Here is a painting my friend Emily made for me when I got married:
Business is.....a distant, distant second. I crash a lot more than Picard did.
I never watched Babylon 5. Apparently this guy was in Babylon 5 and 'Lost In Space'. Who cares. What's important: he was in one of the greatest Star Trek episodes of all time.
The Siege of AR-558!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Check out how insane the Star Trek people were:
He got in a lot of trouble for changing:
"That out to do it"
To:
"Well, that out to do it".
The Star Trek crew were all delirious from exhaustion. Yet, still they exercised extreme vigilance over the tiniest word choice.
It's because desperate losers like myself freak out over the slightest inconsistency in techno-babble.
I am this guy:
Once as a child, I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. They shot a photon torpedo out of a shuttle bay. What....the....f#$%. Childhood ruined.
I am trying an experiment with Oren Klaff's 'Pitch Anything' method.
His basic thesis is that most sales training is way to loosey goosy.
The main reason he promotes 'Pitch Anything' is as a way to generate leads for all sorts of different businesses that Mr. Klaff might want to raise money for. (smart!) There is a tendency in Pitch Anything to claim it is the perfect method for all industries...but I think you probably still need to combine it with Sandler (more loose) and something focused on prospecting. Regardless....you do need a pitch.
Here is an example:
My friend hadn't prepared a perfect 6 minute pitch. He assumed he would just do his usual consultative sales/casual chat approach. The call was a disaster. All those years of Sandler for naught. In a 'consultative' conversation my friend is the best I've ever seen. But one can't just memorize the Sandler moves...
Sales people want to have a casual conversation because it's easy. Look at the success of SPIN selling (which I'm pretty sure is a scam..haven't looked into it enough yet -- will report back).
It's always shocking how much people really do want to listen to a pitch. They want you to talk at them while they go to the bathroom and put you on speaker phone. My theory: you are going to have to pitch them on the phone these days much more often before they will let you come into their office and have a chat.
You need to be able to both talk at people AND talk with people.
One of the classic "Sandler Rules" is "don't spill your candy in the lobby", another: "Don't Show Up and Throw Up". Always get permission to pitch -- never just go into a pitch as soon as you get on the phone or show up in their office. Launching into a long pitch without permission is the worst possible thing you can do. Much worse than not having a pitch at all.
Still a pitch must be memorized. Especially for prospecting. The cold call script must be memorized (not read), word for word.
What you say to the assistant, the questions you ask, objection responses, etc. These things must all be memorized.
I'm going back and forth about memorizing a presentation word for word.
But All the steps in prospecting must be memorized word for word.
"We might have a few options worth taking a look at."
Vs.
"We have options worth taking a look at."
Is huge.
These words have to be seared so deep into the brain they become a part of you. There can not be any hesitation in saying the right words. In real life, I never know what to say...but on a sales call it's a controlled environment. I practice the things to say so many times it (hopefully) sounds natural.
Look how different this statement is without softening statements:
“We might have a few options that could possibly be a fit for you as well.
Awesome:
But:
"We have a few options that would be a fit for you as well"
Yikes.
If you memorized an outline you would miss that. If you only memorized the general idea -- you would miss that. The words which don't seem critical are often the most critical. Especially words that lower pressure.
This video is one of the best I've seen on memorizing lines. The idea being a big part of sucking is from not burning the lines into your skull deep enough.
But if you are a rambling idiot left to your own devices like me. You need to figure out the best way to say something and then know it cold word for word.
You can't just learn a general concept and wing it from there.
--Luke
P.S. When I YouTubed "How to memorize lines" one of the first videos was from someone I went to college with. Weird. It's a small world after all.
