Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

by Oren Klaff

First, you don’t want your message to trigger fear alarms. And second, you want to make sure it gets recognized as something positive, unexpected, and out of the ordinary—a pleasant novelty.

Understanding how to harness and apply the power of frames is the most important thing you will ever learn.

bold statement. we shall see.

When you are responding ineffectively to things the other person is saying and doing, that person owns the frame, and you are being frame-controlled.

When you abide by the rituals of power instead of establishing your own, you reinforce the opposing power frame.

To instigate a power frame collision, use a mildly shocking but not unfriendly act to cause it. Use defiance and light humor. This captures attention and elevates your status by creating something called “local star power.”

Defiance and light humor are the keys to seizing power and frame control.

No matter what happens, no matter how much social pressure and discomfort you suffer, you must stay composed and stick to your frame. This is called plowing. So you prepare yourself to plow, as an ox might plow a field. Always moving forward. Never stopping. Never any self-doubt. And, as you are about to see, when two

Keep the target focused on the business relationship at all times. Analysis comes later.

Your pitch is first going to register in the target’s croc brain. And as we discussed in Chapter 1, the croc brain would like to ignore you. But if you are dynamic enough—giving new and novel information—you will capture the croc’s attention. Once that happens, the croc is going to have one of two primal reactions: • Curiosity and desire, or • Fear and dislike.

“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].”

Neuroscientist Evian Gordon is convinced that minimizing danger and threats around us is “the fundamental organizing principle of the brain.”

The two parts of the attention cocktail are novelty and tension, which in a pitch work together in a feedback loop for about 20 minutes until—no matter what you do or how hard you try—they get out of balance and then stop working altogether.

Over time, you will begin to notice an increase in the velocity of your work and leisure activities. This is so because strong frames allow you to selectively ignore things that do not move you forward toward your goals, and such a recognition amplifies your focus on the things that do.