is Djokovitch and you can see his body language  visibly alter as he summons up his warrior self.

People like Djokovitch train themseves so they can tap into this right mood, almost at will. For mere mortals in the pitch, often an interruption to a hectic schedule, it is not so easy. Typically last minute preparation, phone calls, and operational pressures will continue almost into the pitch itself.

The understandable thinking is that adrenaline will kick in and ’everything will be alright on the day’ and that high energy will carry things. Unfortunately, this is not the same thing as being in the right mood to perform at your best.

 You need to give yourself a mood warm-up. (An athlete spends as much time in the warm-up on frame of mind as on muscles.) We all know what works for us if we take time, get out of the office, turn off the tablet or mobile, walk (tall), gently exercise, breathe deeply, listen to music, laugh out loud and smile, smile, smile- so you bring one to the meeting!

These are all things that make you feel better about yourself. The better you feel the more confident you will be. The better you feel the more you, and your prospect, will enjoy the pitch. Next time, try the mood warm-up.

My last post discussed intensity as a quality essential to the approach and preparation of a winning pitch. Charm is the magic ingredient, on the day, which can carry an average pitch and without which you lose however good the pitch.

UKIP is enjoying  success as it emerges as the country’s third most popular party. Some of this success is down to the failings of its rivals but much of it is down to the undeniable charm of leader Nigel Farage.  His charm makes the unpalatable easier to swallow. In G2, Decca Aitkenhead described him as “..charismatic, funny, indefatigably good-natured and essentially cheerful  towards absolutely everyone…”

While Farage, who keeps on smiling in the face of the most hostile interviewer, may be more gifted,  the reality is that most people excercise charm as part and parcel of the working relationships in their daily lives. Except when they pitch.

Being naturally charming takes a back seat as worry -about content/last minute changes/checking the charts/hand-overs/time keeping/looking good/eye contact/gaffs - takes over and charm is reduced to false bonomie, exaggerated enthusiasm and ingratiating niceness.

If you don’t want to use Farage as your role model, check out Thesauraus which gives some 40 alternatives words for ‘charming’. Here are some of them to bring  to your next pitch:

 ”captivating, engaging, enjoyable, attractive, engrossing, charismatic, irresistible, fascinating, winning and likeable”

If they don’t like you they won’t buy you. To be more likeable, rehearse. The more you do so, the more confident you get. The more confident you are the more your naturally charming self takes over.