Pitch Anything sat on my bookshelf for about four months before I finally picked it up. I own a real estate company, and we were looking to actually change our pitch — so I figured it was time. I ended up taking probably more notes on this one than anything I've read in a while. The author is clearly a boss at presenting. He'll bring up things you've kind of heard before, but the way he explains it, it lands different — like hearing a story about Michael Jordan and realizing the guy actually dropped 60 in a game and most of it was threes. That's this book.
Control the frame
This is the biggest thing I took away, and I'd never heard it explained start to finish like this before. When you're pitching your idea, your product, your service — whatever it is — you have to control the frame. The person you're pitching should never be the one controlling it.
There's a story in the book about a big-time exec who walks in 15 minutes late to the author's pitch, sits down, and starts doodling on his notepad. The author gets up, walks outside, comes back, brings the guy some water, and says: "Listen, if we're here to learn about my product or service, then we're here to learn about it. If you need more time, we'll schedule another one." The exec's whole posture changes. He pays attention for the rest of the presentation and buys.
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Most people walk into a pitch saying "thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us," over and over. That's giving away the frame before you've said a word. You have to walk in like the professional who has something they need — not the other way around.
Novelty and intrigue
No one buys something run-of-the-mill. I own a real estate company and there's a vendor I use where I don't love the actual product or service — I like the people, but I've got no other option. If something novel came along, I'd switch immediately. That's the lesson: if two or three other people are pitching basically the same thing you are, you need something that actually sparks interest.
Part of that is intrigue — statistics people don't already know. The book's example: a percentage of people who wear blue-light-blocking glasses sleep better. In my world, it's things like: people who buy a home see their net worth rise noticeably more over time than people who don't. That's the kind of stat that makes someone go "wait, I didn't know that" — and once they're intrigued, they're listening differently.
Respect yourself — you are the prize
This might be the single biggest shift for me. So many people walk into a pitch needy. Klaff compares it to dating: someone who's never had a girlfriend comes across more needy than someone who's dated plenty and knows exactly what they're looking for. Neediness is audible — literally. I get pitched constantly, and you can hear it in someone's voice when they're selling versus when they respect their own time.
Here's how I've started applying it on calls: if I can tell someone isn't interested, I just say it — "it looks like you're not interested." About half the time they back off, which is fine. The other half, they go "actually, no, I am" — because I called out the obvious instead of chasing them. That's respecting your own time, and people respect people who respect themselves.
Time constraints and status
One line from the book I now use constantly: "I'm glad we could find the time to meet today — I do have another meeting after this, so let's get started." Not "thank you so much for fitting us into your schedule." That's fire. It sets the frame, respects your own time, and signals you're the professional running the meeting.
Same idea applies to status — don't put the person you're pitching on a pedestal. Klaff's comparison: if you meet a celebrity and gush all over them, they shut down. If you talk to them like a peer, they engage. Treat your prospect as an equal, not someone you need to impress into buying.
Who should read this
Honestly, everyone — even if you're not in sales. You're selling your idea to your team, selling yourself in a job interview, selling yourself on a date, selling your kids on doing their homework. Klaff makes that case in the book, and after ten or eleven years running a business, this one hit home for me more than most. Pick it up if you pitch anything to anyone — which is all of us.
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