If you want to get a job, persuade people with your ideas, you must know how to deliver a bullet-proof pitch. If you don't know how to do this in one minute, learn from Captain Quint how he does it in the movie "Jaws." With his pitch, he gets the job to kill the Great White Shark that has been terrorizing beachgoers in a fictional New England summer resort town called Amity Island. Pitching is hard. You have to know a lot and synthesize it into something short, clear, and impactful so that it results in a win. Captain Quint's pitch is so good that I want you to watch this video clip before continuing with this post and see if you agree with my assessment. Now, this pitch is in a movie, so it has to be perfect. A movie has the luxury of having the best screenwriters, best directors, best actors, best editors, and multiple takes. We have to do all of this ourselves to deliver a great pitch, in one take. What Does Captain Quint do so well in this one minute? A lot. The one thing you probably want to avoid is the part where Captain Quint scratches the chalkboard with his nails to get attention. But everything after that is absolutely perfect on how to make your pitch in one minute. Note, there are no questions asked after he delivers his pitch since he addresses everything that matters. 1. Understand the problem and situation well before giving the pitch Captain Quint is patiently sitting in a room full of scared and frustrated people in a town council's meeting. The council members are trying to figure out how to kill the shark that has killed a couple of people in their beachfront town. Captain Quint is well prepared before he gets their attention. He knows that the town has a major problem; he knows there is an urgency; he knows they don't have much time; he knows they don't know who can get the job done; he knows there is confusion on what action to take. Once he senses that and validates it by attending the meeting, he shows up, seizes the moment, and secures an offer. Takeaway: Don't act unless you have everything figured out. Don't ever "fly blind" when you are trying to win by pitching. Once you have all the facts, then show up, seize the moment and win. 2. Establish your credentials early Once Captain Quint gets the council's attention, he tells the attendees that they already know him. He doesn't waste time going over his background. He is known. And he also knows that people tend to hire whom they know. Takeaway: Similarly, when looking for a job, you should provide all the information to potential interviewers about yourself ahead of time. You want to keep the focus at the meeting on the job that has to be done. Also, no one cares how you get their attention if you can solve their main problem cheaper, better, faster, and smarter. Salespeople often waste a lot of time establishing their credentials. Don't do this. Make sure you are already credentialed before you show up. 3. Explain the problem as people see it Captain Quint tells the people at the council meeting exactly what the problem is, i.e., there is a "bad fish" out there. He says he will catch this bird for them, but it isn't going to be a walk in the park based on what they are dealing with. He sets the proper expectations right up front; he does not try to oversell himself. He is persuading through logic. Takeaway: Let the employer know the difficulty of the job and set the proper expectations. If it were easy, then they would have already found someone to do the job. 4. Get to the pain that people feel---losing money here Captain Quint then proceeds to tell the town council that they better act quickly. Time is not on their side since if they don't act soon and get rid of this problem, they stand to lose the tourist's business, which would be disastrous. Takeaway: Unless you know what the company stands to lose, they will have no urgency to hire you. You must put this in cold financial terms. 5. Instill confidence that you alone can get the job done Captain Quint never mentions his competition but hints that the council is better off with a bird in the hand versus two in the bush. He is there in front of them, and others are not. So he has the advantage since time is on his side and the shark is still out there, causing havoc to the town's people and its economy. And we know this works since we know someone who did this in 2016. Takeaway: Get the employer to make a decision quickly. Otherwise, the employer will be left with an alternative that may not get the job done as well as you can. You have to make the employer move to a decision. 6. Negotiate price once you have shown that you can solve the problem Captain Quint first tells them how tough the job is and then informs the council that his price is $3,000 to find the shark and $10,000 to catch it and kill it. Takeaway: Negotiate the price upfront and tell them what you are willing to do it for. In the end, this is still a business transaction. 7. Don't make people think too hard Captain Quint then urges the council to not be cheap and make a decision real soon, and they better be smart and meet his demands. He is not letting the council overthink since he does not want any delays. Also, he knows it is in the council's interest to not delay awarding the contract to Captain Quint. Takeaway: Don't let the company think too much since if they are thinking, you are losing. 8. Reinforce another pain---survival Captain Quint does something interesting by telling them that besides money, their lives are at stake, and are they going to be cheap when it comes to saving lives? Takeaway: Don't dilly dally about money when survival is at stake. How much is that worth to a company? 9. Set the terms for taking the job Captain Quint then tells the council his terms. He will work by himself since that is the best way to deliver the result the council is looking for. Takeaway: Tell the company how you like to do the job, which is your way of doing it to succeed. 10. Close the deal with a strong emotion Captain Quint then goes for the kill for what the people want but are afraid to say it. He will deliver to them the "head, tail, and the whole damn thing." Nothing more needs to be said. Takeaway: Tell them what outcome they really want but are afraid to say in simple language. The mayor would give him the job right away, but protocol prevents him, so he sheepishly tells him, "We will take it under advisement." Captain Quint departs without saying anything more than paying his respect to the people in a polite manner. He gets the job. ##### Jay Oza is an author, speaker, executive coach. He makes people thrive on high stakes stage whether it's for a job interview, a sales presentation or a high-stakes speech. He is the author of a practical book Winning Speech Moments: How to Achieve Your Objective with Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere. You can get this book on Amazon for $9.99. Please download the free speech checklist that you can use to help you create a winning speech for any situation. Please contact him if you would like to have a two 75 minute coaching session on job interviewing or high-stakes speaking. If you are interested in inviting him to give a talk on job Interviewing or high-stakes speaking. You can reach him at joza@winningspeechmoments.com.
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The book "The Grapes of Wrath" is a classic because it has many lessons to teach. The author John Steinbeck tells a great story of the trials and tribulations of the Joad family. The Joad family is forced to leave their life of farming in Oklahoma because of the dust bowl. They decide to head to California to get a job and start a new life. In this post, I want to focus on the advice Tom Joad gives to a man working at a junkyard who is very bitter about life and work. With the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is natural to feel a little down, especially if you are out of a job. And those with a job may feel lucky they at least have a job but may not be happy being stuck in a job with a bad boss. What to do? Tom Joad's advice may help you. Tom Joad stopped at the junkyard with his brother Al to find a part to fix his truck so the Joad family can continue their journey to California. Tom did not expect to run into a man who was close to being down and out. Tom offers this man the hard truth and puts some sense in his head that the man is to blame for his situation. And it is he who must do something to change it. Tom Joad is the right person to tell this man since Tom had it tough. He just got paroled from prison for killing a man in a fight and finds out that his family's farm has been taken away by the bank. He joins them on a long and arduous journey to California to start a new and, hopefully, a better life. Along their journey, their old car breaks down. Tom and his brother Al go to a nearby junkyard to get a spare part to repair the truck so they can continue their journey. When they arrive at the junkyard, they are greeted by a one-eyed man working there. He is not very friendly. The man is bitter since he has lost an eye. He hates his job because of an abusive boss whom he would like to kill. The one-eyed man is stuck in his life, and it shows in how he approaches his job, especially customers. The one-eyed man complains to Tom how bad his situation is at work and is even contemplating killing his boss with a wrench. Tom had enough listening to his complaints and offered this simple advice. "Whyn't you roll on? Got no guards to keep ya here." The man says to Tom that it is not easy to get a job when you have one eye. Tom tells the man to focus on what he has and take care of himself instead of waiting to go after his boss with a wrench. "Now look-a-here, fella. You got that eye wide open. An' ya dirty, ya stink. Ya jus' askin' for it. Ya like it. Lets ya feel sorry for yaself.' Course ya can't get no woman with that empty eye flap-pin' aroun'. Put somepin over it an' wash ya face. You ain't hittin' nobody with no pipe wrench." Again the man brings up that he has limited his options because of one eye. Tom had enough of this man's complaints and told him to stop feeling sorry for himself. To get in his head, Tom tells him a story about how a one-legged prostitute turned her disability into a financial advantage. "Ya full a crap. Why, I knowed a one-legged whore one time. Think she was takin' two-bits in a alley? No, by God! She's gettin' half a dollar extra. She says, 'How many one-legged women you slep' with? None!' she says.' O.K.,' she says. 'You got somepin pretty special here, an' it's gonna cos' ya half a buck extry.' An' by God, she was gettin' 'em, too, an' the fellas comin' out thinkin' they're pretty lucky. She says she's good luck." Tom's advice is getting through the one-eyed man, but the one-eyed man is still not sure he can change. Tom tells him to fudge a little with "Tell 'em ya dong's growed sence you los' your eye." Sometimes in life, you need to make yourself look good. You don't need to tell people the absolute truth since they don't want the truth. They want a story that tells the the truth they want to believe. You want to keep it general so it can't be a lie. And that is exactly what Tom is telling the one-eyed man to do to own his narrative. Tom tells the man that he can get a job even with one eye since he can work with one eye. The man was persuaded and wanted to know if there was any room to join them. Tom told the man that there was no room, but if he really wanted to make a change, he could fix one of the wrecks in his yard and go on his own. The man said that he will do that. Tom told the man not what he wanted to hear but what he needed to hear. Tom Joad does a few things in this interaction with a one-eyed man that we can all learn from:
Disclaimer: I don't get anything from recommending you purchase the audiobook from Audible. ##### Jay Oza is an author, speaker, executive coach. He makes people thrive on high stakes stage whether it's for a job interview, a sales presentation or a high-stakes speech. He is the author of a practical book Winning Speech Moments: How to Achieve Your Objective with Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere. You can get this book on Amazon for 99 cents for limited time. Please download the free speech checklist that you can use to help you create a winning speech for any situation. Please contact him if you would like to have a two 75 minute coaching session on job interviewing or high-stakes speaking. If you are interested in inviting him to give a talk on job Interviewing or high-stakes speaking. You can reach him at joza@winningspeechmoments.com. |
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