“It’s all down to confidence. Obama has it”.

These words headlined an article by William Rees-Mogg in the MoS and there are plenty like it.  As the world economy falls apart, confidence, or rather lack of it, dominates the media, and our lives, at an intensity not seen since the thirties.  As a result we repond, perhaps disproportionately, to those who appear to have it.

Right now Gordon Brown has it more than Cameron.  His appointment of Mandelson who exudes an eery sense of confidence, could prove to be a masterstroke.  Perhaps one reason Kenneth Clarke is in the frame for the Tory front bench is an ebullient self-confidence less evident in his colleagues.

Barack “yes you can” Obama  has it!  Oratory up there with the Gettysburg address, body language to rival Roosevelt, whose  “jaunty figure communicated boundless confidence to his countrymen” and the charisma of Kennedy.

 The relevance to the business pitch?  Confidence has never been so important.  No one has a crystal ball, no proposal comes with cast iron guarantee, no procurement process can eliminate error. Now,  more than ever, it is the teams who inspire the intangible of confidence that get the vote.

How do you build this?  You accept that the more you rehearse, the more confident you will be. That the strong opening gives you and your audience confidence.  That it’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it.  And, that listening can be more powerful than talking.

Yet another lesson from Obama, ( Andrew Sullivan, S Times)  “What he gets, what he seems to intuit, is how to make others feel as if they are being heard”

Its what all clients want!   (More on confidence in Best Practice Guides and posts Sept 15, Oct 8,15,19)

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Further 2008 Awards from Readers.

The inaugural Pitchcoach Awards for 2008, post before this, were received, given their highly subjective nature,  with surprising  levels of agreement.  Which was nice.  There were, however, several interesting and imaginative alternative nominations  from readers. Here are some of them.

A entirely new category was suggested, BEST PERFORMANCE BY A CRIMINAL.  Here O.J.Simpson put up a persuasive tearful defence but not as effective as the first time around. The winner, who hoodwinked police and media for weeks with an awsome, appalling performance as grieving mother, was Sharon Matthews.

A nomination for POLITICAL PERFORMER  was the articulate French Minister of Finance, Christine Legarde.  Like my winner, Boris Johnson, she has a way with words.  For example, ” France is a country that thinks too much and such obsessive thinking prevents reforms being implemented.” Vraiment!

Two names were suggested for best PERFORMANCE IN SPORT.  Both are Scots, both performing so brilliantly at their sport they don’t need to persuade us of anything.  Chris Hoy is more comfortable with bike than mike.  Andy Murray’s  sublime tennis is now simply too good for words. Or for Federer.

Ant and Dec were put forward under ENTERTAINMENT for their relaxed self-aware  personas but  these are negated  by appearances in the dismal, to me,  cockroach-crunching Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.  Another suggestion was Amy Winehouse, for unrivalled headline grabbing.  Who else in the same month in one poll was voted second “greatest ultimate heroine” and in another second “most hated”?  Already an icon.

Finally, a word  of caution.  President Bush  was not considered as the GLOBAL PERFORMER and is already best forgotten.  79% of Americans will not miss him.  However in power,  he managed for much of the time to ‘pitch’ his decisions, many of them terrible and get away with it.  As Frank Rich in the Observer says “The one indisputable talent of his White House was its ability to create and sell propaganda  both to the public and the press.”

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Pitchcoach Award Winners 2008.

THE CRITERIA.

Performances during 2008 where the way someone communicated, the tone, the structure, the body language, the confidence and the charisma, are what made us really listen.

OUTSTANDING GLOBAL PERFORMER:    BARAK OBAMA.

Three candidates considered. Putin who exudes a sense of controlled power  through the force of his body language, making us forget he is no longer President.  The calculated release of photographs showing him shirtless cradling a Kalashnikov, whilst a tad obvious, enhanced the perception.

The Chinese government corporately, since the individuals are largely anonymous, did a superb job of both running, and  then pitching  the Olympics. Internally to the billion plus Chinese people and externally to the rest of us, thus accelerating recognition as a (the?) world super power.

In winning firstly the nomination and then the presidency, Obama gave us an object lessson in sustained  brilliance. Has there ever been a comparable performance? ( See post dated November 3).

MOST IMPROVED PERFORMANCE:  GORDON BROWN.

What a contrast.  In the first half of the year Brown was appalling.  Defensive, aggressive, unsmiling, like a chained bear flailing at Cameron’s clever thrusts. Today in a ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’ transformation, he looks better, sounds better, smiles more and radiates confidence.  Now it’s Cameron who is not smiling.

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER:   ELEANOR SIMONDS

Beijing saw the emergence of many sporting superstars.  Some of them natural communicators. The winner of this award,  Paralympic gold medallist swimmer, 13 year old Eleanor captivated in the pool and in the interview.  Enchanting.

BEST IN SUPPORTING ROLE:   SARAH BROWN.

Sara Palin may be a surprise nominee but her impact on arrival was significant. Her energy, in-your-face, hockey mom, pitbull outspokeness helped a tiring McCain move ahead in the polls.  But only briefly as media exposure, exposed her weaknesses. Carla Bruni, on the otherhand, frequently exposed in other ways, enhanced the profile of Sarkozy with style and elegance.

Sara Brown’s role in the second coming of Gordon was significant.  Her surprise platform appearance at the party conference charmed viewers and kick started her husband’s revival.(See post on Sept 15 and 24)

PERFORMANCE BY A POLITICIAN:   BORIS JOHNSON

At the start of the year Cameron was making the running but he is now losing out on three fronts.  To Brown, in  his newly found ‘saving the world’ role, in the House to Vince Caborne whose assured common sense commands attention, and finally to Boris Johnson.

Boris pitched strongly to defeat Ken.  As mayor, despite some ‘unlucky’ appointees, he has communicated with authority, reinforcing the unique ‘Boris’ brand. A future Prime Minister? (Post dated June 5)

BROADCAST PERFORMANCE:   GABY LOGAN

In news and current affairs the two ‘giants’, Jeremy Paxman and John Humphreys, continue in good form but would benefit from competition.  In a ‘blokey-crumpled face-next door neighbour-scouser’ way Adrian Chiles is a challenger and much loved by the BBC.   So too, seemingly, is the mannered but effectively intrusive Robert Preston.

More associated with sports progammes, the winner here is Gaby Logan.  She was the star performer of the  very many  commentators and news reporters, who outnumbered athletes, at the Games.  Naturally charming and a great listener, she draws the best out of her interviewees.

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE:  CHERYL COLE

With reality style shows, it is the ‘pitching’ pundits who make or break them, not the contestants.  Big Daddy, as ever, is Simon Cowell who gets better and younger looking(?) each time.  The formidable expert entrepreuners on Dragon’s Den run him close with their sharp and abrasive critiques.  This award however goes to Cheryl Cole, oozing empathy  Geordie style.

PERFORMANCE IN SPORT:     RONNIE O’SULLIVAN 

 No one can replace Jose Morhino, the  best at the after-match since Brian Clough.  Wenger continues to winge, Fergie to chew gum brutally, Capello to fold arms austerely, Scolari to look permanently surprised and only Harry to amuse.  In rugby, Martin Johnson’s towering presence on the pitch is diminished off it.  In cricket, Kevin Peterson is playing and talking a good game but not winning much. During a lean year, the  most engaging communicator was Ronnie O’Sullivan as adept with words as with the cue.

PERFORMANCE IN BUSINESS:   NO AWARD!

Not surprisingly, most business and financial leaders have been somewhat muted. Now that they know, that we know, that they know no more than we do, they are keeping shtum.  A small mercy.

Here’s to 2009. When the going gets tough, the tough get pitching….

 

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Announcing Inaugural Pitchcoach Awards.

Responding to popular demand for a ‘best performer’ award,  January 5th post will reveal the winners of the 2008 Pitchcoach Performers.

Candidates will be judged in 6 categories- politics, business, broadcast, journalism, sport and entertainment.

Many recent award schemes, and reality shows, have been undermined by controversy -jury tampering, vote rigging, pouting pundits, phony phone-ins and media manipulation. To avoid any hint of bias the only vote that will count is that of pitchcoach.

Who wll win ‘Outstanding Global Performer,(probably no surprise here) Most Improved, Newcomer,  Best Supporting Act?

Entries will be drawn from the 50 or so pitch performers (see Topical section) who have appeared here since the first post in April.

IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CANDIDATES!!!  To submit names, with a supporting sentence, or not, log in or email me michael@parkerinc.co.uk .

Happy Christmas.

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Wine pitched by an expert tastes better!

Last week I was a guest at an imaginative evening of corporate hospitality.  The hosts were ‘pitchcoach partners’ Sectorlight.  Two brilliant poets, David Jay and Luke Wright, got the evening off to an electric start. Either one of them would have given any pitch an unimaginable boost as would  young soprano, Louise Kemeny, whose unaccompanied voice held us us spellbound.

These three were the overture for the main attraction.  Being a social occasion, this was Matthew Dukes, wine correspondent of the Daily Mail.  His role was to conduct a wine tasting. The tasting was of the generous, rather than the swill and spit, kind. 

 Years ago, I was a guinea pig in a serious new product test carried out by a serious marketing company.  In laboratory conditions we tested, tasted, samples of sparkling white wine and champagne. All visual clues, label and bottle shape, removed. The samples sereved in identical measures, identical glasses, at identical temperature.

The winner?  A pale dry cider!

Scarred by this experience, I was not about to accept Matthew’s expertise.  However, I had underestimated him.  Not his wine expertise which is considerable but his pitching  skill.  For each wine he conjured up a word picture -the scenery, the stories around the chateaux and the owners, the ‘notes’- so each wine took on a character, a personality. And all this with a passion and infectious enrgy  which breached even my cynicism

The wines each tasted great.  And it wasn’t the wine talking. It was Matthew!

Incidentally, I later found out that Matthew has been described as “The Voice of Wine” by the Telegraph and has won Wine and Spirit Communicator of the Year.

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