Chapter 5: Winding Up for the Pitch

Overview

Pitching your story. Just saying those three little words makes people shake a little. People new to the media are frequently surprised to hear that most feature, trend, or personality stories, not to mention business stories, find their way into the media because somebody picked up the phone. If it wasn’t you, your name isn’t in today’s paper.

Pitching stories to reporters and convincing them to pay attention is something that public relations professionals do on a regular basis. It’s a skill that you can acquire with some practice, but to be successful at it you must stick to some very orthodox, and quite specific, principles, namely:

• Do your homework.

• Be able to answer questions and know how to send more information when it’s needed, but in a way that won’t distract a reporter.

• Do it all in twenty seconds.

In Manhattan, the streets are swarming with salespeople. They comb the streets, rising and falling in skyscraper elevators, selling everything from T1 connector cables and long-distance phone service to air conditioners, photocopiers, and the ever- popular paper shredders! Sadly for them, most offices dash all their dreams of riches with signs like “Solicitors Not Welcome,” often accompanied by the yikes-producing “Will Be Prosecuted for Loitering.”

In our office, the sign’s different. It simply reads, “Mean Solicitors Will Be Chastised.” We don’t take kindly to anyone with a grudge, but if you’re pitching, we’ll hear you out. It’s what we call pitch karma: You pitch, we listen; we pitch, you listen.

As we see it, salesman-bashing is hypocritical. Virtually every company and economic system, for that matter, is based on transactions of goods and services and the hard work of salespeople. We’re all salesmen, every one of us. We all just may not have the guts to do it door to door.

Public relations is sales in its purest form, so if you want to be successful, suck it up and consider the evening caller your brother. You’re on the phone to sell ideas, sell facts, and sell the story of your product and company. But before you pick up the phone, lay out your call sheet, or think of what you’re going to say; you have to get into sales mode. Real success lies in finding that state of ultimate confidence where it’s impossible for someone to say no to you. It’s a bit of brazenness, and it’s inside every successful salesperson. We just have to figure out what summons it.

We’ll let you in on a personal secret: Once a month, members of our firm watch all or any combination of Glengarry Glen Ross, Wall Street, and Boiler Room. Those three movies are the lynchpin to “pitchin’ pitching” success because they’re gritty, edgy, and oozing with self-absorbed confidence, the kind you may need to sell your story ten times a day. The lines in those films—such as, “What’s my name? I drove here in an $80,000 BMW; that’s my name!”—can keep us fueled for days of pitching.

The importance of confidence and swagger can’t be stressed enough. Journalists (at times) are like hungry dogs, waiting to pick off a plump little PR person as if he was a pork chop. For example, a CNBC reporter recently said to an RLM associate who was trying to pitch a story, “Didn’t you read that article that talks about the job market being so bad that even Harvard grads are going to work for you PR folks?” The reporter was trying to denigrate and derail her. Without missing a beat, she responded, “Didn’t hear that. But it sounds interesting. So, let’s talk about this story.”

Resilience and self-assurance will give your listener pause and you the power to pitch. Spend some time and determine what it takes to get you into your zone. For example, a pitch-a-holic pal of ours can only pitch while standing. It keeps him alert and amped; otherwise he lapses back into his everyday, unbrazen self.

Okay, now that you’re chomping at the bit to sell, let’s go through the principles of pitching to the media and closing that deal, which is how we refer to getting your story into print.