Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business

by Jon Steel

A professional “pitching coach” for one of the world’s largest marketing conglomerates, Jon Steel shares his secrets and explains how you can create presentations and pitches that win hearts, minds, and new business. He identifies the dos and don’ts and uses real-world examples to prove his points. If you make pitches for new business, this is the perfect book for you.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Communication, Leadership, Startup, Economics

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Macy]

some good points/strategies for creating presentations are explained here that I'll surely keep in mind when making my own presentations. however, if presenters aren't at a certain skill level, I'm sure that using steel's tips would result in a somewhat gimmicky presentation designed to simply be different from the rest, and I wish the book had done more to address how to balance uniqueness with message. additionally, as the book was published in 2006, a lot of its positions on technology are a bit outdated; however, central messages remain clear. what I found most distasteful in this book was the casual tone the author used: though I have no doubt that steel is highly experienced, highly lauded, and highly skilled, attempts to establish credibility with reminders of this, only to follow up with self-deprecating jokes and overly informal speech, made the novel more difficult to read.

[Brent Dixon]

This is not only an awesome resource on pitching and presenting, it helped me to refine my creative process across the board. Highly recommended.

[João Veloso]

The author explains how what lines should a good presentation follow in the first 2/3 of the book. He does this with help of concrete examples, which are really good.
In the last 1/3, he talks about the process of winning new businesses specifically in the advertisement industry. In my opinion with excelente insights about how to work in a team and preparing a presentation.

[André Bernhardt]

Startet gut, baut aber über die Lesedauer ab. Trotz des Alters kann man noch einiges rausziehen.
Vlt. komme ich hier nochmal zurück und schreibe, was das wäre, neben: Üben; Nicht das Tun, was alle tun und dem Hinweis auf James Webb Youngs Buch A Technique for Producing Ideas 🎉

[Paiman Chen]

Very practical. Good tips.

[Brooke]

This is a book with awesome motivation for those who love marketing and want to slay it in this indsutry

[Ben Sulka]

Awesome book.

[Amin Sukhiani]

Read the last chapter and you don't need to read the entire book.

[Simona Žeimytė]

Some good advice: have an idea and rehearse, people!

[Riley Pappas]

Five star academic read. Just know you’ve probably been doing presentations wrong your whole life.

[Bohdan]

London 2012 is the capital of great pitches

[Tomas Bartl]

Perfect Pitch is probably the best book about presentations and presenting that I have ever read. Gets really to the core of any good presentation (crafting of an idea, developing a story around it, delivering the idea) instead of dealing only with creating the right "slides". That was probably my main problem I had with another book with the similar topic: Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery

The reason I haven't given this book five stars is twofold. First, I have read another book from the same author Truth, Lies and Advertising : The Art of Account Planning and I feel that this book partially covers the same topic, but is more insightful and even better written. Second, I was a bit disappointed by the last chapter about the London Olympic Games pitch. Yes, the presentation was good, but maybe too predictable, too full of cliché and too official in nature to give a proper ending to this otherwise great and readable book.

[Christy Cole]

I have yet to read a business book that really kept me engaged, which is why I couldn't give this 5 stars. The concept of this book is very solid and definitely transforms your ideas on presentations/pitches. A couple of my favorite small tid-bits:

- Don't say "we've got a great presentation for you"
- If your audience already knows something, acknowledge it and move on
- Use personal stories
- Don't always use Apple and Nike as your examples
- The data dump must be part of the process, not the presentation
- Consider a presentation without a computer
- Don't use PPT transitions
- Present as a team, not individuals (don't act uninterested when your co-worker is presenting, etc)
- Say no to a pitch if it isn't right. Especially if the client is being forced by another division, etc to go with you. It never ends well for anyone.
- Rehearse!

[Betsy]

this book is EPIC. everyone in business should read it. my prof at state, who taught law and business ethics, told me to read it. everything about it is a learning experience. i read it two times after the first and told my dad to read it. he read it and was blown away (mind you, he's read just about everything). he even emailed the author and thanked him for inspiring him to become a better businessman. he mentioned that his daughter (me) was graduating from msu in a few weeks that year. the author emailed back the next morning and didn't forget to say "tell betsy i give her my luck, not that she'll need it." unbelievable author. incredible read. it kicks the tipping point's ARSE.

[Reed]

Excellent book on how to get over the nervousness and paranoia of presenting in front of small and large groups of people. This book teaches the idea that in order to reach an audience effectively, that you must use emotion. Also, great ideas on how to avoid being boring, knowing information/vs memorizing it, and how the big fish in the pond isn't always the survivor. Great read! What does everyone else think? What industry do you work? Or what points in the book have you found helpful?
Very curious to see everyone else's opinion?

[Miguel Gonzalez]

I thoroughly enjoyed Jon Steel's "Truth, Lies and Advertising" in the 1990s. It is perhaps the best first-person telling of what it'l like being an account planner at an advertising agency. While "Perfect Pitch" isn't about account planning or advertising strategy per se, it covers the most important tool in a planner's belt -- how to give a persuasive, un-boring presentation.

[Sarah]

Good read. There are some really insightful bits on preparing for a presentation, giving a presentations, and pitching in general. Jon Steel rights with a bit of sarcasm, which makes his books enjoyable. If you're in the advertising business, or you're in any business where you need to pitch or present, I highly recommend this one.

[Katie]

Pretty good so far, as usual with consultants its more a case of being able to point to him in order to avoid making mistakes you already know are being made, but there is loads of great stuff about making an impact, avoiding idiocy etc.

[Felipe]

The Perfect Pitch is the art of presentation giving from an advertising perspective. Steel keeps using a lot of examples on his book, but they just fit into his writing.

This book is also great for creatives, refining the creative process while thinking on a pitch or a campaign.

Recommended.

[Henry Manampiring]

A very useful book if you work in advertising. If you don't but your life depends on presentation, it is still relevant half of the time. The universal learning ia how to become a more engaging and persuasive presenter of idea, and hence, more effective.

[brian]

Fantastic advice whether you're pitching or simply presenting.

Close your email and get to winning!

[Steve Bast]

Jon Steel is the man.

[Amy]

THis guy Jon Steel is hilarious....it is a book on advertising pitches that can easily translate into any pitch

[Katie]

Read as one of my first assignments for Cult Marketing. Very good and informative.

[Arthur Charlez]

First section on "Presentation Crimes" is mad engaging. Not an easy read at all, but every paragpraph makes you want to read the next..

[Heather Friedman]

The art of presentation giving from an advertising perspective. Great examples, rules and interesting case studies on what makes presentations go from good to great.

[Vic]

keeping in mind that self help (even of the business sort) are my least favorite kind of books, this one was good

[Jon]

Excellent thoughts on what goes into a good presentation.

[Angel]

This books teach me how to tell history and specifically how to do this in the agency enviroment

[Nick]

Well worth a read for anyone in advertising.