Pitch Anything

I. Introduction

Oren Klaff raises approximately $2 million per week for companies looking to expand quickly or go public. His resumé lists impressive, well-known names that he’s raised money for: Marriott, Citigroup, Hershey’s and more. While Klaff is confident in his ability to raise money — “I am good at it,” he puts simply — he also insists that he’s not a natural. Pitching is a skill that he learned, not one that he was born with.

Over the course of his career, Klaff has succeeded by spending a lot of time thinking about what he calls neurofinance: combining economic principles with knowledge of how the brain works in order to discover the best way to present an idea. Using neurofinance, he’s distilled his approach to pitching down to six steps he calls the “STRONG” method: set the frame, tell the story, reveal the intrigue, offer the prize, nail the hook point and get a decision.

Whether you’re trying to convince investors to give you money, convince your boss to give you a raise or convince a potential client to hire you, Klaff argues that the basic principles of pitching are the same for each and that the STRONG method will help you achieve your goal.

II. Pitch to the “Crocodile Brain”

III. Own the Frame, Win the Game

IV. Raise Your Social Status

V. Keep It Short — and Well-Organized

VI. Play to the Intuitive Side of Decision-Making

VII. Never Be Needy