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We had somebody come out on Shark Tank one time, and I was in a grumpy mood. And this person was pitching their idea. Why was I grumpy? Because I was probably hungry, and I wasn’t really paying attention. And they cut me off, and they said, “Hey, you’re not listening to me.” And I said, “Hang on a second. It’s not my responsibility to listen. It’s your responsibility to be heard.”
1. Sell yourself
If you ever watch Shark Tank, sometimes people come out, and they don’t know their numbers. And we’re like, “Oh my gosh. How do you not know your numbers? How did you get out here? You should leave. That’s a horrible idea.” And then literally, the next pitch, the person doesn’t know their numbers and we’re like, “That’s okay. We can hire an accountant to help you.” What’s the difference? Bad pitches go right into the numbers, right into the features. But before you sell me your idea, always take a little bit of time to build a connection and sell yourself.
You’re selling incredible efficiency idea to the company. Tell me how you came up with it. Tell me what it means to you, and then tell me why you think it’s going to work.
2. Represent your message
In Shark Tank, the average pitch, believe it or not, is over an hour. Fifty percent of the time, we know whether we’re in or out within the first two minutes. The subconscious message is more powerful than the conscious mind. And what do I mean by that? Somebody comes out and they’re standing like this, or they’re really, like, all over the map. You know what that makes me? It makes me nervous. When you’re standing and you’re going like this, I’m subconsciously thinking, “Do I trust this person? They’re frantic. What’s going on?” My point is the you has to equal the idea. So if you’re selling something about stability and security, you need to portray stability and security. I’m not talking about wearing a suit and tie necessarily, but you are the representative of your idea.
If you’re selling a fun idea to increase customer engagement with some kind of a great, fun event that you think the company should do, you better be having fun. You better be smiling. Look at me. I’m smiling. I want to sell you a fun idea.
3. Speak your audience’s language
The key to any idea or any communication is to speak the language of the person you’re presenting to. The higher up you go in an organization, the more you talk about outcomes, and value, and business propositions. So if you’re pitching your great idea to your manager, you should speak one way. But if you’re pitching it to the CEO, you need to start thinking about business outcomes, finance, expenditure, ROI, return on investment, all of those things. Cater your idea to the person you’re presenting.