Pitch Anything Quotes

“I can wait 15 minutes, but then I have to leave.” That’s enough to get the message through.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“So you guys are asking me to delay the start? Okay. I can give you 15 minutes to get organized. But if we can’t start by then, then let’s just call it a day.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“When you are defiant and funny at the same time, he is pleasantly challenged by you and instinctively knows that he is in the presence of a pro.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Defiance and light humor are the keys to seizing power and frame control. Keep it fun, do it with a grin on your face, and the moment the power shifts to you, move the meeting forward in the direction you want. This is the foundation of frame control. You’ll be seizing more power and status as the pitch continues.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Another way to control the frame is to respond to a comment with a small but forceful act of defiance. TARGET: “Thanks for coming over. I only have 15 minutes this afternoon.” YOU: “That’s okay, I only have 12.” You smile. But you are serious, too.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Here are some subtler examples of taking the power frame away. As soon as you come in contact with your target, look for the first opportunity to 1. Perpetrate a small denial, or 2. Act out some type of defiance. Examples You place a folder on the conference table that is labeled “Confidential—John Smith.” When the target reaches for the file, you grab it and say, “Uh-uh, not yet. You have to wait for this.” If you deal in creative work and you brought visuals, let the target sneak a peek and then, when you see him curiously looking, turn it over, take it away, and deliver a soft reprimand that says, not until I say you’re ready.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“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.” (You will read about creating status and local star power in Chapter 3.)”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“If a guy is going to dominate you, let him dominate you on the price of something like a hand drawing in this case, something that doesn’t matter. If you find yourself in a similar situation (the day will come when this happens to you, too), then pick something abstract and start an intense price negotiation over it—and it doesn’t matter if you win or lose. The power of the person’s frame is rendered trivial, and the focus is back to you and what you want to do with the meeting.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“When you abide by the rituals of power instead of establishing your own, you reinforce the opposing power frame.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Observing power rituals in business situations—such as acting deferential, engaging in meaningless small talk, or letting yourself be told what to do—reinforces the alpha status of your target and confirms your subordinate position. Do not do this!”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“For example, if I know the person I’m meeting is a hard-charging, type A personality, I will go in with a power-busting frame. If that person is an analytical, dollars-and-cents type, I will choose an intrigue frame. If I’m outnumbered and outgunned and the deck is stacked against me, time frames and prize frames are essential.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“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.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“A frame is the instrument you use to package your power, authority, strength, information, and status. 1. Everyone uses frames whether they realize it or not. 2. Every social encounter brings different frames together. 3. Frames do not coexist in the same time and place for long. They crash into each other, and one or the other gains control. 4. Only one frame survives. The others break and are absorbed. Stronger frames always absorb weaker frames. 5. The winning frame governs the social interaction. It is said to have frame control.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“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.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“story needs the following elements: 1. It must be brief, and the subject must be relevant to your pitch. 2.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Nobody wants to invest time or money into an old deal that has been sitting around. This is why you need to introduce a “Why now?” frame.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“I'm glad I could find the time to meet with you today. And I do have another meeting right after this. Let's get started.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Money is almost useless to any buyer/investor until it purchases what you have. Oh sure, the investor's money can earn a few bucks in Treasury bills or corporate bonds. But that's not what money wants to do. It wants to go to work by investing in deals and buying products. How does this work in the real world? This can seem a little abstract until you fully internalize the following fact: Money cannot do anything without you. The money needs YOU.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Let's consider three of the most fundamental behaviors of human beings:
1. We chase that which moves away from us.
2. We want what we cannot have.
3. We only place value on things that are difficult to obtain.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“As you are pitching your idea, the croc brain of the person sitting across from you isn't 'listening' and thinking, 'Hmm, is this a good deal or not?' Its reaction to your pitch basically goes like this: 'Since this is not an emergency, how can I ignore this or spend the least amount of time possible on it?'

This filtering system of the crocodile brain has a very short-sighted view of the world. Anything that is not a crisis it tries to mark as 'spam.'

If you got a chance to look at the croc brain's filtering instructions, it would look something like this:
1. If it's not dangerous, ignore it
2. If it's not new and exciting, ignore it.
3. If it is new, summarize it as quickly as possible - and forget about the details.
And finally there is this specific instruction:
4. Do not send anything up to the neocortex for problem solving unless you have a situation that is really unexpected and out of the ordinary.

These are the basic operating policies and procedures of our brains. No wonder pitching is so difficult.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“primarily in the field of medical devices. Intriguingly, while at Dow Corning in the 1960s, he helped to invent the first generation of silicone breast implants. Today, he owned two companies: MediCor and Southwest Exchange. MediCor’s breast implant business had looked promising for a while. But the success enjoyed there was short-lived, and McGhan turned desperate. To keep MediCor solvent, McGhan began siphoning money from Southwest Exchange. Southwest Exchange, which McGhan bought in”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“controlled”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“1. Introduce yourself and the big idea: 5 minutes. 2. Explain the budget and secret sauce: 10 minutes. 3. Offer the deal: 2 minutes. 4. Stack frames for a hot cognition: 3 minutes. Phase”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“People who have lots of options are not uptight, and they don’t take themselves too seriously. It”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Broadcasting weakness by seeking validation is often a death sentence.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“the addition of time pressure to a decision-making event reduces decision quality.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Your decisions are strongly prepared by brain activity. By the time consciousness kicks in, most of the work has already been done.” The”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“we feel decisions in our body, not our mind. There”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“Unrealistic budgets and miscalculating costs are the greatest risks to a growing company, especially startups.”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

“ideas you come up with using your problem-solving brain—the neocortex—must be intentionally retuned for the croc brain that will receive them. Early”
― Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal