Tag Archives: pitchcoach

Surprise!

The element of surprise is a characteristic of any good speech or presentation. Depending on the event and the audience it can range from the theatrically dramatic to the unexpected use of storytelling.  Whichever, it is surprise that keeps your audience listening with enjoyment, hearing what you say and wanting more- even if your subject is not itself surprising.

The vicar of St Peter’s in Notting Hill, Mark Hargreaves, is a master of surprise. His deceptively simple ‘talk’ at the annual carol service took surprise as its theme.The very real surprise of the birth of Christ contrasted with the sad lack of surprise of so much of what goes for its celebration today.

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His talk captured interest from the start as he talked about the Leonardo exhibition, referring to the mosaic replica of the Last Supper,  hanging in the church. He pointed out the surprise on the faces of the disciples and from there in everyday conversational language helped us imagine  the genuine surprise of the innkeeper, Mary, the wise men and, especially, Joseph.

He has a rare gift because he does not just find the right thought-provoking words. He delivers them in a way which is itself surprising   in a place of worship where so often the manner is still that of the preacher lecturing rather than that of a friend engaging in a personal conversation. You felt he was talking only to you.

It is a pity, indeed a surprise, that in a world where so much of the trivial is accessible on our iphones that a talk this exceptional, not written down or recorded, was a one-off enjoyed only by those at the service that day. It seems to me that a box-set of Mark Hargreaves talks would be a Christmas gift worth having!

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Pitches HAPPEN in the pause.

One of the best pitches I witnessed was that of great Saatchi creative director, the late Paul Arden. He was presenting a new campaign with a lot at stake. After the strategy had been explained, he rose to speak. Or not. For 60 seconds he stood quietly in silence, as if lost for words. Then a hesitant mutter of ‘this is so uh I’ .. another 60 seconds passed..’It’s so special Iam lost’…another ‘uh’, a seeming eternity of silence.

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 Finally he spoke. We the home team sighed with relief. The client meanwhile had been brought to an astonishing level of heightened expectation. Calculated or instinctive, (Arden never said) this totally unexpected  use of the dramatic or pregnant pause worked its magic. I don’t remember the campaign. 25 years later, I remember the pause.

In her excellent book the Star Qualities,  Caroline Goyder explains how “pitches happen in the pause”.

From years of coaching actors, she understands that it is in the pauses that your audience can take time in their minds to assess you, and what you are saying, time to form an opinion- difficult in the face of a torrent of words. It is in the pause that you will be seen as confident, engaged in communicating with, not proclamating at!

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Some music lessons. It was Claude Debussy who said: “Music is the space between the notes”. And even better,virtuoso pianist Artur Schnabel: “The notes I handle no better than other pianists. But the pauses between the notes- ah, that is where art resides!”

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Sorry. Oops.

These words from Governor Rick Perry probably killed off his chance of being nominated as the Republican candidate. In the live tv debate last week he was in attacking form, “I will tell you it’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone. Commerce. Education…………..and what’s the third one”?  60 painful, for him, seconds later, “Sorry. Oops”.

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Whether it was one of those memory blanks that can happen to anyone or whether, which seems unlikely he did not know the answer, most viewers will read the worst into his gaffe and assume he does not know what he is talking about. Initally he handled his lapse with a smile, maintaining strong eye contact.

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 Had he finished that way much would have been forgiven. Instead he looked away as if for help, compounding the D’OH!  impression. In any live presentation it is easy to forget that the words alone are a minor part of the communication impact. The way you say it, the body language, the tone and expression play the major part.

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The supreme communicator President Ronald Reagan handled gaffes effortlessly with his engaging folksy style and with clever words.  Challenged in debate by Walter Mondale, targetting his age over one of his many lapses of memory, he turned the tables  with humour saying “I am not going to debate for political purpose my opponent’s youth and inexperience”.  Even Mondale laughed.

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“Teamship”

Sir Clive Woodward, an inspirational and innovative Rugby coach, took on a real challenge in his contentious role as the British Olympic Association Director of Sport. Without treading on toes of some outstanding National Association coaches such as athletic’s Charles Van Commenee, he was charged with adding a competitive edge to what is now known as “Team GB”.

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Linked by sometimes slight British qualification, this team spans competitors in events that are supremely individual, like athletics and swimming, to genuine team sports like hockey, to manufactured ones (under 23 soccer featuring 38 year old Beckham ?) and ones that are overt IOC television ratings eye candy, like Beach Volleyball (female).

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Undaunted, Woodward has identified that a common factor that can contribute to success is a team ethos, with defined values. To give this more of a sound bite, given that communication is an all important ‘Olympic’ event, he has given this concept a new word, “TEAMSHIP”. The values around which the team ‘can now unite and focus’ are Performance, Pride, Respect, Unity and Responsibility.

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Whether or not Teamship will prevent Jessica Ennis clipping a hurdle, Woodward’s premise is sound. Drawing from his experience not just in sport but in the corporate world, he understands better than most that competitive organisations are typified with a strong culture and team ethos. Teams pitching for such companies tend to win more often!

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How to pitch to women.

Even in an age of equal opportunity the pitch audience, in most sectors, is more likely to be all male or mixed with few that are female only. Whatever the mix, the principles of good pitching are much the same, the first  being to do research into your audience! The enterprising Lady Geek , inspired by founder Belindar Palmer, offers five bits of good advice. The last three apply universally.

Five Things Companies Need To Do To Speak To WomenPosted: 27 Oct 2011 02:21 AM PDT

 

1)    Don’t pink it and shrink it

The cardinal sin of marketing towards women is to ‘pink it and shrink it’. The woefully misguided approach goes something like this. Take a perfectly decent product, give it a marshmallow Barbie paint job and miniaturise it so it fits perfectly into tiny female hands. Ta da! Women friendly. We’re bound to love it, right? What makes things even worse is that the tech spec on ‘female orientated’ models often falls short of the ‘male’ counterparts. It’s not the colour of a product that entices us, it’s the sleek design quality.

 

2)    There’s no need to overtly target us

There’s no point trying too hard to push exclusively to women, we’ll see right through it. Take time understanding us like you would on any other demographic, but please don’t over-egg the pudding. Just because we’ve got breasts doesn’t mean we have special needs. We’re different but don’t want to feel we’re that different.

Far too many products are rammed down our throats yelling ‘Look at me! I’m being relevant to women! Here come the girls! It’s patronising, it’s ineffective and often quite alienating. A subtler, more nuanced approach is always far more success commercially.

 

3)    An emotional connection is a big selling point

Studies have proven that women are likely to form more of a lasting emotional attachment to products, and campaigns that make an effort to engage with this often prove to be very successful.

A great recent example is John Lewis’ beautifully executed advert ‘She’s always a woman to me’, which whizzes the viewer at highspeed through seventy years of a woman’s life. The reason this advert works so well is not only that it’s beautifully executed – which it is, heart achingly so– but that it also promotes a strong, enduring attachment to a reliable brand.

 

4)    Too much choice is no choice at all

Many men might be perfectly happy to sift through mountains of information in order to find out whether one little black box is slightly better than another little black box, but most women are overwhelmed by choice. If a product is a hassle to buy then we will cease to care about it.

So having a hundred near-identical products in the market can be a real turnoff: we don’t want choice, we want the right choice. We want to know that a product does what it’s supposed to and is obviously at the top of its field. We don’t have time to find a diamond in the rough.

 

5)    Entertain, don’t educate

Don’t try and use statistics to teach us that we need something. Instead, show us why we need it, how it can benefit our lives preferably in a way that’s entertaining, fun and engaging. I’m much more likely to warm to a product if it’s marketing does not preach, but has surprised me or made me laugh.   Top Gear is a great brand that has made cars acessible to men and women by entertaining them.

 

image by Joana Pereira
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