Five Practices to Stop Now So We Can All Get Some Money - Walter Sabo - MediaBizBloggers

What if elevators went much faster or slower? When did 125 year old technology become the standard clock for selling new ideas? Insane. Some ideas need a great deal of time and background to present properly, others need a second. If an idea is presented in a compelling manner, the audience will not perceive the passage of time.

That leads us to the more important concept: Learn how to tell an interesting story and give a thrilling pitch. Most of the personality traits needed to excite an audience that are stripped away in business school. Presenters with anecdotes and jokes are viewed by investment bankers with suspicion. That’s tragic. VC’s are attracted to people like themselves; math majors not managers, leaders and visionaries. Am I saying that math majors are rarely compelling managers or leaders? Yes, I am.

Based on what I’ve seen, most presentations are so painful that it’s easy to see why investors want a short pitch. Unfortunately a lot of good ideas are not funded because they require a sophisticated sell.

Today there is a whole industry devoted to refining elevator pitches and practicing your “180 pitch.” These are sleazy sideshows distracting from the more important goal of developing a business.

95% of all venture capital investments fail. The mistake starts with the first question, “What is your elevator pitch?” Nonsense.

2. MARKETING FUNNELS

A typhoon of BS. Have you seen those elaborate charts and graphs that show all manner of wackiness? The only thing missing from the list of “levers”, “media spends” and “marketing flashpoints” is a statement of whether or not the plan will “sell stuff.” That’s because all involved are so far removed from selling stuff that they don’t have a clue.

3. SCHEDULING PHONE CALLS.

Here’s an idea, why not just pick up the phone, call a person, and see what happens?

Better, stop the false economy and hire a secretary. Think of all the time you waste leaving voice mail messages and navigating phone trees. Imagine talking to a single person who works for the executive you are calling, knows where they are, and will connect you to them quickly. Insane!!!

Do not confuse filling out your own Fedex forms with productivity. Busy-ness is not productivity. The absence of secretaries has lead to the delusion that going to the mailbox, changing your own printer ink and making your own travel reservations are good uses of management time. Whenever an executive performs these “busy” chores, their brain is in task rather than creative mode. Their skills and gifts are squandered. At the end of a long day of running the copier, filling out forms, making the printer work, getting along with co-workers in a politically correct manner and eating lunch at their desk, these executives have achieved nothing of value.

Hire the secretary.

4. INNOVATION SEMINARS

If you say you’re cool, you’re not. True innovators keep it to themselves. Be leery of those in a fever to share their innovative prowess. It’s stunning how many conventions place the word “innovation” in their title. The selection process for convention panelists is to put them through a string of gatekeepers who, by nature, want to please, not scare, a crowd.

True innovation is terrifying and doesn’t play well at conventions.

5. ELIMINATE CPM AND CPP AS MEDIA BUYING GOALS.

If you own a company do you want to pay for points or do you want to pay for customers? Instead of a percent of the media buy, agencies should only be compensated for cases sold of the product. I just thought about that, you mean agencies get money for BUYING something? wow!

6. (Bonus track!) TECH AS A “SAFE” INVESTMENT.

No one buys a radio, computer, TV, video screen or any consumer electronics product to have the box. Yet, so-called investment bankers throw away billions a year on “tech.” When I was hired to consult Sirius radio, the management actually believed that their distribution system was quite sufficient to attract subscribers for their radios. After all, they had raised billions to put up those satellites and those “safe” proprietary patents.

I pointed out that the stations sounded awful. No one at Sirius at the time believed that the sound coming from the speakers was either a problem or priority. They hobbled along with 300,000 subscribers for a long time until we put on scientifically constructed, terrific programming. And then I lead the charge to hire Howard Stern and now satellite radio is an industry. Non-duplicable content is the safe investment compared with easily copied aluminum boxes.

Walter Sabo conducts compelling learning events for management. These popular events do not have the word “innovation” in their title. Contact Walter@Hitviews.com. Discover how online video stars will bring new customers to your business this week. Please go to www.hitviews.com. Walter Sabo is the CEO of HITVIEWS a marketplace that matches top brands with online video webstars who can sell product.