The Power of the Pitch: Transform Yourself Into a Persuasive Presenter and Win More Business

A few summers ago I was fortunate enough to come across a copy of the book The Power of the Pitch by Gary Hankins. After flipping through a few of the pages I knew that I had to purchase this book. As an entrepreneur - especially a young one - you will always be judged by not only what you say, but how you say things. Having the ability to effectively and clearly communicate your ideas, visions, and plans of your company is extremely important and goes a long way in how people view your character. Let's keep it real, the majority of the people that you pitch your ideas to aren't going to share your vision and will brush your words off quite easily. Knowing that, it's in the entrepreneur's best interest to become the best communicator than he or she possibly can. Hankins' book is an excellent place to start reading about the fundamentals of becoming a great communicator. The book is a fun and relaxing read and packed with tons of useful information such as: - Learning how to tell a story when giving a presentation. - The benefits of seeding in jokes throughout your presentation. - Tips on practicing your speech with friends for honest feedback. - How to customize your message for the different audiences. - Keeping eye contact with key people. - How to stay relaxed and be confident. - Focusing your message on your target audience, not yourself. - And much, much, more.... The key thing to remember when giving a speech or presentation is preparation, preparation, and more preparation! Without taking the necessary steps to insure that your message is clearly presented and fully understanding the material of which you speak of, your credibility level will drop faster than you can ever image. Hankins' book is well worth the read for any entrepreneur trying to step up their communication skills. After reading the book, it would be wise to start testing out some of the techniques at your local Toastmasters club. Because at the end of the day, public speaking is more about doing than reading. Go get 'em!

Transfrom Yourself Into a Persuasive Presenter and Win More Business. "Presentations Magazine estimates that businessmen and women give over one million presentations in the United states every business day. When you factor in the cities worldwide, the number of presentations could easily be in the tens of millions." Gary Hankins says that most of the presentations fail because not enough emphasis is placed on the power of persuasion or the pitch. Instead, time is spent in trying to meet with decision makers or prospecting for clients. And usually the pitch is delivered hurriedly on the way to a meeting. Hankins has tooled and re-tooled the presentation strategies in this book over 30 years of giving speeches, hosting radio and TV, and giving many, many sales presentations. HIs audience for workshops have been Fortune 500 companies, sports teams, both professional and collegiate, and associations. Hankins gives you all the tools in The Power of the Pitch to deliver a successful, persuasive presentation and create more business than you every dreamed. Hankins helps you in defining your rock star attitude, how to make people like you in the first 30 seconds, and how to brand yourself. You can create positive nonverbal facial and hand gestures that work in your favor with Gary Hankins' professional techniques. Learn to "dress to your success" with actual photographs for the level of success you wish to achieve for both men and women with very specific tips. In addition to the appropriate business look, you need "power in your voice" with enthusiasm and correct grammar. Gary Hankins gives failproof ways to deliver your presentation without embarrasement. The first part of the 3-part pitch strategy is gaining or "grabbing" the attention of your audience. Secondly is persuading them with the ISB Model (you have to read it to find out), and the third-part is the effective power close. Gary Hankins ends with topics of: excellent presentation pointers, how to tell an interesting story and using humor effectively in your presentation. Included are resourceful Web sites and the download URL for forms that included such as: "The Power of the Pitch Outline", "The Power of the Pitch Audience Debrief Form", "The Power of the Pitch 360° Feedback Form". Opinion by Reviewer: I enjoyed the excellent easy-to-read information from Gary Hankins' more than 30 years of experience. It has great tips for honing your persuasive pitch presentation. Incorporating Gary Hankins' success formula into your presentation is the difference between sales or no sales. I highly recommend The Power of the Pitch to those readers who really want to transform their presentations.

Hankins' book is a must for anyone who is pitching new business or presenting proposals. It is insightful, entertaining and full of great advice for taking your presentation skills to the next level. Hankins provides concrete tips for improving your game as well as thought provoking insights into how and why we do the things that we do.

Hankins defines a pitch as "[in italics] any time you speak with intent to persuade. [end italics] Pitches could be delivered in person, over the telephone, to one person or to thousands." This definition is adequate to Hankins' purposes, but -- in my opinion -- unnecessarily restrictive. Some of the most important interactions between and among people involve the exchange of information, not for purposes of persuasion but for edification. Indeed, every one of the principles, skills, and techniques which Hankins explains so brilliantly in this book can guide and inform effective communication, whatever its context and objective may be. That said, I commend Hankins on having devised what amounts to a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system. Chapters 1-7 provide an orientation/briefing on fundamentals (e.g. "The Secrets of Winning People Over" and "The Foolproof Steps to Avoid Embarrassment"). Each of the next three chapters is devoted to one of the three Parts of "The Pitch": The Grabber, The Persuasion Model, and The Power Close. Then in Chapters 11-17, Hankins correlates and develops in much greater depth various principles, skills, and techniques (e.g. storytelling, use of humor, secrets to effective cold calls), concluding with an obviously sincere admonition to his reader, accompanied by a request: "Now I encourage you to personalize the concepts about how you look, how you sound, and what you say. Make the `toolbox' fit your persona and business. When you do, you will become a persuasive presenter capable of winning more business. Please do me a big favor. As you achieve success with your pitches, take a minute to let me know how you're doing. Please e-mail me at [email protected]. [Then suggesting an influence by Zig Ziglar,] The view is worth the climb. I look forward to seeing you at the top." To me, one of the most valuable sections is Chapter 9 in which Hankins provides "The Power of the Pitch Outline" (pages 119-121). Completion of this outline will require a great deal of time and thought. In fact, throughout this book, Hankins includes a wealth of checklists, introduces several acronyms (e.g. STARs) which are then explained in depth, and various guidelines (e.g. "The Rule of Three"). Hankins' approach is so direct and personal that his reader will feel as if she or he were working closely in collaboration with Hankins on the development of a complete sales plan which is most appropriate to the reader's own specific needs, interests, goals, objectives, and concerns. For whom will this book be most valuable? I recommend it to those who supervise a sales force, many of whom are relatively inexperienced and in need of inspiration, guidance, and supervision. I also recommend it to senior-level executives in small-to-midsize organizations who are primarily -- if not wholly -- responsible for business development and customer relationships (e.g. the owner/CEO of a company doing less than $10-million in annual sal

I received a copy of "The Power of the Pitch" from my boss and wasn't thrilled to read it. I thought it would be your typical, dry business book and I didn't want to waste my time. Boy, was I wrong. The irreverent cover reflects the colorful content that the book delivers. It's a step by step guide that illustrates how to pitch and close any kind of deal. I found the stories, photos, charts and graphs easy to grasp in a hurry. The book also shares the secrets of how Garth Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Jack Nicklaus and other brands continually prepare, plan and "pitch" their fans/customers to grow their businesses. I never realized the mistakes I was making in my introductions and power point slides until I read the book. I have changed the way I'm presenting and have seen an improvement already. I told the boss about my initial resistance and misconception about the book and how it has helped me in just a few days. He laughed and suggested I write a review. So, here it is: "Read this book if you have a short attention span, a decent sense of humor and a desire to close more biz. It's a quick read that's easy to understand and adopt."