Product Description

The pitch is the absolute essence of modern business. Ideas are the most valuable commodity in the modern economy and it is human skill which develops them. In pitching for new business, ideas and emotional intelligence dominate. However the skills of the pitch are not only relevant to the world of business, rather they apply to just about every significant personal transaction in your life..."Life's a Pitch" is the ultimate how-to book - a mixture of mechanics and magic. Nothing like it has been written before. A mixture of mentoring, graphics, anthropology, market research and modern Machiavellianism, this book will prepare you for success. So whether at a sales conference in corporate conference room hell or over lunch at a glamourous restaurant, "Life's a Pitch" tells you how to handle human transactions. A pitch is not a meeting, it's a drama. A pitch is not about transferring information, it's about transferring power. It is business, but it is also theatre. And the results of a successful pitch are - quite simply but rather persuasively - money and power. Part inspirational manual for business, part guidebook to a successful and happy social life, "Life's a Pitch" is written as the result of an accumulated half century of (mostly successful) pitching by the authors. Ground-breaking and genre-busting, it will transform the way you think about the art of persuasion for ever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30325 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From the Back Cover
The pitch is the absolute essence of modern business. Ideas are the most valuable commodity in the modern economy and it is human skill which develops them. In pitching for new business, ideas and emotional intelligence dominate. However the skills of the pitch are not only relevant to the world of business, rather they apply to just about every significant personal transaction in your life...

Life's a Pitch is the ultimate how-to book - a mixture of mechanics and magic. Nothing like it has been written before. A mixture of mentoring, graphics, anthropology, market research and modern Machiavellianism, this book will prepare you for success. So whether at a sales conference in corporate conference room hell or over lunch at a glamourous restaurant, Life's a Pitch tells you how to handle human transactions. A pitch is not a meeting, it's a drama. A pitch is not about transferring information, it's about transferring power. It is business, but it is also theatre. And the results of a successful pitch are - quite simply but rather persuasively - money and power.

Part inspirational manual for business, part guidebook to a successful and happy social life, Life's a Pitch is written as the result of an accumulated half century of (mostly successful) pitching by the authors. Ground-breaking and genre-busting, it will transform the way you think about the art of persuasion for ever.

About the Author
Roger Mavity is the Chief Executive of Conran Holdings. In the past he has run his own advertising company, pitching successfully for business from the likes of Honda, Minolta and Burberry. He then became Chief Executive of Granada Leisure before masterminding the company's successful pitch to the City to buy the Forte Group - still the largest hostile takeover bid in British commercial history. Stephen Bayley first became famous as an authority on style and design when Sir Terence Conran chose him to head up the Boilerhouse at the V&A, Britain's first permanent exhibition of design. He then went on to become the first Chief Executive of the Design Museum and he is now a celebrated, outspoken broadcaster and critic, author of 12 books and consultant on design and presentation to companies such as Ford and Coca-Cola.

Customer Reviews

Energizing
'A pitch is made and won in the theater of the heart, not the library of the mind.'

Barring the starting section of Part 2, this book is an engrossing read.

Every sales person must read this to improve in his/ her professional, and personal life.

I was motivated by this book to read another one by the same author called 'Sex, drink and fast cars'. Have to admit that it was a bit disappointing after its predecessor.

Mixed Bag
Weird piece of work this. The first half is really good. It's mildly annoying - ad people seem to be unable to stop themselves sounding smug, but the advice is good, basic common sense.

Second half is like one of those mind maps people seem to like so much, a sprawling mess.

Buy it for Book 1.

Life - Lite
This book is how to do life 'lite'. Beautifully presented with varied fonts and large type to fill the empty pages and cover the facts that it is intellectually and value light weight. It demonstrates the author's belief that surface is more important than substance.

Examples:
1 - Impressions are the most important thing at the pitch, at the job interview. Sure - they are important, but not to the exclusion of what you can deliver - which, by the way, is part of the impression you create.

2 - Clothes define the person wearing them. Sure - good presentation and the right clothes for the right occasion matter - but in the real world(away from PR and advertising), brands do not make the person.

3 - Self esteem comes from pure self belief. Is this self belief or self delusion? Secure self esteem comes from achievement - which enables the building of competence and confidence.

I will be putting my copy back on Amazon for resale.