Tarzan has swung back into action. As the Mail said: “Still bursting with ideas at 79, Michael Heseltine makes many ministers half his age look burnt out by comparison…. If this near-octogenerian has infected them with one ounce of his dynamism, he has done us all a service.”

His Growth report, like the man, is bursting with ideas. Whether you agree with them or not, and whether Cameron can act on any of them or not, is almost secondary to the sheer impact of the energy he brings onto the scene.  Interviewed on Radio 4, it was this sense of energy, rather than any particular remark, that made you feel optimistic that some positive change was in the air.

Right now few politicians are blessed with conspicuous energy. Although more energetic than most, David Cameron’s is being sapped by infighting and incompetence and Obama’s dipped, perhaps disasterously, in the first television debate.

And yet in any pitch, political or business, energy is fundamental to success.

In his remarkable book, It’s Not How Good You Are. It’s How Good You Want To Be, the great Paul Arden wrote: “energy is 75% of the job, if you haven’t got it, be nice”. 

It has been a war of attrition and we still don’t know who will win and when we do, will it have been down to campaign strategies, tv debate performances, personalities or policies? Or will it be down to energy? Who has more of it? Who has managed it better?  Who has made it work for them?

Brown has it. As Tom Bower wrote in the Observer:

“His indomitable energy during the final days of the campaign sabotaged an Old Etonian’s assumption of a graceful drive to the Palace after winning an overall majority”

Cameron also has it but now needs it more than ever. Peter Osborne in the Sunday Times:

“Sleepless, dog-tired and under immense pressure, David Cameron is being forced to compress a series of life-defining decisions into 48 hours. They will determine not only his political future, but the future of the Conservative party and of Britain.”

The reality in numerous competitive pitches is that the winners are those who sustain and manage their energy best. David Cameron supporters will be crossing their fingers that he keeps on flying!

 ’Managing Energy’ is the subject of a Best Practice Guide. (see listing on right).

Two articles this weekend discussed looks in politics and entertainment. Catherine Bennett in the Observer asked, “What it is with male politicians and their obsession with looks? Couldn’t they work rather than work out?”

She cites Blair’s scrupulously maintained tan, balanced diet and faultless body mass index, jogger Sarkozy’s spartan regime and poseur-in-chief Berlosconi with hair transplants and cosmetic work. All examples of an “age of image-obsessed personality politics….but no one expects a senior economist- Mervyn King, for instance -to jog like Boris”.

AA Gill writes that “almost every medium for entertainment or edification is myopically lookist, sizeist and pulchritudinist… even opera singers can’t be fat anymore”. He then contrasts this with the success of  Andrew Marr, “who has a face for radio and a voice for mime”.  He succeeds with a punchy delivery and because he is “bright and perceptive and just a touch iconoclastic”.

Marr is not a bad role model for business.  Energy, exuberance, excitement and passion will outperform any beauty formula!

  For energy, you can read all the e words - enthusiasm, emotion, exuberance, excitement and enjoyment.  Teams who exude energy are more successful than those who don’t. Simple as.  They are more attractive to potential clients, who are only human after all, and who will be seduced by an engaging (another e word) smile or upbeat personalities like the rest of us.   

 The energy teams win more often.

 Paul Arden in his ‘world’s best selling book’, “It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be”, wrote “energy is 75% of the job.   If you haven’t got it, be nice”.

 When it comes to pitching, even the sleepiest of teams will be energized by the spirit of competition and the adrenalin in the room, so generating more energy, winning energy, should be the challenge. Not as most teams believe, the charts, content et al. The issue is one of harnessing and managing it.

 The notion of ‘energy’ is more than the sensible project timing plan that most will put in place for any pitch. Don’t just think time, think energy.  Here are a couple of practical energy amplifying ideas.

 First, the concept of ‘morning energy’. Most of us are fresher and have more energy at the start of the day so early morning time will produce better thinking, faster. Particularly is this true in the team context.  As the day wears on, client issues distract!  Give the pitch preparation morning priority.

 Second, avoid the ‘macho’ energy trap, the one that says you have never failed to deliver on time because everyone worked till midnight the day before the pitch. People put off rehearsals till the last minute, when they are too tired to care, and it shows the next day.

 Don’t waste energy.  Do the worst thing, first thing.   Start with a ruthless timing plan which keeps the energy up every day and, most important, in each rehearsal meeting.  When the team are each given their responsibilities, make them think Carpe Diem. 

 Make the content watertight, which is the rational part of the presentation, but remember the winning ingredient will be emotional.  Does the client want, need and love you.  This will only come with the E word.

(This bit of energy now also on www.gorkanapr.com)

It goes wIthout saying that the end game in any pitch is to convert the prospect into a client. Companies that are good at pitching will win more pitches, and have a better conversion rate, than those that are not, even though they may be similiar in other aspects of their performance.

This obvious truth holds across all types of business, where pitching is equally competitive,  but it tends to be more publicly discussed in advertising than other fields.   The award winning TV series Mad Men spices its drama with pitches but it is the trade magazine Campaign that leads the way with its league tables.

The most recent of these just published is the AAR’s Pitching Tables for 2008. This reveals that “the best performing agency in terms of pitch conversion was Team Saatchi which converted all of the five pitches it competed in”.  No other agency achieved a 100% strike rate!

Having handed over to managing director, Sophie Hooper, three years ago, I have a good idea of their pitch winning formula.  Great ideas, of course.  As important, if not more so, intensity, infectious energy, a very real sense of team, and making the prospect feel like the most important person in the world.

A simple formula brilliantly executed.  Congratulations Team!

 In a couple of days we get the result of the greatest, most expensive pitch, political or otherwise, of all time. So far $2.4billion and still counting.  When Barack Obama wins, as he surely will, it will be down to many things from  dislike of Bush, to the economy, to it being time for a change ……

It will above all be down to superb pitching!  “He has been an extraordinary candidate, running a brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed campaign” (Sunday Times).  The lessons include:

1. Energy management. Anyone who has pitched knows the importance of keeping the momentum going, managing energy every day, and not just in a panic as pitch date looms.  Obama maintained the energy level, including his battle against Clinton, for some 20 months!  McCain and his team by comparison “lacks the same energy and sense of purpose”.

2. Consistent emotional ‘brand’ communication.  Throughout the campaign it has been his attitude, his style, his story, rather than the specifics, that have engaged so many. “Some presidents become icons after they get elected, like Kennedy.  Barack Obama has managed to become a cultural icon in the course of the campaign…”

3. A perfect pitch process. Successful pitches don’t just happen.  Detail, ruthless efficiency, leaving nothing to chance, ticking every box, all matter.  Obama scores here as well. ” The most seasoned political observers have been struck by the meticulous professionalism of his campaign”.

Who knows, perhaps Obama took time out to read the Best Practice Guides on this site..

Yesterday at around 7.30, coming out of my local newsagent,  I  had to  pause to avoid an early morning jogger.  In his now trademark black shorts and vest, it was David Cameron, looking fit and moving at a good pace.

This was not, it seemed to me, someone running for the photo opportunity.  There was no entourage. This was someone, like many in high pressure jobs, running to stay fit.  The fitter you are the more energy you have and right now Cameron, and his team, exude more of it than Gordon Brown’s team.  One of the reasons they are more attractive to more people.

In one of the best practice guides on this site, Managing Energy, I look at ways at ‘amplifying’ energy.  One of them reads: “Consider introducing ‘hybrid vigour’, the concept of cross-fertilisation for enhanced performance in breeding.  In teams, changing the mix of people can re-invigorate.”

Could the introduction of Peter Mandelson be an experiment in hybrid vigour?  However much he polarises opinon,  he will undoubtedly bring new energy to the Cabinet, something sorely needed.

In any new business pitch energy can be the magic ingredient.  If you don’t have it you will fail.  If you do have it, and know how to use it, you will succeed more often.

The marvellous Paul Arden in his world’s best selling book, IT’S NOT HOW GOOD YOU ARE, IT’S HOW GOOD YOU WANT TO BE, states “energy is 75% of the job, if you haven’t got, it be nice”. This holds true for individuals, companies and, even more, for teams pitching for business.

The latest Best Practice Guide is titled Managing Energy.

It contains a number of practical and original concepts on managing energy in others, generating it and , importantly, harnessing it.  In pitch situations the last macho minute, midnight oil burning, syndrome is something to avoid!

The guide was art directed and visualised by Jim Salter with type on this and all the guides by Nick Thompson to whom many thanks. Best viewed full screen, pressing down load.

As expected the Conservatives won, things are not going too well for the beleaguered Gordon Brown, but the margin of victory was surprising.  Much of this was down to the success of the pitch at the local level.  Some lessons can be drawn.

The importance of leadership, in this case the candidates. Tory, Edward Timpson, bright, positive,optimistic contrasting with the reluctant Tamsin Dunwoody.  Her selection a misguided attempt to gain the sympathy vote, since her mother had been a huge presence in the constituency, Tamsin suffered by comparison.   Her body language signalled that she would really rather be somewhere else.

The value of a positive strategy, in tone and content. The Tory campaign hitting the different target audiences, their loyalists, Labour and LibDems  with different but simple, positive messages.  Contrast this with Labours ”inept, negative and poisonous”campaign ( Labour MPs’ own Compass group).

Finally. the energy factor.  In any pitch, business or political, the emotional impact of unbridled energy and exuberance can carry the day. The Tories have this, Labour don’t. 

For most of us ,taking part in a pitch is stimulating but we manage the energy needed in fits and starts, building to a crescendo in the last day or so.  Burning midnight oil in a macho way ,we finalise proposals(just), edit the proposal (just), rehearse (just or not) and arrive on time (just) to present.

Carried along by adrenaline we get through the pitch, pat ourselves on the back, and collapse into the nearest bar.

Compare this with what must be one of the most ferociously competitive pitches in years, Clinton vs Obama.

Every single day, week in week out, they are in flat out pitch mode.  Live TV debates, interviews, press conferences, platform speeches, receptions, door-stepping, handling hecklers, kissing babies, responding to focus groups or headlines or opinion polls or ‘misspeaks’. All that on top of the daily tactics, dirty or otherwise, to undermine the opposition and the constant pressure to motivate the home team.  WOW.

Obama may be in the lead, and he has the charisma, but he may not have the same astonishing and sustained energy level of the ‘come-back’ kid. Clinton is exuding energy, a highly infectious quality. I would not bet against her just yet.