Comments on: 15 Deal Breakers to Avoid When Pitching an Idea

By: William

William — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:46:34 +0000

I don’t know about including those negative professional examples – seemed to me a bit sandpit. Otherwise incredibly impressed and content that this long overdue publication keeps on truckin.

By: P.M.Lawrence

P.M.Lawrence — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:53:32 +0000

Never call anyone by his or her first name unless and until you are invited to do so. This isn’t how your culture works, so you are going to do it the way you are used to? Then you are utterly indifferent to whether the other person’s culture is like that. It’s friendly to use first names? No, it’s friendly to use them with friends, and using them uninvited is pushy (like using “tu” in French or “du” in German for “you”).

Remember the old joke about “Do you know the difference between a living room and a lavatory?”, “No”, “Remind me never to ask you back to my place”. In the same way, if you don’t know the difference between being friendly and being pushy – remind me not to let you get too close.

By: Caesar Aguinaldo

Caesar Aguinaldo — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:35:46 +0000

The key to everything is confidence.

Kudos to the site for such an informative article.

By: Allan White

Allan White — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:33:21 +0000

@ Biz Checks: great point. To me, the answer to that challenge is research: try to find out as much as you can about the audience. What kinds of business problems are they facing? If you can, a phone or short meeting beforehand can really help your prep. You can also discover that they may not need what you’re pitching — saving you a wasted effort.

By: Allan White

Allan White — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:28:53 +0000

Great post and discussion. I’ve been working on the Art of the Pitch more the last few years, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with great presenters designing their media & slides. You guys (all of you) are reminding me of the fundamentals! Thanks all.

By: Biz Checks

Biz Checks — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:21:18 +0000

For me the number one deal breaker, and it happens surprisingly often, is when someone pitches me an idea and their pitch is all about them, or their story.

Don’t care at all, unless it’s somehow integral to the business. 99.5 % of the pitch needs to be about convincing me how I’m going to benefit from backing your idea. Period.

Everything other than that lowers the chances of a successful pitch.

By: ARP

ARP — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:35:02 +0000

Re: Names. NEVER shorten a name (e.g. don’t call an Andrew, “Andy” or “Drew”) or call someone a nickname, even if others do, unless invited by that person.

Re: Dress. I would typically advise dressing 1/2 to one full step above the participants. If they’re business casual, go with a sport coat; if they wear sport coats, go with a suit. If they wear a suit…well just wear your best suit and stay conservative.

Re: Elevator Pitch. Make sure you have a 30 second version of your pitch absolutely mastered.

Re: Audience. If you can figure out who will attend, find out. Or at the very least imagine who is likely to attend and think about their motivations. Will your idea cause a lot of work for the IT group? Explain the long term benefits, or why its not so bad, etc.

By: Anne @ Modern Mrs Darcy

Anne @ Modern Mrs Darcy — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:48:43 +0000

I’m reading “Pitch Like a Girl” right now, and I was very curious to see where the Art of Manliness and my book disagreed. The answer is….nowhere in this post! I’m surprised, and interested to see that the men’s and women’s points of views agree on these basics.

By: The Dutch Dastard

The Dutch Dastard — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:50:58 +0000

@Chris

Facepalm! Please respect that this is a FUN site too, and has serious as well as just ‘manly’ stuff which you will probably never use, but is fun to know or try. Have you tried jumping from a driving car yet? I haven’t, but it was fun to read about it…..

By: Chris Nelson

Chris Nelson — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:27:25 +0000

As advice goes, much more useful that the post about the “impalement arts”.