Club 52 – Paul’s (Short) Review Of Pitch Anything (by Oren Klaff)

Full disclosure – I’ve met Oren on two difference occasions and he has participated in a profitable venture I am involved with. Part of the reason for that venture was because of how much I loved the book.

The idea of “pitching” – and yes, pitching “anything” scares me. I’m not good at sales – yet do it in my business as what I probably would have called a “necessary evil” until having read this book.

Actually, back in full disclosure, this has been my second time through the book in a few months.

This book is not only worth all the hype – but actually worth, in my opinion, more.

Unlike other books I’ve read this year with the theme of “nothing really changes, here’s how technology plays into what’s been happening for a long time” – this book is about how this new age and new time has, simply, changed the nature of the pitch.

You pitch old school, and it doesn’t work anymore. You probably knew that already – but what is the answer to this new age?

Enter “Pitch Anything.”

A word of encouragement from Oren:

“We are hardwired to be bad at pitching. It is caused by the way our brains evolved.”

The hard reality the books deals with:

“We assume that our audience will do what we want them to do if our idea is good, if we didn’t stumble through the pitch, and if we showed a winning personality. Turns out, it doesn’t work that way.”

We all kinda knew that, didn’t we

The big idea of the book is FRAMES. You frame the pitch, the environment of the pitch, the psychology of the pitch, etc. inside of proven techniques that give you every advantage.

The cool thing is, isn’t is a book of funky mind tricks with elements of psychological warfare, it’s a text about having the right story, having something worth “pitching,” not wasting anyone’s time during the pitching process and more. These are the things I can get behind. It’s about understanding that very “attention” the social media types love to talk on and on about.

In the top level, a great read, with some great stories (turns out he once worked with one of my old bosses). On a deeper level, this is my text book for the next pitch I make.

When I make that next pitch – I’m gonna bet 2 things

1 – I’ll do much better than I have in the past.

2 – I will have read this thing a few more times between now and then.

Non affiliate link to the book at Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Pitch-Anything-Innovative-Presenting-Persuading/dp/0071752854/

One of my new years declarations was that I’d read a book every week. Join me on this journey? http://PaulColligan.com/Club52

The Verizon iPhone will do bigger business than expected and shed some serious light on just how pathetic of a company AT&T really is. AT&T is still pathetic – and the iPhone Verizon did great business but not enough to call my prediction as good. 1 down.

The 2nd Generation iPad will bring us a very reduced rate on the 1st gen iPad bringing prices (and consumption) close to the Amazon Kindle. Wrong there too. 2 down. Gotta say, good on Apple for keeping profit going though.

Something MASSIVE from Microsoft is coming to save Microsoft from herself. 3 down. Microsoft. Wow. Not good.

We’ll see big pushes from YouTube for video rentals, live streaming and cross platform consumption. Finally got one right.

Social Media will quickly move from buzzworthly catchphrase to reality of online business. I’d say I’m good there too.

I got a 40% – bad for predictions but I could probably get a job in the Congress or be a bank president somewhere …

And so my 2012 predictions.

We still stop asking people if they have a texting plan and start asking people what number we should text them at. The power of cross-channel marketing mixed with the realities of message fatigue requires this very important play.

Google Plus will see a significant reboot of some sort to make her relevant past new media bloggers and authors (of books about Google Plus). Despite the “numbers” inside, it has no real penetration yet (past the digerati) and will have to get these numbers some other way than it it is doing so now. She’s too big to fail but isn’t going in the right direction right now. Something has to change.

YouTube will crack the annotations and overlay code for HTML5 video (tvs, phones, etc.) and Facebook will answer the ads in Mobile Facebook question. YouTube is more important off the computer screen than on and Facebook users are doing more and more things mobile every day. The future of all this is off our computer screens. Anyone creating content or marketing better embrace this reality quickly.

“Cutting cable” will become a popular term. Between the most recent Xbox update and the Superbowl streaming online in 2012, the reality of what many of us have been doing for years will become more mainstream. This will also result in less “smart money” heading to the networks (and their cable plays at least).

And, finally, the (inspiring) Louis CK million dollars in download story will inspire a lot of people to charge less for their content than they should resulting in even less money for independent media creators in 2012. This model works in very specific environments (and a cable tv show doesn’t hurt either) and should’t be taken as the path by which too many will try.

There they are. Tell me how I’m wrong now, and we’ll let 365 days provide the real proof same time next year.

Here’s the direct link to YouTube.

It’s a tradition here at PaulColligan.com to post this YouTube Video every year. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

For those not into the whole Christmas thing, I hope you get a few minutes of peace as well.

I do love that guy.

But, yeah, Twitter is doing what Twitter does best (redesigning interfaces, not monetizing) and the Social Sheeples will spend the next few weeks debating it.

YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG

Twitter is a platform, communication system, an infrastructure, not a website or a destination. Apple didn’t integrate it into iOS because they like the site, or own some stock, or are writing a book on social media. They added it because it’s a method of communication that simply made sense to add to their devices. It made iOS 5 better – and it sure was good for Twitter too.

Twitter’s power is in what it does, not how it does it. Her sites and official apps have traditionally and historically been some of the worst in doing just that. However, in Twitter’s case, there are about ten billion different apps that do what Twitter does so you find what works for communicating your message and then you communicate your message (or dialogue with the community if you want to use digirati speak).

The only money or communication advantage in worrying/caring about the Twitter site should be coming from Twitter employees or people writing books about Twitter (here’s an affiliate link to page 6 of the books about Twitter at Amazon).

We pick the email client that does our business – and ignore the rest. The email is important – not the client from the guys who started email. We use the browser that makes the most sense to the device we’re using because it’s that dang Webernet content that matters – not how badly Microsoft is mangling the latest release of IE. We use Spotify to listen to releases from Sony and ignore the fact that their online music system even exists – because it doesn’t even deserve our attention.

But somehow with Twitter – and a few others – we monitor Folsom Street like it’s a nursing home for our grandparents and forget about what really matters.

The most effective use of Twitter – or any other Social Media platform – is in using the platform to make it about our message.

When the platform becomes the message, the robots win.

Even if Scoble thinks that’s a good idea.

Thanks for getting me on Twitter, Robert.

Full disclosure – that was an affiliate link – but I think you’ll like what I’m doing with that link.

If you haven’t read my post yet on what I consider to be the best iPad Case ever yet, please take a look at that posting. Case For A Cause is a project near and dear to my heart.

So, in short, what I’ve done is this … if you pick up Amy’s FB Influence product through my affiliate link and send me your information (full details are on this page), I’ll send you one of the iPad cases with my affiliate commission payout.

Don’t have an iPad to put a case on? Get FB Influence anyway – it’s that good … but … as I suggest here, let me know and I’ll send a case to an influencer with an note saying it came from you.

How about them apples?

I hope you can buy a case and help us really launch this project. If my commission on Amy’s program is that way to make that happen, I couldn’t be more thrilled …

I’m thrilled to announce CaseForACause.com. The first picture in this post will make sense in a minute.

When Joel came to me with the very iPad case he describes in the video below, I knew instantly we were on to something big. Now I have a bunch of boxes from Kyrgyzstan in my basement filled with artistry. “Small world” doesn’t even come close.

The iPad Case was hand made by artisans from the Tian-Shan mountains of central Asia and are hand-stitched by indigenous artisans. The iPad Case displays traditional Kyrgyz embroidery. All artisans are paid a fair wage to make each case, and the Issyk Kul Development Center is provided valuable funds to help their work of intervention, counseling, job training, and other programs to help these women gain hope and the possibility of a better future for themselves and their children.

What are some of these women facing? Try domestic abuse, human trafficking and forced prostitution. Every dime made from every iPad case sold goes right back to them.

The story of these iPad cases has everything I hold dear – entrepreneurship, beauty, tech, artistry, cause, intent, service, and gosh darn it, iPads …

So, first things first, I going to ask you right out to purchase a Case for Cause iPad Case. If you’re reading this, chances are good you have one.

Secondly, I’d love your help in promoting this. We’re not spending a dime on advertising so we need the social love to make these things happen. The Get Social page over at the site as all you need there.

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving here in North America. Friday many of us will go out and buy a lot of plastic crap.

Thousands and thousands of iPad cases will be purchased as well.

Consider purchasing one of ours instead.

If you can’t see the embed above, visit the project’s YouTube Channel for the full story of these wonderful iPad cases.

It’s been said in the video and all over the site – but I do want to stress that I’m not making a penny from this project. All time is donated and EVERY PENNY taken in minus shipping costs (no handling, that’s me and my kids ) goes right back to this magnificent cause.

First, in short, it does everything Amazon says it does – and it does it well. The bookstore is perfect, the video is crisp, the app store integration FINALLY GIVES ITUNES A REAL COMPETITOR, the web browser is fast enough (my iPad still beats it, even without Amazon Silk), the audio sounds great, it’s the whole package.

When the iPad first came out everyone said it was more of a consumption device than it was a productivity device. While in some ways I agreed (it was an issue of software, not design at launch), I can’t find a better term for the Kindle Fire than a media consumption device. If you’re looking to do any productive tasks on this device, a) it’s gonna be slow, and b) you’re missing the point of the device.

Kindle is all about consumption. Kindle is all about consumption. Kindle is all about consumption.

Amazon sells things that people consume. Their move to the digital realm of consumption not only makes sense financially but also kicks some serious butt in the delivery speed arena the whole green thing (lot less dead trees shipped by airplane in my Kindle copy of Facebook Marketing All-In-One For Dummies) In the digital realm, they sell books, video, apps, and music through a Web interface. The Kindle Fire delivers all of these perfectly.

As I shared in my initial thoughts about the Kindle Fire, my kids originally approached the concept with great interest. For them devices are for consumption and the laptop for creation. Both of them love the thing because “it does everything” – and they’re right, in the consumption realm at least.

Secondly, it’s solid. It “feels” great while not attempting to hope people won’t notice it’s not an iPad. I’ll be reading more books on this than anything else and can see dropping it in my go bag as I go on trips.

Finally, it’s a Generation 1 product. I can already list improvements (man, the Android world needs their version of AirPlay) that will probably be made in the future, but they’re, simply, improvements. Amazon got it right, on their first attempt. Great job.

Is it an “iPad Killer?” Nope. They’re not the same device. For people who bought the iPad only to play Angry Birds, read a few books and watch a few videos – this is the device for them.

If Apple plays to their strengths, they’ll continue to focus on the iPad as the tablet that it is. At $499 they better make sure it also enables media consumption (same is true of their desk/laptops), but that shouldn’t be the focus.

If Amazon plays to their strengths, they’ll continue to focus on the Kindle Fire as the media consumption device that it is. Try to make it something other than that and a) they’ll lose their profit center and b) they’ll lose their focus.

I’m thrilled with it. You?

For fun, here’s a quick embed of my Amazon Kindle Fire Unboxing. If you can’t see it below, the link will take you right to the YouTube video.