There is only ONE viable way to start a sales presentation (and the same goes for any meeting, speech, or conference call.)
Quickly tell your "origin story."
But most people screw this up.
| | | | And what if you don't give a proper "origin story"?
They will ask for it anyway.
"Excuse me son, slow down for a minute, mind telling us a little about yourself?"
- How did you get here?
- What's your background?
You have to answer this.
IF you don't ... you're dead.
Yet most people will answer completely wrong.
There are a million ways to get it wrong and only one to get it right.
Like the time, not long ago -
I was about to step onto a stage in front of 3,000 people ...
You could hear the excited buzz of a massive crowd as I paced back and forth behind the curtain.
You wold have seen thousands of executives sitting out there waiting to hear me talk. Loud music came on.
I knew the drill, because I had done this many times before. So I told myself:
Start Strong. Don't Babble. Move Fast. Use Scripts.
The lights dimmed and a hush fell over the crowd. Then I heard the President of the Association walk out to the podium to introduce me.
"Alright, folks," he said. "We've got a great keynote speaker for this year's event. It is my pleasure to introduce Oren Klaff who is a PhD neuroscientist and economist."
Wait...what?
I am not an "economist" or "neuro"-whatever.
The Association President continued, "Our speaker is the author of a new book about story telling."
No, I'm not ... I don't know sh** about "story telling."
He continued, "In his spare time, he is a bicyclist."
No, that's not right either (FYI ... I do have 25 motorcycles)
| | | | Anyway - everything about this introduction was WRONG! What was going on here?
Before I had a chance to ask any questions, a stage crew member was pushing me out into the spotlight.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the President was saying, "please welcome Oren Klaff."
There was nothing else to do but walk out there.
You could hear applause thunder up at me from the crowd as I stepped up to the podium, and even though my entire introduction had been wrong. I still said, "Thank you," and smiled.
What else could I say?
I was screwed. It was obvious to me now that a random assistant spent less than 30-seconds Googling my name -- and got it all wrong.
You could hear the clapping die down and I looked out over the sea of smiling faces. Three thousand executives were staring up at me, expectantly, and I was about to tell them the wrong person had showed up.
I took a deep breath and thought up a new introduction for myself. There was no time to plan this all out, so I just started talking.
What, exactly, did I say during those three minutes?
I was running on pure adrenaline so I can't remember it word for word, but in summary you can read it below.
| | | | | CRUSH YOUR 2019 REVENUE TARGETS THE OREN KLAFF WAY | | | YOU NEED TO SELL YOUR PRODUCTS AND IDEAS to skeptical buyers (this is one of the hardest jobs in business,) so if when it's time to really Go Big, use Oren's formulas to get attention, to frame your thoughts, and convince others to buy. | | | | | | | They had given me a bad introduction.
To fix all this, I had to quickly deliver a solid ORIGIN STORY:
FIRST I had to answer the question that I knew was in everyones' mind-
What are you an expert in?
"Hi, good to be here, I'm Oren Klaff. My expertise is writing a pitch that will raise money or close a deal. I've spoken at Google, written in Harvard Business Review, and closed over $1 billion dollars of deals. I've helped 80,000 executives throw out their old "bad" pitch and create a new, effective one."
SECOND, I had to show that I was passionate about this subject (I'll explain why in a minute, it's probably not the reason you think.)
"I've only got an hour here on stage ... and I'm going to cover a lot and move fast. But if you love this stuff as much as I do, I'll be around for another two hours and happy to meet, connect and discuss. I love this stuff and can talk about it for days without stopping for food or drink ..."
THIRD, I had to show that I'm consistent (showing that I have new projects in this field, like new books, new deals and more publishing.) The Consistency Script went like this: "You're going to get to know me pretty well in the next hour, you'll see I've been doing this for 15 years, and my current projects will take another 10 years to complete, so I'll be around for a while, whether you like it or not :-)"
HOW TO APPLY THIS IN YOUR BUSINESS:
When you're talking to a potential buyer (whether you're selling ideas or products or an investment) ...
It all comes down to 3 things.
1. You have to show them you are a credible expert. They need to understand that you specialist in what they are buying and you know your product and hopefully your industry better than anybody.
2. It has to be obvious that you're passionate about your work. If buyers sense that your main motivation is just making money then they aren't going to buy from you. It needs to be clear that you're driven by something deeper.
3. They need to be able to know that you're not going to disappear after the sale . You have to show them you're "all in" and you aren't going to slither-off as soon as they sign the contract or write the check.
It is time to change Your Story?
If you need a proper origin story for your own business, and all the things that go with it, like
- The Big Idea in 97 words
- Status Alignment
- Flash Roll
- Prewired Ideas
- Compellingness
- The Buyer's Formula
Then decide to do one of these things (or do both.)
1. Buy my new book, Flip the Script here:
2. And now, grab a spot in my new Pilot Program. This is something I may only offer once, and I only have 20 spots - so if you want a spot, try not to overthink it.
The program costs a few dollars, but you'll come out ahead because my goal is to give you $1 million of value. Apply and see if your company qualifies.
Oren | | | | DO YOU WANT TO BE PART OF A PILOT GROUP WHERE I WORK WITH YOU 1:1 TO CREATE A PITCH FORMULA?
I haven't properly announced the details yet, but I will later this week. I don't even have the signup page posted yet, and I'm only accepting 20 companies.
If you want to jump to the front of the line, you can reserve an interview here. I'm only looking for solid people in great companies that I can invest in and help grow fast.
Oren | | | OREN KLAFF's PILOT GROUP
 | | 7.10.19 First applications get first chance at participating. | | | | DID SOMEONE FORWARD YOU THIS NEWSLETTER? | | | I'm an investor and I help buy & sell companies. If you're selling (or raising money) you can reach me here. My observations about people and how they buy from each other led to the book Pitch Anything. I take the time to share these stories with you in recognition that it may give us a reason to connect. To receive my weekly email, click the link at right. | | | | | |
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