Pitching and Negotiation Skills PDF

Pitching and Negotiation Skills LO1: Evaluate the context of a negotiation and identify the information required to prepare for a negotiation. Negotiations: Mutual discussions for the purpose of arriving at the terms of a transaction or agreement Negotiation: is a process which takes place when t...

Pitching and Negotiation Skills LO1: Evaluate the context of a negotiation and identify the information required to prepare for a negotiation. Negotiations: Mutual discussions for the purpose of arriving at the terms of a transaction or agreement Negotiation: is a process which takes place when two or more interdependent parties who have different needs and goals, work together to find a mutually acceptable & beneficial outcome. Win - Win Negotiations Negotiations in which both parties come away winners and both parties are committed to upholding their ends of the agreement” Principles Win – Win Negotiating -What it is not: A game — where one side wins and the other side loses -Fundamental principle in negotiations — need satisfaction -Look for creative ways to satisfy your and your counterpart’s needs -Establish a friendly climate of mutual interests and trust -Negotiation is the beginning of a process, not the end - Look for a long-term mutually beneficial relationship Preparation -First step — review this presentation and your notes to refresh yourself on the fundamentals of effective negotiations -Strategize with your negotiation teammates to develop a strategy -Develop a plan incorporating your negotiation knowledge and the needs of your customer -Practice, refine, practice, refine, and practice  Establish Win – Win Climate -Seek to establish a climate of mutual trust and shared goals -Get to know your counterpart as a person (family, likes & dislikes, college, sports teams, etc.). But don’t be intrusive. -Some clients like to small talk (schmooze) before beginning negotiations. If you are a sensor, have patience. -It’s okay to get coffee for your counterpart -Don’t miss an opportunity to personalize the relationship: Congratulatory note on your counterpart’s new baby, promotion, favorite team victory, etc. -Consider sharing with your customer how you arrived at your fee proposal. BENATECH sent our fee spreadsheet to our DOD customers. First step in establishing trust relationship. -Seeking to establish a positive climate with counterpart It’s Not Always About Money -Everyone would like to earn more money, but other things may be just as important in any particular negotiation -You may be willing to accept a lower fee if you could stretch out the project a few months to complete some existing projects and free resources -Your customer might be willing to stretch out the schedule to obtain a reduced fee same issues with your subcontractors. Be Willing to Leave Something On the table -Contrary to Gordon Gekko (movie Wall Street), in win – win negotiating, greed is not good. -Even when you have the stronger negotiating position (e.g., negotiating with a subcontractor who you know needs the work), treat the other firm fairly. Don’t wring everything you can out of a deal. -It’s not worth the bad feelings and resentment, and it may result in your sub cutting corners on quality and or seeking to recoup the funds through elevated change-order fees. Similarly, by treating the sub consultant fairly, when you need some help (and all firms do from time to time), the consultant might fix a mistake your firm made at little or no extra cost. Your experiences on this point... Practice Now that you have reviewed the guidance in this presentation, developed a negotiation strategy and prepared for your upcoming negotiation you will want to practice: 1-In front of a mirror Feedback and refine 2-With a colleague / spouse / significant other Feedback and refine 3-With negotiation team members — ABSOLUTE MUST — even if by conference call Feedback and refine Negotiation strategies 1) High (your need) Low (counterpart's need) Win-lose Recommendations: You Command/ My way or highway 2) Low (your need) High (counterpart's) Lose-win Recommendations: You Give In/ Need Any Deal 3) Low(your need) Low (counterpart's need) Lose-lose Recommendations: Avoid, don’t negotiate 4) High(your need) High (counterpart's need) Win-win Recommendations: Collaborate 5) Medium (your need) Medium (Counterparts need) Recommendations: Compromise Negotiating involves communicating with people, let’s look at how we can communicate with people better. Communication Model (Process): 1- Having an idea 2- Encoding the message 3- Transmitting the message 4-Receiveing the message 5- Decoding the message 6- Receiver acts on the message Personality Types: Communication Styles: 1) Feeler – Considers people and friendships important. They are genuinely concerned about other people’s feelings and go out of their way not to offend. – Strength: People sense the Feeler’s concern and are put at ease by them. – Weakness: Can miss the big picture and mission by being overly concerned with others’ feelings. May not give you bad news out of a desire not to hurt. – Tips for working with Feelers: Be prepared for small talk (“schmoozing”) before getting to the issues needing consideration. Allow time for small talk. Listen and be responsive. Don’t be domineering or threatening. Be supportive of the Feeler’s issues in seeking to accomplish your own. 2) Sensor Sensors are strong, decisive, results-oriented people. They tend to keep their emotions to themselves. Strength: They are energetic, dynamic implementers. Highly mission-focused. They get things done! Weakness: Can appear overly pushy or demanding at times. May not pickup on human dynamics of a situation. May make a decision before having all relevant facts Tips for working with sensors: Be brief, specific and to the point. Be well-prepared. Provide alternative solutions with pros and cons of each. Don’t waste their time.  3) Thinker Thinkers are logical and organized. They deal with facts, data, logic, details. Thinkers have tendency toward perfection. They tend to keep their feelings and emotions inside, and do not usually reveal them to others. Strength: The information they provide is usually very accurate. Weakness: Can be overly cautious. May not pickup on human dynamics of a situation. Tips for working with Thinkers: Prepare. Be as logical, practical, orderly and accurate as you can. Provide tangible and practical evidence or at least be prepared to do so if asked. List pros and cons of any suggestions you make. Don’t be disorganized. Don’t rush the decision-making process if at all possible. 4) Intuitor Intuitors are highly enthusiastic and creative people. They have strong conceptualization skills, and can think outside the box. They enjoy the world of possibilities, group activities (like parties) and feel less comfortable in restrictive environments. Strength: Think big picture. Future oriented. Long-range thinkers. Many ideas. Often see opportunities others miss. Weakness: Can often appear to be abstract or vague, unresponsive to deadlines. Tips for working with Intuitors: Plan interactions that support their dream. Allow time for exploring their ideas. Help them focus by providing ways for implementing action. Try to stay on agenda or you will take many tangents. Why do negotiations fail? 1) Getting too emotional 2) Focus on personalities, not issues 3) trying to understand the other person (too focused on our own needs) 4) Wanting to win at all costs 5) Regarding negotiation as confrontational A successful negotiator needs to be…. 1) Professional 2) Confident, Relaxed, at ease 3) Open, honest, sincere & credible 4) Respectful of other peoples vales 5) Show empathy, and understanding 6) Committed to a WIN:WIN result 7) Continually enhancing their skills Negotiation Process (Model): Stage 1 : Preparation You are fully briefed on the subject matter of the negotiation You are clear about your objectives and what you are trying to achieve: The LIM Model: Like to Achieve (most favoured option, ideal settlement) Intend to Achieve (expected result, realistic settlement) Must Achieve (fall back position, bottom line) You have worked out your tactics and how best to put your case. You have tried to figure out what the other parties objectives will be You have gathered background information (personalities involved, power balance, attitudes etc.) Stage 2 : Exchanging Information This is the single most important stage of negotiation. Both parties will be trying to find out and understand the other’s position and requirements. Successful negotiators ask twice the number of questions and spend over twice the amount of time acquiring and clarifying information than do average negotiators. Stage 3 : Bargaining As soon as a number or term is mentioned by one party, you have begun to move out of information exchange and into bargaining.... Exchange of terms  Never give a concession....trade it reluctantly Reject constructively: Do not cause offence. “I’m afraid we can’t possibly agree to a reduction in the service charge, but there might be room for manoeuvre on the wording of clause16”. Retain a constructive atmosphere. Note the moving base line: As each issue is agreed, acknowledge the fact, summarise it, and move on to the next point after you have noted the issue of agreement. Be firm on broad issues: be flexible on specifics. Look for the agreement signals: Certain formulae of words indicate that agreement is very close. “If….then….”“Let’s put that in round numbers.”Well, that’s hardly worth holding us up...” Stage 4 : Closing and Commitment Your judgement: Is this best and final offer? If yes:  List the agreement in detail  List the points of explanation, clarification and interpretation  Record agreed summary with all at the table  Re-start negotiations if any dispute over agreement Most people can be categorised as “hard” or “soft” negotiators. Soft Negotiator: Tends to see negotiators as friends Sees agreement as the goals prepared to make concessions to cultivate the relationship Is willing to trust the other side Is willing to modify position at an early stage Discloses “bottom line” early in discussions Avoids contests of will on particular points Concedes to pressure Hard Negotiator: Sees negotiators as opponents or adversaries Sees victory as the goal Demands concessions to establish a relationship Tends to mistrust the other side  Is reluctant to alter position in any way Misleads as to “bottom line” Expects to win contests of wills Applies pressure LO2 Manage documentation relevant to tenders and contracts. Request for proposal form (RFP) A request for proposal (RFP) is a document that solicits proposal, often made through a bidding process, by an agency or company interested in procurement of a commodity, service or valuable asset, to potential suppliers to submit business proposals. It is submitted early in the procurement cycle, either at the preliminary study, or procurement stage. Preparing for negotiations through a RFP form, An RFP is the face of your company so it’s important to compose them well. Good ones lead to good proposals lead to better working relationships, which leads to better projects and outcomes. The Elements of RFP: (Example is about a website designing through a web company) Outline for RFP 1. Brief Project Overview 2. Your Organization’s Background 3. Project Goals & Target Audience 4. Sitemap 5. Scope of Work & Deliverables 6. Timeline 7. Technical Requirements 8. Principal Point of Contact 9. Budget  10. Ongoing Support / Retainer 11. Format & Proposal Timeline 1. Brief Project Overview Organization Introduction and purpose RFP. This part of the RFP is mainly summary on the project/ deal. 2. Your Organization’s Background Describe your organization, what it does, and what you do. There’s a good chance we’ve never heard of you and may not be able to figure that out by visiting your existing web site. 3. Project Goals & Target Audience Explain what company plan to accomplish. What are the three most important things that, if done well, will make the redesign a success in your eyes? Do you know of any quantitative metrics that will help, such as increased sales or more newsletter subscribers or better-qualified leads? 5. Scope of Work & Deliverables Here’s where you want to provide more detail about the project. Describe all the services you know that you’ll be hiring a web team for. For example, with a web redesign project, you might be paying for: Visual design Search engine optimization Custom software or app development Mobile device optimization Testing & quality assurance Paid search placement/advertising Software training 6. Timeline You may not know how long something will take to do, but you do have a timeline you have to accomplish it within. Maybe you have a big trade show coming up and need the site live by then? Be sure to mention any firm dates beyond the vendor selection process. 7. Technical Requirements This is a pretty broad subject but your goal here is to describe what limitations or requirements you know in advance. 8. Principal Point of Contact Usually, most writers of the RFP are the ones who will lead the project. If not, or if there are other team members involved, specify who they are. Have you or they worked on a similar web project before? Also, do you have final authority for making decisions or is there a committee that the designs will be presented to?  9. Budget: Assets (“Parts”) & Service (“Labor”) It is a necessity to include budget, even if it’s best guess. If need to specify a range that is also acceptable. Websites are like cars: you can get good ones anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000. There is no price point for which you cannot find a tinkering undergraduate freelancer to put something together for you. Meanwhile, professional agencies will do professional work and the proposal will let you know the difference. Finally, if you have a separate budget for assets like photographs, illustrations, software licenses, services, etc., be sure to include it. These don’t often end up being a substantial part of the overall cost but they can eat into the final calculation. To extend the car metaphor, a mechanic has to buy the new part before installing it, which is separate from the cost to perform the service. 10. Ongoing Support / Retainer When the web project is done and launched, what then? It’s pretty typical to engage the vendor in an ongoing retainer agreement for support, training, ongoing development, or all 3. Websites are ongoing efforts that adapt to new technologies and use cases — or, in the best case scenario, must be scaled to accommodate huge amounts of traffic! If the post-launch marketing and advertising piece is important to your project, look for full-service web firms that will not only design and build the site but also work with you on maximizing its value afterwards. 11. Analytics How do you plan to track inbound visitors and the success of your content? You’ll want to ask the vendor how best to manage and track these data after the project has launched. Google Analytics is a popular choice because it's free and works well but there are other many options that offer additional functionality. 12. Format & Proposal Timeline Does the proposal need to be submitted in a particular format, such as MS Word or PDF. Do you require signed & notarized hard copies, Does it need to be single-spaced with no staples, Is it OK for the vendor to use freelancers or sub-contractors or does every member of the team need to be full-time, What's the timeline for submitting the proposals, Typically, there's a deadline for receipt, for selecting semi-finalists, for scheduling interviews and for final selection. Do the semi-final interviews need to be in-person or is remote OK. This is all standard fare but it can be easy to overlook. The Contractual Process & agreements Contracts: include any written agreement, contract, subcontract, binding letters of intent, and memoranda of understanding, memorandum of agreement, lease, deed, transfer, instrument, assignment, obligation, certificate or other documents. Contractual Process: Step 1: Selecting a Contract What is a Contract? An agreement between two or more parties that creates obligations that are enforceable or otherwise recognized by law. Contracting agencies can be private industry, government agencies and non- profit organizations. Which Contract to Use? Often, the sponsor chooses the agreement type negating your opportunity to choose an agreement type. However, where possible, it is important to select the agreement type best suited for your transaction. Standard agreements adequately protect the university's interests, are written in clear language, country’s law requirements, expedite the contracting process, and are intended to be fair to all parties. Contractual transactions entered into using a standard agreement do not require additional review and approval. Step 2: The Necessary Information It is important not to engage in any work without a formal, written agreement signed by a person authorized to sign. What documents are needed to complete the contracting package? The complete contracting package will include:  Fully signed Proposal Routing Sheet.  Budget  Payment Schedule  Statement/Scope of work  Word version of the contract with all relevant exhibits and attachments  Additional supporting documents Step 3: Choosing a Negotiator Who negotiates an agreement? The Procurement & Contracting Services (PACS) of the country are responsible for developing and reviewing agreements between the businesses. All parties work to ensure accountability, appropriate internal consultations, compliance with relevant regulations, legislation and policies, and protection of interests and resources of all parties involved. The contracting office professionals in Procurement and Contracting Services have delegated authority to draft, negotiate, and sign contracts on behalf of the parties involved. Procurement contracts are defined in general terms as formal agreements with a business entity to secure specific goods and/or services that are subject to compliance with procurement policies  Procurement for services  Contractor agreements  Leases of movable property, such as tools, equipment, vehicles, etc.  Leases, deeds, and other conveyances affecting interests in real estates.  Debt instruments and related documents  Maintenance agreements  Software license agreements, and  Promissory notes and other instruments for the payment of money. Step 4: The Contract Review Process Whom should I contact to get an agreement reviewed? The standard routing path for agreements is as follows: Forward a copy of the agreement and referenced attachments and exhibits to Procurement & Contracting Services. If related to a Requisition, Purchase Order, or Request for Bid/Proposal, send via mail to ‘Procurement & Contracting Services’ of the country a legal agency dealing with Law & order approved by the government. Agreement processing time normally requires three to four weeks. Expedited processing is available with a processing time of one to two weeks. All processing times are dependent on the complexity of the agreement  Send only original agreements -- faxed, scanned, or copied signatures are not accepted usually.  Include all terms & conditions, either on the back of the document or as an attachment  Include all referenced exhibits, attachments or addendums  It is important to note that contracting reviews agreements only for legal content and may not be aware of any special terms and conditions. As principal investigator, you are responsible for correct inclusion of special terms or conditions Step 5: Contract Signing This is the part of the process where the parties of the contract meet in presence of legal agency approved by the government. Reading the terms & conditions and finally agree to the same by accepting through signature on the contract binding the two or more parties in the deal. LO3 Develop a pitch to achieve a sustainable competitive edge. LO4 Assess the outcome of a pitch and negotiation. Pitching New Idea Pitching is not just for entrepreneurs seeking investor funding. We all have to pitch in one way or another, whether pitching a change initiative to your team or a proposal to the board. We all need to influence someone to adopt our ideas and give us the go-ahead. Pitching is the most nerve- wracking part of the idea creation process, and few excel at it, but it doesn't need to be so difficult. Follow these 12 pointers for the perfect pitch: Get to the point fast. It's a known fact that attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Whether it's the length of books, blogs or broadcasts, everything is shrinking. Don't waste time with preambles. Give them an overview of your compelling proposition quickly, and succinctly, and you're more likely to capture and hold your listener's attention at the crucial start of your pitch. You can use the Elevator Pitch Builder Don't use too many slides. Just about every venture capital expert will tell you to minimize the number of slides you use. Recently, Leonhard Widrich and Joel Gascoigne, founders of Buffer, used 13 slides Establish the need. One of the questions that goes through your listeners' minds when they set out to listen to you is, "What problem are you trying to solve?" Convince them that there is a need. Give them a definite, concise statement of the problem, with an example or two illustrating the need. Show them the ramifications; i.e., how it affects people. Then follow up with your solution to address the need. Use a message map. This idea comes from author Carmine Gallo. As he puts it, "If you can’t tell me what you do in 15 seconds, I’m not buying, I’m not investing and I’m not interested." The message map is a tool to help pitch a complex idea, simply and quickly. It helps you explain your idea visually— on one page—in 15 seconds. This involves creating a Twitter-friendly headline, followed by three key benefits to support the headline. It ends with a reinforcement of the three benefits through stories, statistics and examples. The Business Reality Check Scott Berkun recommends creating three levels of depth in preparing your pitch: 5 seconds, 30 seconds and 5 minutes. The 5-second version is a concise, single sentence explanation of your idea. In the 30-second version, you explain how you plan to achieve your idea by providing just enough interesting detail to help the audience get a clearer understanding of what you are proposing. Once you are successful in scaling your idea down to 5 and 30 seconds, you can then broaden it to 5 minutes. Brevity is the key to the initial success of a pitch. State who your competition is. This is a crucial step. What is your competitive advantage? Show them how what you are pitching is better than what your competitors are offering—or at least, how it is different. Also show any potential entrants in that space. What is your shield against those? Include a sound bite. A sound bite is a short, catchy phrase. Most people don't remember data, but they will remember a sound bite. A sound bite is the Velcro that makes the message stick. We all remember Steve Jobs' famous sound bite, "The world's thinnest notebook" when he first introduced the MacBook Air. It pays to spend time to come up with just the right sound bite to catch your listeners' attention. Introduce the team. Your listeners want to have the confidence that you have a solid team to back you up. Some recommend adding the team slide toward the beginning, like this one from Brand Board , while others prefer including this at the end. Take "yes" for an answer. As any seasoned salesperson will tell us, know when to stop selling your idea. Learn to read the signs that tell you your idea has hit home. The more you continue to talk beyond that point, the more you're likely to say something that can reverse the positive direction. Know your next step. Come prepared for the next steps. What happens if you get a positive response? What do you want your audience to do? Preparation will help you move forward with confidence. Learn from others. One way to hone your pitching skills is to simply watch how others do it. There are plenty of opportunities to do this online. Here are four examples from individuals with diverse styles. Do not beg. There's a fine line between showing intense passion for your idea, product or service, and showing nervous fear of losing out. While a little anxiety is understandable, letting it take hold of you will work against you. It can make you adopt an attitude of begging, which never serves us well. Remember, the ultimate power is the power to walk away. If you truly believe your idea has merit, go in as an equal. This is not advocating arrogance. It's simply asking you to be aware of emotional leakage that may derail you. How to Pitch an Idea Coming up with good ideas is hard enough, but convincing others to do something with them is much harder. In many fields, the task of bringing an idea to someone with the power to do something with it is called a pitch: software feature ideas, implementation strategies, movie screenplays, organizational changes, and business plans, are all pitched from one person to another. Pitching process: Step 0: Create and refine the idea The classic mistake of would be idea pitchers is to pitch the idea well before its ready. When most people find an interesting idea, they’re quickly seduced by their egos into doing silly and nonproductive things, like annoying the pants off of everyone they come into contact with by telling them how amazing their new idea is. The thrill of being clever is so strong that they forget the fact that there are 100 interesting ideas bouncing around for every single truly good idea. By (my) definition, an interesting idea takes a novel or creative approach to doing something, whereas a good idea is not just creative, but actually improves on a meaningful quality or attribute, in a way that can be practically applied to the world (or the project). Most of the time it’s not worth pitching an idea until you’re able to answer some of the basic pragmatic questions about it, such as: What problem does this solve? What evidence is there that the problem is real, and important enough to solve (or in the corporate world, solve profitably?) What are the toughest logistical challenges implied by the idea, and how will (or would) you solve them? Do you have a prototype, sample or demonstration of an implementation of the idea (aka proof of concept)? Why are you the right person to solve it? Why should this problem be solved now? Why should our organization solve this problem? These are all the kinds of questions someone that gets pitched to on a daily basis are likely to ask, and therefore, a good pitch-person will have done more than superficial thinking on their answers. Step 1: What is the scope of the idea? The bigger the idea, the more involved the pitch. Big ideas require more change to take place on someone’s part, and all things being equal, this means the pitch must be more thorough (or your approach more bold & risky), here’s how to assess the scope of an idea, from narrow to grand: Tiny tweak to something already in existence New feature or enhancement to existing product / website / company A major new area of an existing product / website / company An entirely new, but small and simple, project An entirely new, but large and possibly complex, project An organizational, directional, or philosophical, change to an existing organization A new organization A new nation, planet or dimension of the universe (Sorry. But for how to pitch to the omnipotent forces that run the universe, you’ll have to look elsewhere). When you’ve identified the scope of your idea, do some research on how others pitching ideas of similar scope went about it. You’re probably not the first person to pitch something of the scope you’re pitching, so go find out what other people did, and what kind of success they had. Learn from their mistakes. There are books on pitching business plans, movie scripts, and of course pitching yourself (job interviewing). Do your homework: know some of the basic strategies, or industry expectations for the kind of pitch your doing. In the software development world, talk to people who have pitched feature ideas in your organization, and see what you can learn. Step 2: Who has the power to green light the idea Make a list of the people that are potential recipients of your pitch. This could be your boss, your VP, another company, a bank, a publisher, who knows. Base this list on two criteria: who has the power needed to implement the idea, and who you might have access to. Here’s a rough guide, ordered from fantastic to depressing. You have the power. A peer in your organization has the power. Your boss has the power. Someone above you in the organization. Someone you know in another organization. Someone you don’t know and don’t have easy access to. You have no idea. You are paralyzed on a cold wet basement floor, and your annoying younger brother keeps poking you in the ribs with the pointy end of pencil. (See, it can always be worse). If you have no idea who to pitch your idea to, ask around. There’s no sense developing your pitch if there’s no one to catch. If you don’t have access to the person with the power you need, make a list of who has access to them, working backwards until you can list people you actually know. You may need to work through this network of people, and make several pitches, to achieve the results you want. Just getting to the real pitch situation may take days, weeks or months or preparation and pitching to subordinates. Step 3: Start with their perspective Put your pitch aside. Imagine you have mind-melded with the person you are pitching to. How do they think about the world? What kinds of things are they probably interested in? What is their typical day like? How many unsolicited pitches do they receive a day? Consider how the person you’re trying to pitch views the world, and keep it in mind while developing your pitch. The better your pitch fits into their needs, perspectives, and desires, the greater your odds of being successful (or even being listened to). Step 4: The structure of the pitch Always formulate 3 levels of depth to pitching your idea: 5 seconds, 30 seconds, 5 minutes (Credit to Ari Blenkhorn for this simple breakdown). The 5 second version, also known as the elevator pitch, is the most concise single sentence formulation of whatever your idea is. Refine, refine, refine your thinking until you can say something intelligent and interesting in a short sentence. “My idea? It’s a way to make car engines twice as efficient, and 5 times as powerful.” This can be done for any idea: never allow yourself to believe your thing is so complicated and amazing that it’s impossible to explain in a sentence. If you were to use this excuse on me, I’d tell you it means you don’t have enough perspective on how your idea fits into the world. If you can get enough perspective of what you’re really doing, have a half-decent command of whatever language you’re using, and spend some time at it, you can develop a good 5 second pitch. Practice it on friends, peers, anyone, by doing the 5 second version, then answering their questions, and then asking them to help you refine the 5 second version again. (And if nothing else, the 5 second version comes in handy at parties, when you need to quickly explain what you’re doing without boring people to tears). As proof that 5-second explanations are possible, here is some diverse and complex ideas, and some simple 5-second explanations of them. The 30 second and 5 minute versions should grow naturally out of the 5-second version. In 30 seconds, there’s enough time to talk about how you’ll achieve what you described in 5 seconds, or provide specifics of the 2 or 3 most significant things about how the effect described in the 5 second pitch will be achieved. Provide the next level of detail down, adding in just enough interesting detail that the listener can get a clearer picture of your idea, and gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what you’re proposing. If you can’t distill down what you’re doing in 5 and 30 second versions, don’t worry too much about the 5 minute version: odds are you won’t get many people to listen to you for that long. Step 5: Test the pitch The longer you spend with an idea, the more vulnerable you are to your own ego. Get out of your office / cubicle / apartment, and go find smart people you know to give you feedback. Ask them to pretend they are whoever it is you plan to pitch to (This can be fun if you can be specific, as in asking them to behave like Bill Gates, Donald Trump, or your own caricaturization of your boss). Then go through your pitch, responding to their questions (or ignoring their laughter). You won’t always get the feedback you want, but you’ll sharpen both your idea, and the way you talk about it. If the idea is amazing and groundbreaking and you’re afraid to run it by other people, find a close friend or parent and use them. From your pitch tests, develop a list of questions you expect to be asked during the pitch, and be prepared to answer them. Step 6: Deliver Surprise – I do not think there is a ton to know about actually pitching. If you have prepared well, have a good idea that you truly believe in, and manage not to get too nervous, most of the work is in the hand of whoever is listening to you. Be calm, be direct, state your case, and then listen. Like any kind of public speaking type situation, the more often you do it, the more comfortable it will become. The best delivery advice I can offer is to make sure you spend some time preparing for a positive response. What happens if they say, “That’s an interesting idea? What do you want from me?” Do you want money? Other resources? A change in the project plan? A feature added to the feature list. Know what the sequence of steps are after they agree you have a good idea and be ready to ask for them. If there are other people involved who’s approval you’ll need, ask them to set up a meeting for you. If there is a form that needs to be filled out, make sure you have one with you. Step 7: What to do when the pitch fails When things don’t go well, your job is to harvest as much value from the attempt as possible. Always leave failed pitches with an understanding of what went wrong. Which points didn’t they agree with? Which of your assumptions did they refute? From a tactical perspective: who else can you give this pitch to? Every organization has lots of people at peer levels of hierarchy. Step 8: Do it yourself In every creative industry you can find people rejected by the system who went off on their own, scrapped together their own resources, and made amazing things happen. There is always a way to do it if you are sufficiently compelled by your ideas to take on risks, and make use of your own (unpaid) time.