by “A great pitch is not about procedure. It’s about getting and keeping attention.” – Oren Klaff
Oren Klaff has raised over $2 billion in capital for entrepreneurs and businesses with his pitches, strategies, scripts and training…
Thousands of companies use his methods to drive growth and secure investment…
And best of all, he has a cool name that sounds like he may have appeared in an episode of Game of Thrones, probably waving a sword around and threatening somebody’s family before being graphically disembowelled (such a great show).
(Ok that’s not really the best thing about him, it’s obviously the pitching stuff.)
In his book Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading and Winning the Deal, Klaff outlines how he perfected the famous method that’s persuaded so many people to hand over the Benjamins.
It all started with the realisation that he was making a crucial error in his early pitches…
An error we’ve all made at some point.
In fact, you may still be doing it when selling your own products or services…
Turns out, he was using the WRONG part of his brain to try and communicate his idea to the WRONG part of his audience’s brain.
Confused? Here’s Oren Klaff to explain:
Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience show that our brain developed in three separate stages.
First came the old ‘crocodile brain’… responsible for the initial filtering of all incoming messages, it generates most survival fight-or-flight responses…
The midbrain, which came next, determines the meaning of things and social situations…
And finally, the neocortex evolved with a problem-solving ability and is able to think about complex issues and produce answers using reason.”
So, three stages of brain development, each one used for different tasks…
And as Klaff goes on to explain, if you’re not matching your ‘pitch’…
(which could be an actual verbal pitch, or some sales copy, or any other form of marketing designed to persuade)
…with the correct part of your audience’s brain, you’re in trouble.
He says:
I assumed that if my idea-making abilities were located in the neocortex (as they are), then that’s where the people listening to my pitch were processing what I had to say.
It’s not.
Messages that are composed and sent by your young neocortex are received and processed by the other person’s old crocodile brain.”
And this big, green, scaly ol’ croc-brain?
It’s a pretty basic, no-nonsense character…
But HUGELY effective at determining what’s important to its owner, so it can decide to pass on info to the fancier, newer brain areas (like your neocortex, which handles the accounts).
Think of it as the gatekeeper to your best customer or client’s attention…
Attention that you need not just to WIN, but to KEEP, if you want to get your message across.
And since Selling Unique is all about effectively communicating your unique value to your ideal audience, it’s worth remembering what Oren Klaff says about the croc-brain you’re up against whenever you create a sales message:
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’…
…unless your message is presented in such a way that the crocodile brain views it to be new and exciting, it is going to be ignored…
If your pitch is complicated – if it contains abstract language and lacks visual cues – then it is perceived as a threat.”
Ok, so abstract language is out, because lazy ol’ croc-brain considers it a threat.
Fair enough. You don’t want to scare the horses (crocodiles? Croc-horses?)
But does that mean your sales message needs to be a dumbed-down, personality-free zone, avoiding any risks and saying nothing new?
Thankfully, no.
Because as Klaff points out, the croc-brain gatekeeper also values something that does allow you to ‘sell unique’, emphasising your values and difference without being labelled a threat:
The crocodile brain wants information a certain way – simple, clear, nonthreatening, and above all, intriguing and novel…
…to bridge the gap between the way the neocortex and crocodile brain see the world.”
Aha! “Intriguing and novel” – now we’re talking.
That’s more up our street:
The chance to make a lasting impression with emotion… novelty… exciting, high-contrast difference… visual ‘snapshots’ that engage and intrigue…
So you should use clear, visual and novel messaging that doesn’t make the croc-brain do too much of the hard work.
That’s the way to spice up your sales copy, ‘pitch anything’ and truly Sell Unique.
Keep it clear, keep it visual, but keep it novel…
Surprise your target market with something they’ve not heard before, or weren’t expecting.
If you need help with that, I have a handful of consulting slots left before 2018’s out.
Until then, seeya later alligator…
