The Pitch Episode 87: Going All In To Score A Win

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Role-playing as “Dr. Amy” worked at this intimidating board of directors meeting. Learn how to “go all in” to score a win with an interview, client or date.

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I tend to be an all or nothing type of person. I’m either all in or I don’t bother doing it at all. If a friend asks me to go to a SantaCon event, then I will look the part and be the best version of Santa I can possibly be. If a company approaches me about representing them and I’m not seeing a news hook, or I’m just not excited about what they are selling, I will walk away from it no matter how lucrative the offer may be. Mediocre, grey area, on the fence, indifferent; these are just not words I associate with very often, and when it comes to presentation with pitching, if you aren’t “going all in” you should probably get out. Before you pitch, review your own presentation and enthusiasm on the subject matter. Are you truly going all in? What can you do to make your pitch more visual so it will come to life? I once had to give a publicity presentation, showing the results of my work, in front of a high-level trade association board in the organic food industry. On the inside, I was scared to death that I was going to get drilled by the board members and not fully have the opportunity to walk them through the entire campaign. So to remedy this I went all in on the presentation. I dressed in a lab coat and acted the role of a doctor, to discuss all the health stories we had placed in the media about organic food to promote better health, translating into healthier habits for a specific population we were targeting. By going all in as “Dr. Amy” I had a very opinionated board of directors captivated for a full hour without interruption, which eliminated an assortment of challenging questions and unproductive “drilling” at my expense. “The Pitch” challenge today: identify an area where “going all in” will help you score a win. You can go all in on a job application by writing a creative cover letter that really shows you did your homework on the company and the person interviewing you. You can go all in on a corporate presentation but hiring a musician to open you up for your pitch. You can even go all in on a date, by planning something over the top and unexpected instead of defaulting to dinner and a movie. Going all in will not only give you more confidence in what you are pitching, but will eliminate a lukewarm response that can put the breaks on your ability to score a win.

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