My Impressions: Pitch Anything

I’ve been studying sales and persuasion for a long time and also read many books on the subject.  One of the book reviews I’ve read stated this book and also The Psychology of Persuasion are the two key books.  I read Persuasion a few weeks ago, I liked it.  So I followed through with this book. 

I liked this book a lot.  One of the funnest book I’ve read in a long, long time.  One reason perhaps is because I’ve rarely read pitch-related books and I was unaware of anything in the field...  So everything just seemed so fun and new. 

Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal

But right off the beginning, everything I learned and thought was “right” way to sell was immediately thrown in the garbage…  Including SPIN selling, numbers game, cold calling…  I must say though, this book is more of a pitching book than a selling book.  There are huge overlaps between the two areas, but there really is a fundamental difference. 

The greatest takeaway I have for the book is: Don’t be needy!

Reflecting my life and the people around me…  Those needy people really turn me off, even if I originally liked them.  Always seeking for approval, begging for some confirmation…  Truthfully, people ARE more attractive and seem more credible when they have the confidence to be genuine and real.  Not saying everybody should start fucking the world upside down and go my way or the highway.  But don’t be needy.

Framing was a completely new concept to me.  This is not the same framing as listing something for $100 and selling it for $50.  The framing in this book is more of a psychological state, and the interaction with other people’s frame.  This was a paradigm shift for me. 

I am instantly more aware of my social surroundings on a whole new level than before reading the book.  I wish to take more control of my actions and reactions.  Which leads to my criticism of the book: The book is very entertaining in all the stories and everything and they do flow nicely…  But in terms of a “tool book” (my original intent of reading), I really didn’t like the organization. 

I am aware of the framing, but I don’t know how to practice it or use it.  I have to piece information from different parts of the book from different chapters to reconstruct what I think is a complete picture.  But then again, maybe that is the intent.  Be intensely aware of something, but don’t have the ability to improve it, so you can sign up for his service.  That’d be a good strategy, too. 

But yeah, very fun book in a very long time!