Pitching The Truth: Donald Trump

President Donald Trump regardless of what he says many people say he does appear somewhat believable and we need to be believable in a pitch. How does Donald Trump appear to be so very convincing?

Before and After

Before we look at what Donald Trump does so well first things first let’s dispel the myth that Donald Trump has somehow become a different person once he has become the president of the United States just take a look at this clip going back thirty years and see how similar Donald Trump is from then to now.

President Donald Trump: “Everybody’s taken advantage of the United States people know that if certain people are running a country that it won’t happen. I mean when you look at Japan not paying for the defense we’re defending Japan we’re losing billions and billions of dollars, we’re fighting for aids help and for farmers and for this and that and, it’s a shame and the Japanese folks who I respect greatly but, they’re not they’re not treating us fairly they’re really not treating us fairly.

“Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, they’re not paying us anything for the services we’re rendering and I think it’s a disgrace and I think people look at certain people and maybe me. If that if I were in a position this country believe me would not be ripped off like it is and it is just being ripped off so badly by our so called allies.

No Change

You’ll see then that President Donald Trump thirty years ago sounds very similar to how he sounds today all that success of thirty years ago when he was a massively popular and successful businessman. He hasn’t been changed by now he being a massively popular super successful politician and the most powerful man on planet earth. He stayed true to his roots he still delivers words in the same manner.

What is it then that President Donald Trump does to be so very, very, very, believable? Amazingly believable? I’ve put together two clips that hopefully illustrate what I’m talking about:

• President Donald Trump: “As you know I will soon be meeting with Kim Jong Un as we seek a future of peace harmony and security for the whole Korean Peninsula and in fact for the whole world.
• President Donald Trump: “And, these guys all think wow we finally have them because Mexico said they’re not gonna pay for the wall. What does that mean? What does that mean? We’re renegotiating? Now remember what I said we are having, we are having, you remember what I said to Tennessee? I said to everyone, we have such a bad deal with Mexico we have such a bad deal with Canada, we lose with Mexico over billion dollars a year. Where this crazy NAFTA deal the controls should be pretty clear.

Trump: On Script & Off Script

Yes, they are two different contexts, one is a foreign policy speech and one is a speech to his supporters but you can tell the difference, very marked. In one speech, in the first speech he is reading just like any other politician making sure that every single word that he says is correct.

And in the second clip he’s completely come to life right. He’s starting to use all kinds of gestures and really talking like a normal human being. Donald Trump comes across first as a human being, second as the president of the United States and the majority of a time he never once comes across as a politician.

Hence why he sounds so convincing and very, very, believable. There are lots of advantages to this approach by Donald Trump. Of course it’s a nightmare for anyone trying to write a speech for him because you never know where he’s going to deviate to. But when you speak like Donald Trump when you speak as though you’re talking a normal conversation and you’ve internalized the content which we should always do in a pitch. When you’re like that you can start to control the room.

Controlling the room in a Pitch

Just say in a pitch you get an interruption by somebody?

Someone comes into the room or perhaps someone really starts to fire some hard tough questions at you? Even if you’ve asked them not to come up to you with any questions until the end of the pitch they could still do that, what do you do? Well here’s a good example of how well you can control the room and how badly you can control the room depending on whether or not you are reading from the script or not.

The first clip I’m going to show you is of Prime Minister Theresa May giving a speech and being interrupted by a heckler who  approaches her at the front of the stage

Prime Minister Theresa May: “While our opponents flirt with a foreign policy of neutrality and prepare for a run on the ground some people say we spent too much time talking about Jeremy Corbyn’s past you may not have heard me say that so some  people say we’ve spent too much time talking about Jeremy Corbyn’s past.

Now we’ll take a look at how President Donald Trump treats a similar scenario

President Donald Trump: “Thank you. How did he get in here Matt? Okay just for the media, the fake dudes back there, they took very good care of them, they were very gentle, he was very obnoxious.

You’ll see in the second clip President Donald Trump treats it as all a bit of a joke. He’s in complete control. He’s relaxed and that’s what we look for in a leader and that’s also what we look for in an individual who is pitching to us. Because they are going to potentially be leading a company to great fame and fortune.

Conclusion: Pitching The Truth

In conclusion ladies in gentlemen, when it comes to pitching we should not read from a script, we should know our pitch so well we can internalize it so we can slow down, be amusing, be less amusing, all depending on the room.

Remember the spoken word is not the written word. We are not writing a contract ladies and gentlemen. No, we are not building a wall of contracts, We are speaking and the audience are more forgiving. When we speak we can use hyperbole, we can exaggerate and, we can quite frankly get things wrong. Listen to any interview on the radio and you’ll often hear politicians screw up their lines. It’s forgivable, it’s the spoken word. The written word is not the spoken word. Take advantage of that fact when you pitch, internalize the information and go out there and be believable.