How to Be Fearless and Pitch with Extreme Confidence

February 16, 2017February 16, 2017 ~ Tom Marcoux ~ Leave a comment

When you rehearse, Recovery Methods, you become Fearless. - Tom Marcoux — “When you rehearse, Recovery Methods, you become Fearless.” – Tom Marcoux

“I shake when I’m pitching to investors,” Sharon, a new client said.

“I hear you. I’ll guide you through a number of exercises,” I replied. “We’ll help you with that. And, I’ll help you with important, foundational processes,” I replied.

“What are those processes?” Sharon asked.

“We’ll begin with two vital steps:

Shift out of Dis-empowering Default-Settings
Rehearse Recovery Methods So You KNOW You’re Ready to Adapt”

Shift out of Dis-empowering Default-Settings

Here is something I see often: When hit with a tough question, novice speaker steps backwards—like they’ve been physically hit. The person looks like he or she is trying to run away. The reflexive stepping backwards is a Default-Setting. It’s time to shift away from Dis-empowering Default-Settings.

When I work personally with a client (or in my workshops), I help people by having them physically practice taking a step or two forward. Why? It’s about showing confidence with your body language. Additionally, taking a step forward provides a good outlet for the nervous energy you may feel.

As a professional speaker (member of the National Speakers Association for over 15 years), I have conditioned myself to create a better connection with an audience member even when a tough question is asked.

Here’s another Default-Setting: Looking like a deer caught in the headlights when a tough question is thrown, like a spear, at the speaker. How do you shift out of this Default-Setting?

With my clients, I help them prepare a number of responses that I call “Catch the Question.” Here is an example: “I’m glad you brought that up. That’s a consideration which connects with something I was going to share in a few moments. So, let’s work with that detail now.”

While you say these memorized-words, your mind is going at 700 words a minute to find ways to respond to the question.

Another way to respond is: “I haven’t looked at it quite that way before. I’ll need to pause for a moment. I want my response to be valuable to you.”

Practicing effective responses, ahead of time, helps you maintain your poise when you’re in front of a crucial audience.

Additionally, I work with clients so they develop 2 answers for each of the 10 Worst Questions They Do Not Want to Answer.

Rehearse Recovery Methods So You KNOW You’re Ready to Adapt

Where does Extreme Confidence come from? Rehearsing Recovery Methods.

Why? Merely rehearsing the text of your pitch will still keep you in suspense: Can you handle it if your mind goes blank? Can you respond with poise if an investor throws you a curve ball?

In training sessions with a speaker, I will say, “Your mind just went blank. Use a Recovery Method.”

After such training, the speaker will have less fear. She or he knows how to recover!

When I talk about “fearless,” I’m talking about how we shift you into empowered body language, vocal tonality and words. You literally fear less – because you’re empowered more.

In my workshop “Pitch with Extreme Confidence: The Pitch Hacking Method,” I share how to recover from the mind going blank. You develop your own phrases. For example, at IBM, I said, “I need to pause for a moment. My brain needs more RAM.”

I call this training process, Elite Adaptive Conditioning. In my workshops and my personal training with those who give a pitch, I help them condition themselves to respond at their best. This is in line with some words I saw some time ago: “The Navy SEALS: the best, the most highly trained, elite special operations force in the U.S. military.”

It’s best to become an elite, highly trained pitch-maker.

Your reward is the funding that you want, and to create the life you really want.

This material is on my mind because I have now opened a special opportunity. When you CLICK HERE, you can go to my questionnaire-webpage and apply for a free consultation with me (limited number available) titled: “Increase Your Pitch Power for Funding – Strategy Session.”

Here are Your BENEFITS of such a free consultation.

Gain Clarity and Peace of Mind about Pitching so You Gain the Funding you really want
Discover the essential building blocks for having the Pitch that FUNDS your business or project
Determine the #1 thing stopping you from having the Successful PITCH you want
Identify the most powerful actions that will move you toward giving your Pitch with Total Confidence
Complete the consultation with the excitement of knowing EXACTLY what to do next to create the Pitch for Funding that Gets You Great Results

I invite you to apply.

Let’s see if we might get the chance to work together … as a free opportunity to you.

Warmly,

Tom

Tom Marcoux
Executive Coach * Pitch Coach
Spoken Word Strategist

CEO (leading teams in United Kingdom, India and USA)

Speaker-author of 41 books (with free chapters on Amazon.com )

Author of Soar With Confidence: An Executive Coach Reveals Secrets, Lies and Countermeasures So You Excel Like Top CEOs and Leaders – Pitch, Lead, Succeed (See more when you CLICK HERE )

1.8 min. video (on YouTube): Tom Marcoux pulls back the curtain about how his directing a feature film that went to Cannes Film market helps with “Building Your Brand”:

Soar with Confidence: An Executive Coach Reveals Secrets, Lies and Countermeasures So You Excel Like Top CEOs and Leaders – Pitch, Lead, Succeed

Get the Advantages to take your business to a higher level. Learn Leadership Advantages, Pitch Advantages, and Success Advantages. To Soar with Confidence, you learn and use principles for top level communication to board members, team members and the media.
“Marcoux demonstrates how to “Prepare a Compelling Story that Moves Emotions.” He mentions techniques that he teaches clients for developing compelling Ted Talks.” – Dantalion Jones

Darkest Secrets of Making a PITCH for Film and Television: How You Can Get a Studio Executive, Producer, Name Actor or Private Investor to Say “Yes” to Your Project

Learn the vital skills of pitching your ideas and enrolling others into your vision. Get that “Big Yes” to funding your project. “This insightful book shows you how to zing a curveball right past the parts of the Hollywood exec’s brain that want to say no before you even make your pitch. You will learn what works when pitching, and more importantly, why, so you can get to YES much more often. Buy this book now. Consider it Spring Training before the big game.” – Danek Kaus

Darkest Secrets of Persuasion and Seduction Masters: How to Protect Yourself and Turn the Power to Good

This invaluable guide, used by people in 15 countries and now in its second edition, will help you become immune to dark persuasion. Learn to use countermeasures to defend yourself against unethical persuasion and seduction tactics. Break any trance in which a salesperson is trying to get you to buy something not to your benefit. “Learn how to defend yourself against manipulation. Best book you’ll ever read to protect yourself, feel strong and move forward in your life. Highly recommended!” – Dr. JoAnn Dahlkoetter

Secrets of Awesome Dinner Guests: What Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Helen Keller, and John Lasseter Can Teach You About Success … (The Power of Your Personal Brand)

Imagine dining with Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Helen Keller, and John Lasseter. These seven people share one thing: They’re great communicators. So this book will help you become a great communicator. “Marcoux especially stresses the importance of personal branding, of coming across as trustworthy and dependable.” – Einar Masson

Darkest Secrets of Charisma: Overcome the Lies about Personal Magnetism, Get People to Feel Your Charisma and Influence Others with Your Words

Learn how you can tap into your natural gifts and tendencies to radiate Three Types of Charisma. Discover how to influence people with your words. “Marcoux explodes this myth: Charismatic people always feel comfortable before and during an important event, such as public speaking, networking or some other social event. This book shows how you can feel discomfort but still come across as confident and charismatic.The secrets include ways to radiate all three forms of charisma Marcoux describes as Warm Trust Charisma, Natural Charm Charisma and Magnetic Charisma.” – Danek Kaus

What the Rich Don’t Say about Getting Rich: Work Smarter, Live Better

You want wealth, abundance and enjoyment–yes? Wouldn’t it be great to learn the real strategies that the Rich use to create Sustainable Wealth? This book takes you behind-the-scenes to what really works. You’ll see a lot of myth-busting, and you’ll learn the strategies that get real results. “Tom Marcoux gives you an inside look on the psychology of what it takes to be successfully wealthy in life. It’s more than just taking advantage of opportunity, but also about taking care of yourself. This book discusses a number of strategies that we often overlook when it comes to leading a successful life that leads to wealth generation.” – Barry Adamson II

Use “Pitch Hacks with Extreme Confidence”

January 2, 2017March 2, 2017 ~ Tom Marcoux ~ Leave a comment

soarwithconfidenceversion4final10-19-16web — Get Tom Marcoux ‘s book “Soar With Confidence … PItch, Lead, Succeed”

“I don’t think I’m confident enough to pitch and get funding—with so much competition,” my new client, Will, said.

After we went through details to ensure the value and soundness of Will’s business offering and plan, we focused on his real concerns concerning presenting a pitch.

As an Executive Coach, Pitch Coach and the Spoken Word Strategist, I help my clients hone their skills and performances.

“Will, you’ll experience Extreme Confidence through a process of developing new skills and shifting out of your ‘default-settings,’ I assured him.

I’ll share how to break Three Default Settings:

1. Break Default Setting #1 – Retreating from Tough Questions

Confidence is contagious. You need your body language AND your words to work together to express confidence in your project and your own abilities.

I’ve seen speakers/pitch-makers look confused and overwhelmed by tough questions posed by potential investors. The pitch-maker’s body language causes trouble when they reflexively take a couple of steps back—away from the questioner.

In my workshop “Pitch with Extreme Confidence: The Pitch Hacking Method,” I have attendees work with a partner and practice taking one to two steps forward and toward the person posing a tough question.

While the pitch-maker is stepping forward, they say a “Catch the Question – Reply.” This is a reply that sounds like: “George, I hear that’s important to you” or “Susan, I’m glad you brought that up. This is a good time for me to address that.”

Even if you have no ready answer, you can buy yourself time with something like: “George, I hear that’s important to you. I’ll need to pause for a moment. I want my answer to be useful to you.”

You might call this a way to “stall with poise.” By the time, you have finished saying your memorized Catch the Question – Reply, your mind will have some ideas for your response.

2. Break Default Setting #2 – Providing Too Much Data

I’ve noted in meetings in Silicon Valley, CA that some people try to combat nervousness by burying the audience in tech details. What we really need is to present briefly. You need to be able to communicate the essence of your offer in these three durations: 1 minute, 5 minutes and 15 minutes. Provide the most compelling detail. You’re looking for the “Telling Detail.” For example, I saw a film producer flub a presentation by presenting too much data. He would have been better off to have said simply: “This music star has earned numerous awards. Two of his albums have gone Platinum.” That’s it. The tech investors in the room would have received the point.

Trim your presentation. Ask yourself these questions:
* What’s the most important thing the investors want to know?
* What would grab their attention?

3. Break Default Setting #3 – Missing the Storytelling Opportunity

Researchers note that human beings are conditioned to like and relate to stories.

Successful pitch-makers often use a “narrative frame” so that the audience can feel the essence of the offer. [I talked about the narrative frame during a recent phone conference call for my group Pitch Power Fest CLICK HERE to see the meetup.com group]. The narrative frame includes these standard elements: Hero, Hero’s assistant, Victim, Villain.

Your first sentence or question can set up your compelling story. Here are examples:

What element of _____ are the XY companies missing? And how is this hurting customers today – and every day? [Customers are the victims. The particular companies are the “villains.”]
What causes the trouble with ____? Who can save ____[X million] people their hard-earned cash and ______?

I’ll put this in few words: “Tell the Compelling Story!”

A story can be as brief as one sentence.

Here are examples:

“Using just one of Tom Marcoux’s methods, I got more done in 2 weeks than in 6 months.” – Jaclyn Freitas, MA

“Tom Marcoux coached me to get more done in 10 days than 2 years with other coaches.” – Brad Carlson, CEO of Mindstrong, LLC

In summary, the way to deliver a powerful pitch with extreme confidence is to use Pitch Hacks. (Hack often refers to a creative, clever solution!)

I’ve shared with you the Pitch Hacks of breaking Three Default Settings.

The best to you with your next pitch.

Warmly,

Tom

Tom Marcoux
Executive Coach
Spoken Word Strategist

Pitch Coach

CEO (leading teams in United Kingdom, India and USA)

Speaker-author of 41 books (with free chapters on Amazon.com )

Author of Soar With Confidence: An Executive Coach Reveals Secrets, Lies and Countermeasures So You Excel Like Top CEOs and Leaders – Pitch, Lead, Succeed (See more when you CLICK HERE )

1.8 min. video (on YouTube): Tom Marcoux pulls back the curtain about how his directing a feature film that went to Cannes Film market helps with “Building Your Brand”:

Author of Time Management Secrets the Rich Won’t Tell You (See more when you CLICK HERE )

Author of What the Rich Don’t Say About Getting Rich: Work Smarter, Live Better (See more when you CLICK HERE )

Pay Attention to Hidden Dynamics: Use the Power of “Meeting As a Peer”

October 11, 2016October 12, 2016 ~ Tom Marcoux ~ Leave a comment

Learn ways to boost your confidence in Tom Marcoux 's book "The Power of Confidence" — Learn ways to boost your confidence in Tom Marcoux ‘s book “The Power of Confidence”

“Shouldn’t I be respectful to the investors as I pitch to them?” my client Amanda asked.

“Yes! Being trustworthy and respectful is valuable. But now is when I need to put this in few words. You fell off the edge and became too deferential,” I replied.

When I speak of “too deferential,” I’m talking about crossing the line in which it seems that one is being meek and submissive.

The truth is: We invest in leaders — not servants.

To effectively pitch, you’ll do better to meet investors as a peer. You need to rehearse so well that you prepare your own subconscious mind to operate on a higher, more confident level.

(As a Pitch Coach, I’m glad to be coaching people to higher levels of connecting with investors and key advisors.)

One of my mentors said, “You have more power than you think. If they’re talking with you, they want something.”

Author Oren Klaf tells himself “I am the prize” before he meets high-level investors or clients. His point is that he is bringing something of great value to the listeners of his pitch.

This is a vital point. Without the innovators/pitch-makers, so much would be missing in this world. You ARE bringing something truly valuable to the table. And in this way, you are a peer of the people in the room.

Lie: People will trust you if you’re too deferential (submissive) to them.

Countermeasure: Prepare and rehearse so you meet the person as a peer. Stand forthrightly in the value you bring to the table.

Secret: “My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” – Jane Austen (in her book Pride and Prejudice)

“Don’t let what you don’t know scare you, because it can become your greatest asset. And if you do things without knowing how they have always been done, you’re guaranteed to do them differently.” – Sara Blakely, creator of Spanx

When one is too deferential, one shows that one has “lower status.” Top investors feel their Alpha Status and they trust others who also have Alpha Status.

The head of an angel investors group told me, “If you go in asking for advice, you’ll get funding. If you go in asking for funding, you’ll get advice.” I understand her point. Still, it’s vital to approach investors as if you’re a colleague asking for a consult. You do not want to come across as a servant begging for help. Why? As I mentioned, we invest in leaders! We do not invest in people who are unsure of their own worth. The reason is: It takes a confident person to persist, ask the right questions and to pull everyone through the adversity to complete any project.

Principle: Meet them as a peer.

Countermeasures: Rehearse in effective ways so you can answer tough questions. Focus on the value you bring to the table. Remind yourself that the world needs you to get this project to come to fruition.

Power Questions: Are you feeling confident in the value that your project will manifest? What can you do to build up your confidence in your project and your confidence in yourself to bring great value?

Warmly,
Tom

Tom Marcoux
CEO (leading teams in United Kingdom, India and USA)

Speaker-author of 40 books (with free chapters on Amazon.com )

Executive Coach

Spoken Word Strategist

Author of Time Management Secrets the Rich Won’t Tell You (See more when you CLICK HERE )

1.8 min. video (on YouTube): Tom Marcoux pulls back the curtain about how his directing a feature film that went to Cannes Film market helps with “Building Your Brand”: