You are making a sales pitch and you lose your momentum because you’re sure your prospect has already made a decision to go another direction.
You are on a nominating committee for your national professional association and you say, “No, let’s don’t ask Jordan to be on our board. She’s already chairing several initiatives.”
You want to ask a prominent public personality to speak for free, but you know he’ll say no – so you don’t ask.
No. No. No.
Your biggest pitch mistake ➜
You assume the [negative] answer before even asking.
As a past president of the National Speakers Association, N. TX Chapter, I’ve become known for this phrase: “Don’t edit for the next guy”! Board leadership would strike future potential board members from our list assuming he/she would say “no”. And I’d say…. you guessed it… “Don’t edit for the next guy”.
The behind-the-scenes word here is “assuming” – my least favorite word when it comes to communicating.
When you start assuming the speaker will say “no”, or the buyer will say “no”, or the future board member will say “no” you are shooting yourself in the foot.
- You don’t know if you have not asked.
- Ask.
- Don’t edit for the next guy.
© 2024 Karen Cortell Reisman, Speak For Yourself® CEO. All rights reserved.
Some may say these aren’t worth time reading.
Glad I didn’t (say that).
Hi Joel – Thanks for sharing that these blog posts are worth the time. That sentiment applies so well to this particular blog post. As I write my blog I think “My readers will value this info” vs “My readers are overwhelmed with content and won’t find the time to read this info.” As I say, “DON’T EDIT FOR THE NEXT GUY”!!!