Good in a Room Excerpt: Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: Why You Should Read This Book
- Chapter 2: Who This Book Is For
- Chapter 3: What's in This Book and How to Use It
Chapter 1: Why You Should Read This Book
The reason you should read this book is because the strategies and tactics that people use to sell ideas in Hollywood work in the rest of the business world. I have worked with entrepreneurs, executives and professionals in industries like real estate, financial services, retail sales, law, advertising, marketing, video games and more. The techniques used to sell ideas in Hollywood not only work in other industries, they often work better.
As you probably already know, "Good In A Room" is a Hollywood term referring to creative people who excel at pitching in high-stakes meetings. I've had –literally– thousands of these meetings. During my time as a studio executive at MGM, I had over three thousand pitch meetings where writers, directors, stars and producers would try to persuade me to buy their ideas.
Most of the time, ideas are pitched poorly. However, there are some people who succeed all the time. Over a period of years, I paid attention to what worked and what didn't. I identified the techniques that were being used in all of the successful meetings-regardless of who was pitching. I also found a considerable number of ways that the person pitching could break the deal, often without knowing it.
Many studio executives, or "suits," have backgrounds in sales, marketing or finance. My degree is in theatrical directing from Carnegie Mellon University. So when I started hearing pitches, I wasn't just thinking about whether to say "Yes" or "No." I was seeing the meeting as a theatrical performance.
Unfortunately, most writers, like most people, do not have a comprehensive strategy to deliver a great performance. When the time comes to pitch in a high-stakes situation, even someone experienced can stumble and ruin a golden opportunity if they don't have solid meeting technique.
When someone with a great idea doesn't present it effectively, it not only hurts them, but all of us as well. Why? Because mediocre ideas will get purchased and produced if superior ideas aren't pitched well enough.
The fact is that when it comes to making a buying decision, buyers can more easily evaluate the information on the surface, i.e., the pitch. As you know, this is true beyond Hollywood. In a grocery aisle, success is determined more by the design and copywriting on the packaging than by the quality of the product. In a job interview, hiring decisions tend to look past differences in resume quality and focus on how the candidates perform in the room. My point is not that pitching is everything. Rather, that good products deserve good packaging and great ideas deserve a great pitch.
Even introverted writers can learn to pitch well. One of my highlights from MGM was when I found a new writer named Mike who was pitching a high school comedy with a unique angle. His script was great, but his pitch was a disaster. He didn't know how to handle the small-talk, he pitched too soon and with way too much detail-he broke the deal in a dozen different ways. Ordinarily I would just pass on his project, but I was frustrated with the quality of the movies we were making and I didn't want to send this great script back to the slush-pile. So I coached Mike on how to perform in each stage of the meeting and told him exactly what to say when my boss asked, "So, what's your project about?"
Mike pitched his idea beautifully and it sold right there in the meeting. Afterward, he told me that he'd been staying on his brother's couch for the last three months and was preparing to move back in with his parents. With this one sale, his career was on an entirely new trajectory. And for me, in a job where so much of my time was spent surviving cutthroat politics and producing mediocre ideas, helping Mike succeed was really gratifying for me. I realized then that I wanted to focus on pitching, not production.
A year later, I left my executive job and started my own company, also called Good In A Room, to help writers and directors with quality ideas get the attention and financing they deserve. Then I did an interview with National Public Radio and I started getting some remarkable calls. A fashion designer wanted help taking out his summer collection. A marketing exec wanted to get promoted to VP. A financial advisor wanted to find new clients and expand her business.
Soon enough, my non-Hollywood clients were landing million-dollar accounts, doubling their client rosters, launching successful small businesses, increasing their revenue and getting promoted. Now, some of my clients were skeptical at first. William, for example, was a 60-something financial advisor from Texas. We met at the Merrill Lynch campus in New Jersey. I was there to give the concluding presentation at the annual conference for top producers.
William was already quite successful. He didn't need to change how he was doing business. As well, he was in a conservative business in a conservative part of the country, so anything that came out of a liberal place like Hollywood was immediately suspect.
Still, he wanted to take his business to the next level and he was smart enough to realize that unless he wanted to simply put in more hours and work harder, he was going to have to try something new. I consulted with him the next morning before we went to the airport and suggested that he modify his standard approach in a few significant ways. He was doubtful, but he said he'd give it a shot when he got back to Texas.
When I landed in LA, William had already left me a message. Turns out the guy sitting next to him on the plane had just sold his business and needed a financial advisor he could trust. Rather than trying to "sell" him, as so many financial advisors do, my client practiced the Good In A Room techniques and signed him rather effortlessly.
Meeting a client on a plane is practically a cliché (though in reality, it doesn't happen very often), and all of the credit belongs to William. Still, the idea that a sixty-something financial advisor in conservative Texas could, with one consultation, master and successfully apply what works for thirty-something writers in liberal Los Angeles? Very cool.
Whether you work in Hollywood or not, the fact is that selling ideas is really difficult to do. The reason the pitching secrets of the most successful writers and directors are relevant is because these people have evolved an advanced method for selling ideas.
Whether you're a screenwriter, a journalist with an idea for a story, an entrepreneur with a business plan, an inventor with a blueprint or a manager with an innovative solution, if you want other people to invest their time, energy and money in your idea, you face an uphill battle.
First, ideas aren't tangible-no one can kick the tires of your idea. Second, ideas aren't quantifiable-the decision-maker can't reliably estimate the value of your idea in monetary terms. As my boss at MGM used to say, "If we knew which ideas would be hits, we would only make hits." Third, ideas are risky-there can be millions of dollars on the line and reputations at stake when a buyer says "Yes" to an idea. Fourth, people who buy ideas hear so many pitches that getting their attention and actually convincing them is harder than ever. Finally, the more original your idea is, the tougher it is to pitch effectively. Any ground-breaking idea will be harder to sell simply because there isn't a precedent which shows it will work.
As risks increase and buyers become more difficult to persuade, people who sell ideas must meet an even higher bar. We must get in the right rooms with the right people. We need a comprehensive strategy and the most advanced tactics. Then, we can present ourselves and our ideas with confidence.
Chapter 2: Who This Book Is For
In your professional life, sometimes you're the seller (one who pitches an idea) and sometimes you're the buyer (one who is being pitched). I'm assuming that you're reading this book because you want to become a more effective seller, i.e., you want to get better at persuading other people to invest their time, energy and money in your ideas.
While the techniques in this book apply to any situation where a seller is pitching an idea to a buyer, there are subtle differences depending on the type of seller you are. You may be more than one type of seller (so don't feel boxed in), but over time, I've found that my clients tend to belong in one of the following categories:
- Corporate: salespeople, executives, managers
- Entrepreneurial: small business owners, inventors
- Expert: lawyers, financial advisors
- Creative: writers, designer, artists
Corporate
Two years into my tenure at MGM I was given a rare promotion from assistant to executive. Suddenly, I was supervising the assistants who used to be my colleagues. I was managing a team of script readers twice my age. I was pitching ideas to committees of people who used to give me their coffee and sandwich orders. To keep my job (let alone do it well and be eligible for advancement) I needed to get others on board with my ideas. I had to prevent other people from piling my desk full of their work. Most importantly, I needed friends, alliances, and some political capital of my own.
Whether you work in sales, marketing, human resources, customer service or management, you are enmeshed in a complex social system. You must effectively manage the people "below." You must please the people "above." You must cooperate with your colleagues and, if you want to get promoted, compete against them at the same time. To successfully handle all of these personal interactions, your social skills need to be sharp.
Corporate goal: to rise through the ranks (get raises, bonuses and promotions)
Entrepreneurial
I understand the desire to be your own boss. It took me five years of planning and preparation before I felt I was ready to take the plunge and open my consulting firm. Even then, I was scared-but I wasn't alone. In the last few years, two of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. economy are micro-businesses (companies run by only one person) and small businesses (who have just a few employees).
What gets in the way of achieving your entrepreneurial dream is believing that if you are good at meeting the needs of your customers, you'll be successful. This classic mistake is why most small businesses fail.
Initially, your job isn't to serve the needs of your customers. Your job is to market and sell yourself in a concise, compelling, and accurate way so that you have customers.
Entrepreneurial goal: to position your business for maximum marketing effectiveness
Expert
Many of my clients are people who had to get a professional degree to be certified to do their job. These lawyers, financial advisors and accountants (among others) tend to have one primary concern: bringing in business.
As you may know, the key to bringing in business is not just being good at what you do. Finding, courting, and signing new clients takes a different set of skills. For example, lawyers don't typically spend much time in law school learning about marketing strategy. However, finding new clients is often essential to making partner. In my experience, no matter your profession, the ability to generate new business is a crucial component to advancing in your company.
Expert goal: to find new clients and increase revenue
Creative
Creative professionals want to do original work. They also want to be successful. This creates a natural tension between the muse, who wants to create without limitations, and the ego, who wants to be recognized (and paid). One of the things that surprised me the most about starting my consulting business is that even at the highest levels, this tension between muse and ego doesn't go away. Writers who have impressive resumes, millions of dollars, Emmys, Oscars-they still struggle like everyone else. They want to be groundbreaking and innovative, but they also want people to love (and pay for) their material.
Creative goal: to sell without "selling out"
Four Protagonists
I've created four characters, each of whom represents one of the above categories and faces an interesting challenge in their professional field. They are based on my clients and the issues that many of them have had in common. Let's get to know them and the typical (but serious) problems they face.
Liz-A Sales Executive (Corporate)
At age ten, in the sandbox of her backyard, Liz prevented a war from breaking out among her five younger siblings by negotiating The Big Wheel Peace Accords. At eighteen she planned the most famous senior prom in her high school's history because she made the event a benefit for PETA and got a famous vegetarian rapper to headline. In college she helped the newspaper and the radio station increase circulation and listeners by cross-promoting their top stories. When she graduated... she had a degree in Art History and no idea what to do with it. From a connection through a family friend, she started working as a salesperson at Tall People Furniture. Even though she's only 5'2", her friendly manner and ability to listen endeared her to customers. After two years on the sales floor, Liz is one of the top producers.
Recently, the owner of the company, George, told everyone that he plans to expand the sales force and promote one of the current salespeople to a managerial position. Liz would love to be promoted, but the other salespeople also want the job and they are all older and have more seniority. They're male, too. It shouldn't be an issue but in the real world, it is.
Still, Liz knows she could handle the responsibility and would love the challenge. She believes that if she could show George that she has fresh ideas and the ability to lead the team, he would consider her for the position.
Unfortunately, Liz doesn't have much available time. She's the newest member of the sales team and so she bears the brunt of the busy-work. Increasingly, the other salespeople delegate more of their work to her. This way, they have more time on the floor to sell (and show their worth to George). If Liz wants to be considered for the promotion, she's going to have to change this trend, and fast.
J.J.-A Computer Consultant (Entrepreneurial)
Armed with a degree in computer science, J.J. got a job right out of college working for a prestigious game development company. He thought it was his dream come true. He was wrong. Sure, he got to keep his dreadlocks, wear tie-dye and come to work at 10 AM, but with ten programmers competing for two design jobs, the environment was fiercely competitive. J.J. hid in his cubicle to avoid the company politics and wrote freeware for his beloved Macintosh, "Zelda." Recently he'd had enough. He gave two weeks notice, sublet his apartment and moved in with his mom. Now he works the Kinko's night shift and spends his spare time fixing his friend's computers via remote desktop. Fixing machines is just something he's always been able to do, and it gives him a way to pass the time during the long nights.
Last night J.J. woke up at 2 PM with a vision: he would open a company that would focus exclusively on fixing Macs. He would help people understand that computers are people, too, each with their own distinct personality. He would provide regular check-ups and preventive care as well as emergency tech-support. He would work for $50/hr! He would move into his own apartment! Get a girlfriend! There's only one problem: his friends can't afford $50/hr. Besides, it might not even be possible to run a business that competes with all of the existing tech-support businesses, especially if he only focuses on Macs. What's an entrepreneur to do?
Fangxiao-A Financial Advisor (Expert)
When Fangxiao (pronounced "fang zhow") told her father that she wanted to trade stocks for a living, he wasn't pleased. He had talked to her since she was a child about entering one of the more stable "expertise" professions, like medicine, law or accounting. He felt that only those professions would justify the sacrifices her parents had made working multiple jobs to send her to college. Then Fangxiao explained that she'd won her collegiate stock market contest three years in a row, and her dad's mind began to change. Fangxiao traded for a few years, bought her parents a Prius and started their retirement portfolios, then took a job as a financial advisor for one of the big brokerage firms. She had an easy time finding overseas clients because she spoke English as well as Mandarin and Cantonese. Ten years later she was managing a team of financial advisors as well as the portfolios of her own clients.
Then the laws governing international trading changed and suddenly Fangxiao wasn't allowed to trade on behalf of people who were not American citizens. The majority of her practice dried up and the trajectory of her career took a dive.
Fangxiao was still pretty busy managing her team and could focus on that. She would probably accumulate clients slowly over time. However, she wouldn't make nearly as much money because the bonus structure at her company relied heavily on bringing in new business.
Moreover, her Asian heritage, formerly an asset in working with overseas clients, seemed to put her at a disadvantage in a profession where most of the market was used to working with white males. How can she develop her marketing and sales propositions to find a new niche?
Elliot-A Budding Screenwriter (Creative)
Elliot is shy. He only wears black. He doesn't like "people." He's a New Yorker at heart and LA's been a little hard to get used to. He tends not to leave the house unless it's to see his girlfriend (also an introvert) or to complete an assignment for Prime Numbers, the magazine for the technically-savvy that employs him as a freelance journalist.
When he's not writing about what's hot in the kingdom of geek, Elliot works on his screenplay. It's a mystery inspired by his summer experiences at Camp Appaloosa called The Last All-Nighter. Camp was the best time of Elliot's life. It's where he learned how to swim, sail and fish. It's also where he made his closest friends. Elliot would love to be able to go back and visit for a weekend, but unfortunately Camp Appaloosa mysteriously closed after his last summer. He's taken some writing classes, has the right software and knows that if he wants to sell his script, he needs to get an agent or a manager. However, he doesn't know anyone in the business. He made copies of the script (at eight bucks a copy) and sent them to every lit agent in town. The total response to his mailing was... zip. How can Elliot get his work read by the right people, find an agent or manager and sell his script?
Tune In Next Time...
While some of these stories may seem more applicable to your life than others, I hope you get something valuable out of each one. My goal is to structure all of the material in a common-sense way so you will have an easy time finding what you need. Let's get a bird's eye view of the book in the next chapter, "What's In This Book And How To Use It."
Chapter 3: What’s in This Book and How to Use It
This book is designed chronologically, but you can start anywhere you like. If you start at the beginning (which I recommend), you'll see the entire meeting process evolve from beginning to end. There will be helpful suggestions and exercises to guide you along the way.
In the section How To Swim With Sharks, I'll help you develop the mindset and habits of the best of the best. Don't worry, this will not be a rehashing of messages like "work harder than the competition, be optimistic and stay organized." Far from it. This will be a simple and clear explanation of the strategies that will help you distinguish yourself from the competition.
Then, Titles, Teasers and Trailers will give you a step-by-step approach for creating unique, memorable answers for the most common buyer questions including, "What do you do?" and "What's your project about?" After you read this section, you will never use an elevator pitch ever again-you'll have something far better.
In Getting In The Room, I'll show you how to meet, engage and develop relationships with the right people in your industry. This will not be a boring section on networking. In fact, I don't like traditional networking. I don't do it and I don't recommend it. I've got a different strategy based on the only networking principle that means anything-and I'll tell you all about it. The section Inside The Room pulls back the curtain on meeting dynamics. You'll learn the five stages of every successful meeting. You didn't know there were five stages? Well, you will soon enough. This one concept will dramatically change the way you approach formal pitches, informal meetings and even water-cooler conversations.
Mini-Meetings will give you practical examples of how to be more effective on the phone, in email and in person-because so much of the work happens in the communication before and after the meeting. Finally, Troubleshooting is a roadmap for handling the inevitable pitfalls and unexpected developments, so no matter what happens, you're ready.
On A Personal Note
When I was at MGM, the hardest part of my job was not cutthroat studio politics or grueling production schedules. The toughest part of my job was whenever I had to say "No" to an idea that was almost there.
I had to say "No" a lot. Every buyer does. The buyer's work is to say "Yes" to projects that are ready, not almost ready. And no matter how good the script is, if the seller can't pitch it in a compelling way, how can the buyer see the potential? How can he get his colleagues on board? How can he recommend the seller to his superiors? The fact is that poor pitches doom good projects.
It happens all the time. The ideas, products and services that are pitched more effectively... win. That's just how the game is played. No sense getting upset over it. Instead, let's accept the challenge and learn the strategies and tactics that will allow us (and our ideas) to succeed.
I'm writing this book because there are those of you out there who are doing your best to come up with creative ideas, innovative businesses and superior products. You're devoting yourself to becoming good at whatever it is you do. My goal is to help you present yourself and your ideas so that your hard work pays off. I want you to be able to walk into any room with confidence. I want your clients, customers, co-workers and bosses to have an easy time seeing that what you have is what they need.
My approach may be different from what you've heard before. But I've got to tell you, my clients hear the word, "Yes," a lot. You can, too.
