Pitch, Pace and Attittude! And Other Ways to Succeed at Work. Phase 3

This is an insert from Jean-Renaud Cherubin’s new book

‘Pitch-Pace-Attitude; & Other Ways to be Successful at Work!

This blog is slightly different than other blogs since this blog will read like a book hence it will soon be a book. Each week we will add some parts of chapters on WordPress and my fans and followers will help with the whole process of the book simply by reading and commenting each week on a new insert; leading to newer, fresher rewrites before the final draft of the book. Fans will also help with titles, cover art selection and font style and later they will get the advance copy before the release date in 2014.

Pitch-Pace-Attitude & Other ways to be successful at work!

Chapter 1

CREATE YOUR OWN OFFICE ATMOSPHERE AND OFFICE ROUTINE

Phase 3

How to assume the close by building impulse (pitch)

 

How important is it to complete a daily script and a morning routine?  Consistency is very important it is one of the characteristics that employees seek. Basically, they want to know if this person can deliver day in and day out. Well, can you? Yes you can if you have a morning routine combined with a beautiful pitch, a fantastic pace and a great attitude. Those three aspects of your professional life are all considered when evaluating your work ethic. In essence it is very important to create your own pitch, pace and attitude. If you research online there are hundreds of books on attitude adjustments such as, “Attitude is Everything.”  I am glad that today I will help put your best foot forward, and to do that you need a nice pitch, and a nice pace. Please keep reading and you will get a total idea of why pitch, pace and attitude are important and how they all go together.

Reading the prior week’s blog you will notice the intro, the short story, and the presentation portion of your script, but today it is all about the close; to be even more precise it is how to assume the close. A great communicator will not repeat him or herself. The art lies in putting it all down the first time and getting confirmation from the listeners. You do this by closing your conversation and rehashing your key points. This will decrease the amount of time you will miscommunicate with people. First it solidifies the course of action by all parties and second and it has ‘follow up’ built right into the predetermined scripted conversation rather than freestyle conversation. Freestyle is where two people have a conversation with no real destination. It is no longer freestyle once you have control. Here is how to get control. You must assume the close. In business it may be called ‘assume the sale.’  In assume the sale you go right to the signing of purchased products or services, usually once the salesman hears a few keywords allows them the opportunity from the conversation. Here is how you can add this style to your script (Daily Pitch.) Here are the details and how it works.

Done deal!

Assuming the Close

1. Close or End of Conversation.
   1. Assume the close after a few keywords or positive body language from listener.
   2. Here are eight sure fire signs that your listener is interested and willing!

i.     The return the S.E.E Dynamics (Smile, Eye Contact, Enthusiasm) when you mention your initial offer.

ii.     They ask plenty of questions while still in your presence.

iii.     They may even repeat a few questions. To ensure it makes sense to them.

iv.     They say yes to every quick question you ask them. Remember this is the important qualifying portion of your Intro speech.

v.     Positive Body Language.

vi.     Silence is a good sign, but this is tricky if they are silent you have to get them to qualify by asking questions. Make sure that silence doesn’t mean incomprehension, but yet interest and mental process of offer. Allows you to complete your pitch or simply see if they are paying attention to your words. This means it is time to take control and avoid silence. While building impulse or interest.

vii.     Time is of the upmost factor. Your pitch and idea is premeditated and you know where you are going with your pitch. You also know what you need and what you are looking for so keep it short and simple.

viii.     They picked parts of your offer. If a person starts to pick up pieces of your product that means they are looking for a deal and really want in, but it is up to you to make it make sense to them and pick the whole offer not just parts. No need to be aggressive once you see whey want in, just reel them in like a bass fishermen and hook, line, & sinker. Eventually, this will mean a little bit more time and effort on your behalf but you will get your way.

Here are a few questions that you can use to assume the close.

“You are going to work on this alone or with others?”

“Can you make it look like this once completed.”

“Is there another decision maker that needs to approve before we move on?”

Inside the close we have what is called Rehashing or ‘Go Over.’ Here you can also mention other projects you are working on and mention the people already working on it. Lastly you will explain all the steps that lead to the end of the conversation. Repeat some of the answers given. That also means you were listening to them as they spoke during your pitch¹.  This is another great chance to repeat your position on where you stand and the expectations of the combined team effort. Managers do it all the time. It is time you do it now.  While rehashing or repeating specifics, part 2 of the close is building the impulse.

4 Ways to Build Impulse

1. Fear of loss is greater than hopes of gain.
   1. Put the project in their hands and pull it away after mentioning a few details from it. It can be anything. A copy of an email, pictures, or design ideas. Slowly pull it away and look around as if it is a special project and say;

i.     ‘Today is the last chance.’  ‘This week is the set up and due date.’

ii.     ‘This is the only project allowed to leave my desk.’

iii.     ‘All other items are done; people are just waiting for this one.’

1. Create sense of urgency.
   1. After you grab back your physical portion of the project such as the email or design ideas. Do not hang around, your time is precious I want you to slowly walk back one or two steps. They will either come closer or signal more interests with their body movements.  It is a brain twister and at times they may be perplexed or confused. Ease their mind and come back slowly and say;

i.     ‘I am in a hurry and I need and answer right now.’

1. Look for greediness level.
   1. Many time people at work are very nice and want to help as much as possible, but without messing up their own reputation. You may need to make yourself fit in their hectic schedule. You may never need to build this much impulse but it is available to you. To convince them a little more you can say.

i.     ‘This is a great deal of great importance; there will be minimal time and effort on your behalf.’

ii.     ‘Here are the rewards and prizes and accolades involved in this project or offer.’

iii.     Name drop a few higher ups or key players in the organization. ‘Bob would love this to be done on budget.’

iv.     My favorite is to DEPUTIZE. Allow them the power to move freely by saying thing like. ‘This section can be mentioned to other people; it is not as private as the other portions of this project that we are working on.’

1. Showing Indifference.
   1. This is very hard to do and takes practice. Emotional strength is just as important as mental strength. There have been many scientific analyses on the very real Emotional IQ. Here are a few points to show indifference;

i.     Be opposite of aggressive or demanding. Do not cringe your brow.

ii.     Be stern and confident with no fear of loss in your body language.

iii.     Do not be pushy, let them buy into it.

iv.     Most important let them buy into YOU. You are selling yourself here not your project, items or offer.

Building impulse is very important as you create your pitch and pace you will need these factors for back up if you ever need to close someone who is ‘on the fence’ (unsure) about your offer. If they clearly say no, it does not mean it is over. Before you move on and stop your pitch to try and work it on some else, you can use these impulse techniques.

Adding the Close and Building the Impulse

Start talking like a leader and your projects will get done a lot faster, because of team work. You will become a project manager if you are not one already. People will want to work with you especially if you follow through and have a great pitch, pace and attitude.

We need to continue our story of an accountant who needs help with the marketing department. He knows nothing of marketing but has a beautiful pitch to get the help he needs.  James the accounting guy was able to get one of the marketing guys to assist him in a project he was doing alone and he came across some bumps. One bump was the project itself. He has to create a budget for a project he knows very little about.  It is an accounting consumer mobile application for all the company customers’ smartphones. Let us examine his communication style how you can add the close and build impulse in your pitch. Let us see how to put it all together.

THE PITCH

 “Hey, how you doing today? {Pregnant Pause} Real quick… (I’m doing something special for the accounting department)…..”

“We are focusing on a budget for a new product, {Pregnant Pause} you’re the marketing budget guy right?

“Okay so, I assume you have worked on projects like this before right?”

“You have designed projects like this before right? And if you were to work on this project you wouldn’t change your style right?

“Great………………….

 “We just launched a new program designed to connect a person’s quarterly statement to his or her cell phone using an Application (Mobile App).”

“What we do is set up the app to take the existing information from QuickBooks (financial reporting software,) keeping the statement the same which is in good form and replace it with the App.  This process takes minutes and updates in seconds as soon as the statement is due and we stay in contact with the customer more often through notifications on the App. It is light speed faster than paper through snail mail (regular post office) or email.”

“Sounds good, right?”

Add the Close by Assuming the Close.

“So, what we are doing for this project is getting designers and others to work together for a flawless launch date for the App.”

“I just need an okay to see if you can help meet the deadline.”

“Again, you are John right?” “I am James² and it is nice to talk to you today. (Pregnant pause for their response) Is there anyone else we need to get an okay from before we move forward or are you the final decision maker?”

“Okay great, so tomorrow or the next day you can bring one of the first parts of the design and cost analyses of The App Project, Right?”

Build Impulse by Rehashing the Proposal.

Once they give you a reasonable time table you then say; “I am going back to my office to crunch some numbers and make a few phone calls to notify others of your interest and work time table on this project. In case they call you will be very aware of any changes. Thanks for all your help and I’ll talk to you soon.”

 

Okay, this conversation seems simple, but the pitch has been rehearsed by James and the listener likes James and how he presented himself. This concludes what a great pitch resembles; you can modify it any way you like. But there are a few key points that cannot be missing. It needs an intro, short story, presentation, close and a rehash all while building impulse. You have just become a well-spoken person and may I add a very persuasive one at that. Let us break down how James got his way.

Here is how he did it. His total package includes some of these factors and we can break down his verbiage as well:

• It is genuine and shows enthusiasm.
• It creates urgency through his pitch, pace and attitude.
• It makes the participant feel special.
• Lastly, it builds impulse with reasonable work effort.

Here are the 5 closing points to a 6 step conversation: Intro, short story, presentation, close and rehash all while building impulse. Add these steps and key words to your pitch and watch the difference it makes.  In this scenario ‘Pitch’ does not merely mean your tone of voice but your S.E.E Dynamics, your voice, tone, range and your verbiage all create a very interesting person.

• The words; “So, what we are doing…” shows the project or offer is well on its way and even has a few details already in place. It shows that time is of the essence and everyone is looking forward to its completion. It also shows the core interests.
• The words; “I just need…” shows, while this project is in tow it still has missing parts and here they are. This allows the person to see where they fit in and it makes them feel special and they do not want to miss out. It seems as an opportunity instead of work or a chore. They feel needed.
• The words; “Again, you are John right, I am James and it is nice to talk to you today…” No one wants to feel like they have to do something and get nothing back. By reintroducing yourself it shows you are here to make a friend or an associate and you are growing the relationship as you talk. Re-exchanging pleasantries is a nice way to break the coldness of a business deal. It is still professional and work, but yet it almost feels like a favor with a reward attached. They get something out of it. To be honest that is why many people do the things they do. SO feed that part of their ego.
• The words; “So tomorrow or the next day…” shoes urgency and a sample of the time line that you are working with and it transfers that urgency to the new participant as they take the offer. They need to clear their schedule to fit in the offer they just willingly accepted. It also gives the person pitching some authority and time to ask for exactly what is needed. By here they are all hands on deck and you have to take the role of captain as you steer your ship to voyage. One that your partner wants to be in part.
• To end the conversation you need to say what you are doing right after the conversation ends. So the words. “I am going to…” shows you are a team player and you have to go do your part. This shows that the person who took your offer made a great choice. They bought into you. You cannot let them down now. You have set the expectation high. Perfect, right?

Thank you for reading today.

Do you agree with Jean-Renaud Cherubin or disagree, sound off on the comments.

Please follow this weekly blog as there is more to come while setting up this new book blog series.

Check out Jeans first book by clicking;

Amazon’s 2012 The Time is Now 2.0! by Jean-Renaud Cherubin, available now.

Stay tuned next time as we move on to Chapter two: The eight steps to success! As combined with pitch, pace and attitude of course.

Footnotes

¹Listening skills are key factors for being an interesting person because 50% of what you say is your body language. 40% is your pitch, tone and range of voice. 10% is the words you choose.  ‘How to be Interesting: Simple Ways to Increase Your Personal Appeal by Gillespie/Warren-2013 Capstone Publishing.’

²Reintroducing yourself may not be necessary; only if you do not know the person if you know the person cool things off by re-exchanging pleasantries.