Tag Archives: pitchcoach

Pitch perfect.

Last Sunday evening in a church in Notting Hill there was a beautiful performance of Monteverdi’s very difficult Vespers. Some excellent professional soloists and an orchestra, with period instruments, together with the real stars the amateur, 45 strong, Skolia Choir.

The choir, and I know this because my wife was one of them, rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed, probably some thirty times, for this one perfomance. It paid off. They were superb.

Compare and contrast with how so many companies prepare for their one performance, the pitch. They will spend enormous energy developing their ‘score’, the content, and then little or nil on the rehearsal.

Why is this when they know that in a competitive arena the decision will, largely, be down to an emotional response to their performance on the day. Why is there such resistance and reluctance to rehearse? Here are some of the ‘reasons.’

1. “We needed every moment to improve and fine tune our proposal.” Excuse. A ‘great’ proposal unrehearsed will lose out to the good one fully rehearsed.

2. “It was not possible to fit in rehearsals due to client meetings.” Excuse. If you can organise diaries for the pitch, you can do so for rehearsals.

3. “As long as everyone runs through their part, no need to rehearse together.” Excuse. And chances of teamwork shining through disappear.

4. “I am better conserving my nervous energy for the pitch itself.” Excuse. The more you rehearse the better you will be, and the more confident.

5. “We always do a run through just before to check order and charts.” Excuse. This is not a rehearsal, and just before leaves no time for changes.

Any other excuses? Please tell me.

Pitches are performances. The response is largely emotional. Compared with the resource that goes into any pitch, rehearsal is your best return on investment. The more you rehearse the more you increase your chance of winning.

The London 2012 Bid team rehearsed 10 times. The Skolia Choir 30 times. Both won!

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What Sarah Palin and Cathy Ashton have in common.

Both are in the news this week and it is hard to think of two people who are more different.

The publication of Palin’s book, Going Rogue, has lead to plenty of comment. A Sunday Times article, “Beware the fantasy world of Sarah, Warrior Princess”, describes how her image as a woman persecuted makes her a cultural and political icon.

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“It is an image of a frontierswoman, capable of anything, fiercely independent, fathomlessly brave, totally unflappable and blessed by faith in God, resisting the evil cynicism and hatred of the eastern elites, ambushed by hostile interviewers, persecuted by her godless enemies…”

Whilst for many she is bizarre, with her core audience of fundamentalist Republicans she makes a powerful emotional connection. They really do like her.

David Cameron should take note. The Observer in its Column section had this headline, “Cameron is losing his likeable qualities.”

Cathy Ashton has never campaigned in the public arena but, like Palin, she understands her electorate. Not the masses but the few power brokers, who elected her over a dinner. A profile in the Observer reveals that she too knows how to be likeable, how to connect emotionally.

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” Cathy spreads calm, she is oil on troubled waters and liked by eveyone. I have never heard a nasty word said about her. She is a persuader and a charmer. She is excellent at building good relations and a good negotiator. That is the secret of her success”.

So, perhaps her selection is not so surprising after all!

In any pitch, it is likeability and making an emotional connection that so often separate winners from losers.

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Gordon Brown. Better heard than seen? Discuss.

Gordon Brown has survived a hellish week riding on the sympathy wave following The Sun’s brutal and misjudged attack over that letter. One interview during the week showed him at his best. It was on radio.

In this television age, when would-be politicians are assessed on camera before getting the candidacy, Brown is not a natural. When looks count – his clumsy body language (think Despatch box), jaw movement, fatigued expression – he has little going for him. You almost feel sorry.

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His voice, however, even when under pressure, remains strong, reassuring, warm even, and authorative. More like a confident leader. If there was a choice he would surely opt for the up-coming TV debate with Cameron to be on radio only.

He will no doubt be aware of the outcome of the first ever televised Presidential debate, in 1960, when Nixon confronted Kennedy. A Gallup poll among viewers revealed that Kennedy came out on top. However, in the same poll among those who only heard the debate on radio Nixon was preferred.

Brown does not look as shifty as Nixon but nor does the camera favour him as it does Cameron.

In business pitches the importance of voice and tone is often overlooked. Changing one’s voice is seen as too tough (although Margaret Thatcher did it to good effect). What will help, and can be rehearsed, is change of ‘pitch and pace’, with deliberate pauses …….. to punctuate and command attention.

Try it , pause………and sound more confident!

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Pitch leaders must demonstrate leadership!

The subject of leadership has been in the news a lot recently.

A few weeks ago we heard from Chelsea manager Ancelotti about “a word in Italy: trascinatore”. It means the player that pulls the group together. John Terry is a trascinatore at Chelsea, as is Drogba and as is Capello for England.

Churchill was a trascinatore! In his just published biography, Churchill As Warlord, Max Hastings says, “the Dunkirk spirit was not spontaneous. It was created by the rhetoric and bearing of one man, displaying powers that will define political leadership for the rest of time”.

New boys on the block like Obama and Cameron have a long way to go.

In the world of pitching the role of ‘pitch leader’ is often too readily assigned. It goes to the person who is most experienced, who knows the client, who is most senior or, sometimes, most available. Not, as it should, to he or she is who is demonstrably a leader, a trascinatore.

In practice, most groups will not have the luxury of ‘leadership’ choice. They go with the people they have, perhaps competent managers but not natural leaders. However, it is through practice that leadership can be demonstrated -for at least the duration of the pitch!

How? The clues are supplied by Churchill, “the rhetoric and the bearing”.

Whilst no one can emulate the great man, through frequent rehearsal, of both words and manner, they can move from competent manager to dynamic, inspiring leader. As Olivia Mitchell of www.speakingaboutpresenting.com says “the difference between good and great is rehearsal”.

And a leader ‘being great’ will raise perception, and evaluation, of the entire pitch.

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Do looks matter? Let’s discuss.

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!

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