Ready, Steady, Manage: Book Review: Life's a Pitch by Stephen Bayley & Roger Mavity

Subtitled "How to Sell yourself and your brilliant ideas" this dual-authored book has two parts. One for each author. And yes this has made it schizophrenic.

The first half by Roger Mavity tells the hard won lessons from a marketeer. The second half by Stephen Bayley reads like a standard book researched management text.

I only found value in part one so this review has its basis in that text.

The first half of the book roars along, peppered with anecdotes and words of wisdom.

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So...when you pitch "you are trying to get someone else to do what you want them to do" and this has more to do with emotion than logic. Start with the problem and identify the one or two BIG issues. Write out the pitch as a storyboard and make your pitch a compelling story. A story that moves from problem to solution. "The bigger the problem, the more valuable the solution"

Keep it simple, then amend it to get it simpler. Use simple slides. Have the confidence to keep it clean. "The simpler your idea and the simpler your presentation of it, then the more likely you are to emerge the winner." Use rehearsal to simplify further and keep going until it feels right.

Make the central idea in the pitch crystal clear and powerful. Create one slide that captures that idea. Then, in the presentation, dwell on it - "if you remember just one thing, remember this".

Have a simple, powerful summary - at the end of the pitch. Build to this summary of the argument, not the supporting facts.

Structure it from high to detail. "Exposition, development, recapitulation". Say what you're going to say, say it, say it again.

Never read a slide - tell them the key point that the slide makes.

You pitch as a confident partner, one who can afford to walk away from the deal - never as a serf.

Phew... the the second half becomes mired in bookish artifice, or padding as I prefer to think of it.

Such a shame - if the publisher had had the courage to put out the small simple 142 page first half, this would have worked much better than its current form.

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