Life’s a pitch…

Life’s a Pitch, the book by Roger Mavity and Stephen Bayley, is designed to help the reader learn how to ‘pitch’ both their ideas and themselves. Split into two halves, the first book delivers succinct and pragmatic advice while the second expounds on that advice in a more discursive (read: waffly) style.

When I picked up this book, my first impression was that it really wasn’t the kind of read I’d be interested in. I anticipated the kind of motivational, evangelical sales speak I’ve come to associate with those pyramid scheme-esque “Sales and Marketing” firms that spam job sites with “GREAT MARKETING OPPORTUNITY” listings (in my job hunting experience, these almost exclusively turn out to be dodgy door to door schemes selling charity subscriptions on commission to vulnerable old people).

I was wrong- for the most part. It’s very accessible and not bursting with jargon, though the key idea- that pitching is not just about standing in a board room but is in every interaction and proposition we make in life, is hammered home so repetetively it becomes a little grating. Furthermore, the analogy that ‘Life is a Pitch’ falls down with the authors constant references to business. Certainly, no-one I know would propose to their better half via a Powerpoint presentation (please guys… don’t do this to yourselves).

So, beyond the niggles mentioned above, the jist of the book began to sink in and it started to resonate with me. When you’re pitching to someone, you’re asking them to judge the future and since knowing the future is beyond logic, their judgement won’t be based on logical factors but on emotional factors such as trust, confidence, hope, ambition, desire. A great example given in the book is when the national lottery first came open to bids. All the entries laboriously detailed how they were the best for the job, explaining the wonderful things they would do if they won the contract, but only one of them addressed the problem everyone was worried about- that this had huge potential for failure. Camelots pitch was simple, ballsy and very well prepared. They knew exactly what the problem was and addressed it head on. Their pitch simply said- we won’t mess this up. Logic vs. emotion. Emotion (and Camelot) won.

Sure, it’s not a new concept or idea. We all know that the way we communicate, our actions and appearances have an effect on the way people view us, interact with us and make decisions about us (whether they want to hire us, date us, sit next to us in the canteen, promote us or “let us go”) but if we’re really honest, how many of us use this information to our advantage?

I’ll admit that I hadn’t been, despite being in the midst of trying to pitch my way into a new career. Advice I’ve found particularly useful is- keep it simple, be confident and be prepared. It sounds obvious but it’s all too easy to get caught up in a desperate job hunting frenzy and forget. It’s easy to forget to trim the irrelevant fat out of your c.v, it’s easy to forget to explicitly highlight how your skills match what they’re looking for and it’s easy to forget to do any in depth research in the desire to get your application in quickly.

Life’s a Pitch is a good book with a good message at it’s core. I’d recommend it for anyone making presentations (whether at Uni or in business) as well as those applying for jobs… As for those looking for love… Maybe try Men are from Mars.