Oren Klaff is the author of Pitch Anything, an innovative method for presenting, persuading, and winning the deal. Oren has personally worked on a billion dollar in deals.

In this interview, Oren breaks down the Pitch Anything Method, including setting the frame, creating tension and overcoming objections.

In This Interview I Ask:

• 1:23 - What kind of deals have you been involved in total?
• 2:46 - With the skillset that you have, why go write a book?
• 8:06 - In the book, you talk about three levels of the brain. When I’m firing questions at you, which part of the brain am I appealing to?
• 12:29 - Before you formulated your method of moving through the pitch, what were you doing before instead? How were you thinking about making a pitch during a deal?
• 14:35 - Why is setting the frame important?
• 17:11 - How do you set the frame so that you’re negotiating or pitching as equals, even if the other person has a bigger name, a large company, or strong influence or recognition?
• 20:16 - How are you using this idea introduction pattern to actually get the dopamine and norepinephrine hormones firing?
• 24:04 - For someone new to the concept of creating tension, how do you perpetuate these small nuances that create that tension without going over the line?
• 33:45 - What are some examples of sales methodologies that tend to lead people down the wrong path?
• 41:00 - How do you handle objection?

How To Start A Presentation

1. Start with Time Constraint
2. 1. If you want to raise your status, set a time constraint. Announce your time allotment and stick to it. It’s okay to go over the scheduled time, as long as the pitch is progressing.
   1. Nobody comes to a meeting to hear things they already know. That is not a good reason for a meeting. Start with what's changing. Imply that there is a reason you came to the meeting. Tell a story, give a narrative, and set yourself up as an expert.
3. Start with Some Kind of Change in the World
   1. When you start with an idea as opposed to the features of your product, it relaxes people and appeals to their crocodile brain, and it shows that you know how to lead a meeting.
4. Start with an Idea

How NOT To Start A Presentation

1. Don’t Start by Talking About Yourself
2. 1. Don’t try to imply status without actually accomplishing it. Always focus on the customer first.
   1. This approach reduces your status and can easily confuse and frustrate the client.
3. Don’t Start with Questions
   1. Your features and benefits should come in about seventy percent of the way through your presentation.
4. Don’t start with features and benefits.

Setting the Frame

Setting the frame is giving people a lens through which to see your product or service.

During a pitch, you only have minutes to close the deal. Most likely, the people you are pitching don’t know you or your product or service well enough to know your full capabilities. You have to give them a window from which to see you through so they don’t make their own assumptions.

In Hollywood, it's called the “establishing shot.” In business finance, it's called “framing” or “frame control.” In politics, it's called a “narrative.”

How the buyer sees you is up to you, and that's frame control.

Create Tension

Most people can look at their sales presentations and they lack tension. Tension produces chemicals in the mind - epinephrine and norepinephrine - which give us pains of excitement.

We can be afraid to say something that might insult the buyer, or give them a negative view of our company, that we don’t end up triggering any tension at all, positive or negative. Without that tension, the pitch falls flat and the buyer lacks the enthusiasm.

However, if you only are providing excitement, you're only doing half of the formula. You also have to trigger tension in order to provide a different kind of arousal for the buyer.

To avoid becoming antagonizing in your attempt to create tension, start small and build up.

You want to:

1. Have fun
2. Communicate that you aren’t needy
3. Let the buyer know you’re in control of the sale through multiple successions

How To Close Your Presentation

You cannot end a sales presentation with, “That’s what we have. Excited to be here. Do you have any questions?”

You’re inadvertently saying to the buyer, “I’m a low-status individual. You're in charge of my livelihood. I have no control over you. You have complete control over me.”

Just because a buyer is ready to sign, doesn’t mean that the deal is closed. Give them an authentic test that will assure you that they are a good fit for your company. Here’s a script:

• “I'm gonna give you some time to tell me a little bit about yourself because I don't know enough about you [and/or] your business. If it continues to seem like we have a match, then we can go forward and we'll figure out some way to get it done. Even though I’ve done my research, I'm interested to know... [insert questions here].”

How To Handle Objections

Objections are handled by the correct structure of the sales presentation. If you are getting big objections, then something is wrong with your presentation.

In some cases, the objections you're seeing probably aren’t objections at all; they’re requests for the meeting to end.

In the old model of sales, the objection came out and then you talked over. It was an indication of confusion about what you were presenting. In today's world, if you use the Pitch Anything Method correctly, and there’s still objection, it means there's something wrong with the product-to-market match, and that has to be addressed.

Downloads:

• MP3
• Transcript

Resources:

• Free Class: How to Build a 6-Minute Pitch
• Oren’s Book, Pitch Anything