Ok, How Do I Sell My Idea?

May I have your attention please?

OK.

You’ve got a great idea for a reality series for cable (or a video for someone’s website).

You’ve put together a killer demo video.

Now, you need the ‘meeting’.

The chance to sell your idea and yourself.

How do you get it (and what do you do once you are there)?

This is the make or break part of having a successful business.

Sales.

Here are a few things to remember:

1.  No on buys anything based on paper.  Don’t think you can write up your ‘brilliant’ idea (whatever it is), send out a few emails and have the offers pouring in. This just does not happen. Especially in today’s world (not that I think it ever did).  People ‘buy’ people. They buy something because the like the idea, they believe in the person and they believe in the pitch.

So if you are going to make a ‘sale’ the first thing you need is a meeting. A personal, face to face meeting.

The meeting should not take long.  If you can’t convince someone of your idea, or at least intrigue them, in 10 minutes (3 really), the the rest of the hours is a waste of time.  On the other hand, if you can intrigue them in the first three minutes, then you will have lots more time with them because they want it.  It’s that simple. You have 3 minutes.  (This is very much like starting the video with your most powerful shot).

2.  With whom should you have the meeting?

One of the most influential people in  my life is a man I met more than 20 years ago.  He was and is a self-made billionaire who started with nothing and went on to build one of the biggest advertising agencies in the world.  He gave me some fantastic advice: always talk to the CEO – anyone else is a waste of time.

When you set out for your pitch meeting, you want to get in front of the top person, because that person is the one who makes the decisions and everyone else follows.  Get him or her on your side and you are done.  Anyone else further down the food chain will need ‘approval’ from above or be afraid to make a decision.  Even if you can’t get face to face with the CEO, if the CEO tells someone below them to meet with you, or sends you to them, you’ll get a much better reception.

3.  How do you get the meeting?

Ironically, most CEOs don’t have all that much contact with the ‘outside world’ (though you might think they do).  Write to them. Write to them directly.  (I do this all the time).  Recently, we were in Manchester, England on business. We had booked into a new hotel there – The Lowry – A Rocco Forte Hotel.  (There are no Four Seasons or Mandarin Orientals in Manchester, sadly).  The Rocco Forte was 5 star and it was new, but when we checked in, I was astonished that there was no wifi and there was only one electical outlet in the room.  And it was a NEW hotel!

I immediatley fired off an email to Sir Rocco Forte, the Chairman and CEO of the Rocco Forte Trust Group, who owned the hotel.

I told him that I was astonished that there was only one outlet (don’t you have a computer, an iPhone, an iPad? How would you charge them?) and there was no Wifi (this is really annoying).  There was a cable and I have an Air.

About 20 minutes after I fired off the email there was a knock on the door of my room.

Two guys came in. One began laying down power strips, giving me about 20 outlets.  The other connected an Apple portable wifi transmitter to the Internet cable in the room.

Now that is service.

That is what happens when you go directly to the CEO.

You do the same.

Trust me.

4.  I generally write anywhere from 50-100 letters a week.  I would say that 90% of them go unanswered. That’s fine.  I always say, 100 letter, 10 responses, 1 meeting.  That’s all it takes. That’s all I want is that one meeting.  Generating business for yourself is a lot like playing roulette in Vegas. If you only put down one chip, the odds on getting a hit are pretty high. But if you put down 30 chips, the odds on getting a hit are a lot better. In Vegas, each chip is $10. Here, what does it cost you write a letter or send an email.

5.  This approach holds true whether you are trying to pitch to the CEO of General Motors or the guy who owns the local butcher shop who could use a video on his website.  CEO is CEO.  The top person is the top person, no matter what the business.

6.  OK. What do I say?  The important thing here is to get to the point right away.  People who watch videos online (and who doesn’t) will drop out of the video in the first 10 seconds if it is boring – even if something great follows.  In video (as in letters) you have to grab the person by the throat from the first frame (or sentence) or it’s all over. So skip the flowery crap about how much you love their product and their company. Get to the point.

Recently, I read an article that ITV in the UK was in trouble and had to make major cuts in their local and regional news operations (if this is not an invitation to the VJ world, I don’t know what is).  I have never done business with ITV and I don’t now anyone there.  But a little online research told me who the CEO was.  The ITV website doesn’t exactly give the CEO’s email address, but it does have an address for their Press Relations dept. They tend to be very sensitive. So I emailed the head press guy and under the subject I wrote: Please Forward To Archie Norman. (He’s the CEO).

I got right to the point.  You are in trouble and I know how to fix it – or words to that effect.  Four hours later I got an email direct from Archie Norman, CEO. Two weeks later, I was in his office to pitch my ideas.

Go to the top. Get right to the point. Be blunt.

Next blog: Once I get into the office, what do I do then?