The Perfect Pitch, What it is and How to Create It

Gary Hankins, author of The Power of the Pitch shares an outline of how to pitch your film.To learn more about Carole Dean and From the Heart Productions please visit www.FromtheHeartProductions.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Love Hope Radio. Our guest today is Gary Hankins, the author of The Power of Pitch. Transform yourself into a persuasive presenter and win more business. Gary helps professionals and organizations win more business, differentiate themselves from the competition, and create incomparable customer relations. He teaches people how to confidently and concisely communicate and how to create and deliver persuasive switches. And Carol, I understand that Gary comes to you highly recommended.

SPEAKER_04 0:41

I am amazed at uh the comments that my friends have made about Gary and how wonderful he is and how they have used his training to improve their lives. It's been really beneficial to many people I know. And so Carol Joyce and I met him and interviewed him about his great book, The Power of the Pitch. And since From the Heart Productions is doing a weekly pitch class, we thought that this would be absolutely perfect for our filmmakers to get to know more about the power of the pitch. Looking at it from a person who is in business, because basically this is the business side of filmmaking. So, Gary, um let us know who you are. Tell us about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Sure. Well, I have written the power of the pitch, as you know. I'm the president of Pygmalion Inc., which is a communication skills training coaching company in Los Angeles, California. And I conduct workshops and seminars, coach people, do online programs, create all types of materials to help people become better communicators and specifically to become more persuasive presenters, because you can be a great presenter, but if you're not a persuasive one, then you're not going to go very far. So that's been my mission for quite a few years now, and I love what I do. I have clients all around the world, and it's every day is it's a great passion for me.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

Oh, that's wonderful to do what you love. Well, we found that your book, The Power of the Pitch, just what we need in filmmaking, because uh, I don't know if you realize it or not, but filmmakers have to raise the money to make independent films, and this is one of the most important elements in funding your film, that is the ability to pitch. And the subtitle of your book is Transforming Yourself into a Persuasive Presenter and Win More Business. So to us, that means get more funding. So um I'd love to cover some of the main elements of your book today. So let's start with chapter one, the secrets of winning people over.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

This is uh the the first chapter of the book, The Secrets of Winning People Over, is so crucial because there are so many misunderstandings about what a presentation is and how to be sure to win the business. It's just amazing to me. So here's the premise, and I preach this daily all the time, and it's amazing how many people don't exactly have it don't have it right, and that's this. People decide if they like you or not, if they're going to be persuaded by you or not, if they're going to vote for you, based on three key factors. And that number one fact, the key factor, most important of all, is how you look. That is your facial expression, eye contact, your gestures, how you move, how you sit. Do you look trustworthy? Are you someone someone people can it's a little trite now, uh, can know, like, and trust. And that's number one. Uh, there was a there is a professor by the name of Albert Moravian at UCLA of Stanford. Moravian said that fifty-five percent of total likability is how you look. In other words, the way you look accounts for more than anything in any presentation that you make.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

So amazing.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Isn't that amazing? And and I I'm shocked at how people don't get that and how they miss that part, and how they lose tremendous amounts of business. We do a lot of interviews later with clients and prospective clients on why they lost the business, and it's it's typically things like they didn't he or she didn't establish eye contact, they didn't smile, they weren't friendly, they weren't open, I didn't feel comfortable with that person, I didn't feel like I could trust that person. Well, these are all these non-verbal gestures that before we do anything, we have to get that right. And if we don't get that right, the presentation will go on, the the person listening to you will listen, but chances are he or she has tuned you out minutes ago, maybe within well we call it the first thirty seconds, we call it the thirty-second rule. Oh excite about you. Yeah, and it's it can really be quicker than that. If you if you read Malcolm Gladwell's book, Link, he advocates trusting your instinct and that you your instinct comes to you in the blink of an eye. So it may no longer may no longer be the 30-second rule, maybe the nanosecond rule, which is pretty scary. So we've got to have that going for itself. So that's the 55% of total likability, right? You got that?

SPEAKER_04 6:37

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Okay. And then the the second part, Carol, is how you sound. That is the sound of your voice. Are you enthusiastic? Are you upbeat? Are you positive? Do you do you use inflection and tones and range, all those important elements of speech? And do you not use fillers, uh uh, uh, you know, like uh uh uh that can drive pe drive people crazy listening to you, and it also makes you come across seeming like you're unsure of yourself, you don't know what you're talking about, etc. etcetera. So that's how you sound. Not quite as big, obviously, it's less than fifty-five percent, thirty-eight percent is how you sound.

SPEAKER_05 7:31

Now here's the kick Yes, here's the kicker.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Here's here's the kicker. That's a big number. Here's the here's the shocker though. You've probably done a little math and realize that there's seven percent left over for something. And that seven percent is what you say. In other words, people will make a decision about you based on what you say seven percent of that time. So you've got it's got you know in other words, what you say and how you sound is not really that important. Or how you look, I'm sorry, how you look and how you sound is not that important. It's what you say. But but people will decide based on what you say after they decide if they like you or not. After they decide if they like the the nonverbal and the verbal components. Once they decide that, now this pitch has to be awesome. It has to be well laid out, it has to be there's a certain structure and a model that we use that is well, I don't want to call it foolproof, but it works ninety-nine percent of the time. So we've got to be sure that the the way we lay out our material, our story, what it is that we're looking to fund is is gotta be done extremely well.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

Okay. Well, that's really easy to do. I mean, getting it outlined and getting it to memorized, it's getting the filmmakers with enough confidence to do this, because many filmmakers are writers and so they they like to work behind uh the closed doors in their house all by themselves and come up with all these brilliant ideas, and sometimes they're producers who are used to managing people and things like that. But to get in front of someone and start selling, because this truly is a sales uh situation that you have to sell them on you, right, first, from what you're saying. And then on the project.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Absolutely. Uh yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm I'm sure that your clients did not, or at least most of them did not get into this business, this business of producing, because of their sales acumen. Right. They they got into they got into the business because they love producing and all the aspects that go with it. Well, maybe not all of them, but they they they that's why they're in the business. They're in the business because of of the production aspect. I remember one time, this goes back a few years ago, and I call this my aha moment. I was in a in a meeting, and at this time, at this particular meeting, I was a participant and I was going through a training program. And the the senior vice president went around the room and asked everybody what they what their aspirations were, what they planned to get out of the program, what they did, etc. etcetera. By the time by the time he had gotten to me, I was so nervous, Carol. I could hardly speak. I was just g I was like, oh my God. Please go on. Please go on. And uh skip over me, do something. So he came to me and said, Well, Gary, uh how about you? I mean, it was like network news all over again. And I blurted out a few things about myself, a little bit about what I did or wanted to do, and just shut up and sat there. And everybody looked at me in silence. And later this woman said to me, Gary, you know, you're you're such a confident looking, sounding guy. What happened? And I realized that I had a fear, even though it was not this huge public speech, I had a fear of speaking to a very large group. And it was at that point that I said to myself, I'm going to change this. This is no longer going to be the way I am or part of the way I am. And it this had bugged me for a long time. So I went about taking courses, studying, learning, I wrote the book, all of this to help other people who not only have a challenge with delivering the content and getting that organized, but especially delivering the message so that it comes across in a persuasive way and that you look confident, that you sound positive, that you come across in a way that the buyer, the funder of your film is saying, Yes, this is fabulous. We th this this is a great idea. We want to fund this this this show. So that's the idea.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

That is the idea. Well, let's move to chapter two now because there's such good stuff in this book. I'm I won't cover ten percent of it, but uh this is in chapter two, you say you have to be the brand. You have to be the brand. Now see to us, I say, uh filmmakers, uh the your film has to be part of your DNA. You have to know it, feel it, and be able to speak it. So are we saying the same thing here?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Yes, yes, and yes. In many, in many ways, you have to live it. You have to live it. You have to live, you have to live your show, you have to live the story. You've got to live and breathe it, and the brand component is part of it. Branding also comes into play with how you are. You as an individual, what type of work do you do? Uh are you primarily fo focused on oh war films or con comedies or whatever the case may be. But really understanding what your marketplace is, what your your personal brand is so that you don't waste a lot of a lot of time. So I'd say that's the those are the two components of branding.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

Okay. That is very important.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

So Yeah, a lot of there's a lot, there's a lot to that, Carol. And we we we I briefed that up for you, but uh and I'd highly recommend reading that chapter, but that's the key concept.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

Okay. Well, let's talk about packaging, chapter four packaging, because you're talking to a woman that used to make money by uh recycling video tape, and it was all in packaging. I spent a fortune on my logo and printing up labels, and I would buy tape, recycle it, and put a gorgeous uh label on it, and it sold like hot cakes.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

That's good. Well, packaging has to do with that, no question about it. It has to it's it's like a Tiffany's box. Right?

SPEAKER_05 15:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

You get a Tiffany's you get a Tiffany's box and you're saying to yourself, now somebody's got it right here. This is awesome. All right, as opposed to some little cardboard box of some sort. So the way you package all of your materials, any and everything that you do, it has to be very consistent, very very high level, so that when a a potential investor is looking at you and and what it is that you're offering, they get a lot of confidence in seeing that you're and seeing that you're coming across as the real deal.

SPEAKER_05 16:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

There's another as another aspect too, let's see if I can get this in real quick, of packaging, and that has to do with how you dress. The way you dress when you go in and meet with a uh with with anybody that you're looking to obtain funds from, and it can go up and down the line, but here's here's the idea. I call it the one-notch rule. One notch. You want to be dressed just slightly better than the person that you're presenting to. So if you're presenting to a financial advisor, law firm, family meeting, they could be dressed a little bit more formal. They might be wearing suits as an example, which would mean that you would wear a suit. Or, and I'm sure you see this a lot too, they could be very casual. And maybe that means just wearing a jacket as an example, or a nice blouse and a a nice shirt. So you can go up and down the line with this with this one-notch rule. One notch. And you're ready for the last one, last one in packaging?

SPEAKER_04 17:42

Please.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Okay, there's last one, and I'll let you go on to the next chapter, or wherever you want to go. So the the the other aspect is that you want to dress to your level of success. To your level of success. Well, a famous basketball coach at UCLA taught me this, that the how you you want to dress to the level of how you want people to perceive you. So maybe maybe you're just starting out of the business and you don't have as an extensive of a wardrobe. Or yeah, let's just go with that. Well, do the best you can. Do the best you can. Maybe you maybe you pay attention to to buying things on sale, but you want to just be sure to look really, really sharp. That makes a huge difference. So those are those are the key ideas with packages.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

You know, th those are very good suggestions in my business. Uh there was one man who was very wealthy, he did a great job, he was a wonderful salesperson, and Gary, he always wore the same outfit because I'm very much into clothes, so I remember it could be three months later, six months later. He had a magnificent jacket, it was probably a French jacket, and some perfect pants, shoes, everything he looked like he stepped off of one of those men's magazines. But he just he I don't know that he had a second outfit. I only saw the one, but that's all he needed. And sometimes filmmakers forget that you're not going to see the same people very often. So if you were to put your time effort into getting one pitch outfit that you could wear to um black tie events, or you or that no, let's say that you could wear to a red carpet event where you could find investors, or that you could wear down the street where you're going to sit in your neighbor's house and they're going to give you possibly five thousand dollars for your film. But you can just get that one fantastic outfit and use it. And the other thing that I learned uh early on in business was before I talked to my people or tried to sell them product, I would check their shoes. Now everybody today is in furnace shoes, but in the and before you could tell how they cared for their shoes and and uh if I saw a guy who had some wingtip shoes who probably resold them twice, I always went on the I went to the benefits and the cost saving immediately, long-term benefits and cost saving. And if I saw someone who had on uh, you know, a woman with some really wild uh exotic high heels, then I knew she was into the excitement, whatever the Hollywood set and anything exciting I could tell her. So you can tell a lot about people from their outfits, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Oh yeah, right. And and what you're doing is creating a perception about yourself. So you you and it you don't want the perception to be distracting. You don't want uh you don't want those high heeled that become a per that become a distraction. Uh save save those for a cocktail party or for an event some other time.

SPEAKER_05 21:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

But when you're there meeting with people, you don't want them looking at some wild blouse or jewelry or if you're a man, a tie, cufflinks, things like that, that cause them could cause them to be distracted because you want them to be right there with you on point on message. And if they're somewhere else because of whatever you're wearing, it's a simple fix, but a lot of people forget about it.

SPEAKER_04 21:45

Well, I'll tell you what I love about your book is that you've got pictures in here for men, you've got pictures of accessories, you're showing what kind of of a watch to wear and when you where you put your uh your handkerchief in your pocket. I mean Everything is detail detail. Uh uh this book is really helpful in many ways. So where tell us where we can get the book.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

You can get it a couple places. One one would be to go to my website, which is www. Pygmalion P Y G M A L I O N Pygmalion.ink. That's after the Greek mythology, Pygmalion. And well when you get there, sign up or just go to join the Pygmalion community. That would be one good thing. And then the other is order the book. You can order the book right there.

unknown 22:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

And I'll I'll autograph that for you. And if you tell me to autograph it for somebody else, I'll do that, of course. You can also buy it online at Amazon. So that's there are a couple of options.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Excellent. Now you g you have a seminar in the fall. What is that?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Yeah, so I I take this by book and convert that into a two-day seminar. It's actually a two-day workshop. And I ask the attendees to first of all study an e-learning course where they go online, they study twelve chapters, twelve of the most important chapters from my book. And they learn those online. Then come to the workshop, and at the workshop, Carol, that's where we ask you to give this pitch over in your pitch, over and over again. We'll do some light review on the content, but most importantly, we want to see you, and so do you. You want to see how you come across. And the best way to do that is to give the presentation, get it on video, and then look at that video with me or another coach, and just take a look at all these ways that you possibly could be better, and what it is that you're doing great. So that's the power, that's the that's the program.

SPEAKER_04 24:20

Wow, that sounds like it'd be a great thing to do. Well, um now you do personal consultations too. So I I wanted you to just tell us how you could take a person who is timid and move them to someone who can truly pitch their film with confidence and get that person to write a check.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

So many stories, so many stories, Carol. There's there's one that goes back a f a few years ago, and I was doing a workshop spread out over a series of months, and the the there was there were 12 people in it, one of the women, one of the people was a woman, and she was so nervous. It was unbelievable. And here we are now, one minute literally before showtime, before the before the workshop started. I'm going, where's Judy? And I don't know. I don't know, where's Judy? Where's Judy? So I look outside and there's Judy standing outside the conference room, shaking. Shaking. So I can't I can't say, Judy, what's going on here? She's Carrie, I I I I I can't do this. I I I mean I I know I I want to do this, and uh I you know, I told you I I I was gonna do this, but I just can't do this. I said, come on, you can do it. So I convinced her five minutes later, she came back, she came into the into the conference room, and then we worked, I worked with her, she worked, it was really all her own work. I just pointed her in the right direction, and over a period of months she became, well, easily, easily the most improved in the entire group. And today, you won't believe this, today she gives speeches as part of her marketing strategy. It's not her key business, but it's a way of attracting clients. She gives speeches to 500 to a thousand people.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

Isn't that amazing? I mean, there's a woman who was deathly afraid. Deathly. So we all have this ability to be a strong presenter and a strong communicator. It just takes someone helping us to bring out that self-confidence. And once that happens, it's freeing, it's wonderful, great things happen.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

Oh, well, Gary, I'd like to ask you a question about that, if I may. Um I'm just wondering, what do you feel was the the main thing that really stood out for her transformation from somebody who was very timid and nervous to somebody who was very confident. What do you feel helped make that transition?

SPEAKER_01 27:24

I appreciate that, Clara. The key is this. We don't get it right mentally. This is a very mental business, this business of presenting and speaking to people and convincing them. And we frequently, frequently psych ourselves out. So we'll say things like, I'm a terrible presenter, I hate presenting, I get nervous every time I present. Or this this particular buyer, there's no way in heck he's gonna watch this this film, whatever it is. So we say very negative things to ourselves, as opposed to saying it in a positive way, which is, of course, a positive affirmation. So Judy is an example. I had her create an affirmation for herself. She said some very negative things to herself prior to our time together, and as we worked together, she created a positive affirmation that said, I am a great speaker. I am a great speaker. So she created this. I had her write it on the board, and she could she could hardly write it on the board. She said, you know, this is not true. I I can't say this. I said, but that's where you're going, Judy. That's where you're headed. And you need to start saying all of this to yourself, saying this affirmation because once you say an affirmation, you're doing that consciously, of course. You say it out loud. That's your your conscious mind. You're now talking to the subconscious. And the more you start talking to the subconscious, the more the subconscious will believe what it is that you're saying. It'll believe that you can do what you want. And over time it will happen. So step one in overcoming any kind of nervousness, nervousness, is to create that positive affirmation and say it to yourself over and over and over and over again, every day. It may seem silly, but just every single day. And then you'll start believing it, and you'll start acting like the person that's very confident, and guess what? Pretty soon you're the person that's very confident.

SPEAKER_04 30:19

Absolutely. That's how it works. Thank you, Claire. No, I think this is very important. You have to psych yourself up, not out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yeah, yeah. You gotta Yeah, every well, every pitch you gotta I mean, generally speaking, you've got to be psyched up anyway as a person to be in in this business, your business. But exactly secondary uh secondarily, every time you go into a pitch with a buyer, you really gotta suck yourself up. Because this man or woman has heard many of these that have come, you know, next, next, next. So you've got you've gotta overcome that issue.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

You've got to overcome that issue.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

Well, let's move, I want to work on one of my favorite chapters uh for the preparation of the pitch, is the foolproof steps to avoid embarrassment. So let's go over a couple of those.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Yeah, well, the key thing there is to really know the potential buyer. Know what kind of films they're doing, what uh size film they're doing, what they've done, well, obviously what they've done before, and any and everything that you can learn about them, their successes, their failures. You can go on, of course, online and and get all types of information about this individual or the company and be thoroughly, thoroughly prepared. It's so funny in in this business that I am in. I'm amazed at how many people spend so much time getting this meeting, and then they go into the meeting and they're not very well prepared. It's just amazing. And they lose the pitch. Why? They haven't taken taken the time to thoroughly understand all of the all of the aspects. So I've created this little this little checklist I send out to people, or that I don't send out, but I use. I'm happy to give it to your listeners, by the way. Yeah, just uh I'll give you my email address there in a second. But just ask for that, and I'll be happy to to send that out to you. Pro bono, as we say. Most important thing is with everything that I do, I want people to use it. I want everybody to use it so they can become so much more successful.

SPEAKER_04 33:05

Oh, yes. Yes, thank you. That's what we that's what we want to hear. This is really good. Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

So let me give you the email address. Uh, anybody like that, or if you'd like to schedule, schedule the time to talk with me about any aspect of your business, or you want to know more about our workshops and programs, just send me an email, ask me to give you a call, and I'm happy to do that. So it's Gary G-A-R-Y dot Hankins, which is H A N K I N S at Pygmalion, P Y G M A L I O N I N C dot com. Pygmalion Inc.com.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

Okay, thank you. That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

That's fine. And my website, of course, is pygmalioninc.com.

SPEAKER_04 34:07

Okay. Um now let's get over to the pitch and give us uh give us some tips on the pitch. Well, let's start with what you call the grabber.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Okay, so the grabber is where you get to you you first of all grab their attention. That's otherwise in any normal speech or presentation be what you learn in speech 101. This is this is the introduction. So this is where you grab their attention and focus them them, him or her group, on what it is that you're going to be saying. And there are a variety of different ways of doing that. You could begin with questions, you can begin with uh a story, you could begin with quotes, you can begin with humor, getting people involved. There's a variety of ways of doing that. So that would be step one, you get their attention. Then secondly, we go into the body of the material, which I call the ISB model. ISB. And that stands for issue, solution, benefit. So, first of all, you want to talk about the issue. And a lot of people think this is their issue. No, this is the buyer's issue. What is it they're looking to accomplish? Certain size film, like I would say, demographics, psychographics, all of these different geographics that might come into play that that are important for you to be sure to let the buyer know that you understand. They want to know that you understand what their interests are, what their challenges are, what their issues are. So you can lay that out for them just to start out with. As I understand from speaking with you before briefly at the at the reception the other night, or from our brief conversation on the phone, or from studying up on you, here's what I understand that you you're looking for, and help me correct me anywhere I'm I'm off along the line. And then you go through all these different issues. And take them through that. They may say, Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, mm-hmm, absolutely, and not so much. Oh, what other thing that's really important for you to know about us? All this, all this, all those types of questions. And it does not need to take a long time. You can tell how much time to take with somebody based on how patient they seem to be. If they don't seem to be very patient, they want to move it on, move it along, you've got to do the same. On the other hand, if they seem like they have a lot of time willing to give that to you, uh, that's great. Then you can you can do that. So that's the issue, right?

SPEAKER_04 37:25

That's the issue. And many times you see we have a lot of documentary filmmakers who listen to our programs. Now, and this works because let's say that it's a film on cancer, and we know that this man's wife died from cancer, and he would be very interested in supporting a film on the issue that is of is of importance to him. So that's what you would say is the issue. Uh you would bring up in a documentary, something like that, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:54

Uh very good point. Uh great example. Absolutely correct. Absolutely. That would be perfect. And uh that may be readily obtainable, but maybe not. So you might have to dig for that. But that's that really now says to to the buyer, wow, she understands what I'm up to here.

SPEAKER_04 38:20

Exactly. I know this issue is important to you because of such and such, and that's why I'm here. I want to present you something that uh my film would be a s solution to the issue. So great. All right, got that.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

Exactly, exactly. And then the the uh the S, of course, the ISP, the S is the solution, and that's your all about your film. And this is where you tell tell the story about your film. And and uh all of the key aspects you could lay out, a little bit of the storyline. This is where you need to be, of course, very passionate. And and you might include along with that solution any distribution ideas that you have, any strategy, marketing, etc. etc. And then the last thing would be the B, as in the benefits. So how does this how does the investor benefit by using your film? And so that would be, well, it's pretty straightforward in your example about the medical issue, they get to tell this story in a very meaningful way that's that's that's impactful for them. That's had a personal impact on their life. Uh and there are other there are other aspects of that too. There are many types of benefits. And uh not only just money, which is crucial. You know, we're all looking for money, I would say, uh helping helping potential buyers understand what the upside is for them would be clearly a benefit. Talking about the risks, rewards, and giving your scenario of how you think that'll work out for them. Timing. Oh, many different aspects that would come into play. You see, here's the deal with benefits. People buy benefits, not features. Oh, they're gonna Yeah, they're gonna buy the benefits. Ba they're gonna buy the film based on the benefits it provides them. Not on the features. The features describe what it does. The benefits describe what it will do for you. And when you can give people the benefits, you are you're on your way because now you you r you you get them emotionally engaged.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Thank you so much. Once you get them once you yeah, once you get them emotionally engaged, they are on board, Carol. On board, that's crucial.

SPEAKER_04 41:28

All right. This is bravo, thank you. That's wonderful. Now, the the thing is with filmmakers, because they are many of them timid, help us with closing. Because my friend Tom Malloy says, ABC, always be closing, and he's raised over 20 million dollars for films. So but for the most people out there, getting someone to move from one stage to the next, to the next where you are always thinking of closing them and moving them to the next stage. Can you give us any advice on that?

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Mm-hmm. Absolutely. So one thing is that you you want to have little closes along the way. Uh I call those trial closes. So that could be part of the solution. How's the sound to you? Is this making sense to you? You see how this will work for you. But then when after you go through your entire pitch, ISB, you're now, you take any remaining questions that you have, now it's time to close. And yes, ABC, you want to be always be closing. This is a this is the point at which you ask them for the business. You ask for. This is the ask. You ask to close it. And it could be something like, do you see how this could film, how this film could can meet your needs? You see how it can resolve your challenges. Yes and yes. Terrific. What level of commitment can we get from you? 200 million. Fantastic. Thank big, Carol. Uh and so, or whatever they tell you. But you uh you know, you you go for that close, and let's suppose they say, because not every time is somebody going to say, Well, yeah, this is great, let's do it, right? At some point they're gonna say, and pro perhaps a lot, eh I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Well, this is an objection, of course, and you want to get all the objections on the table before you leave the room. So anything that you can ask them that will help to do that would be good. So they've just said, I'm not sure. Well, what are Just out of curiosity, what are some of the aspects that you're not sure about? What what might be a roadblock? What's a challenge here that we should address? So you want to get uh get those on the table, under discussion, right there. Because once they leave the room, yeah, you can go back and and work on on those objections, but it's so much easier, faster, quicker if you could do it right then and lay it all out for everybody.

SPEAKER_04 44:40

Yeah, because it's on his mind at the moment. It's in his mind. Yeah. You have to pull it out before you leave. Oh, you're so smart. Right.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

Yep, yep, it's like the car buyer. Or the car s the car seller, rather, the salesman. Car salesman does not want you to leave that lot. Because the car salesman knows that when you lot you leave that lot, you're going to another lot. And there's going to be somebody on that lot that may be just better than you are, that can has that has higher closing techniques levels. And you could easily lose the business just because you didn't ask for the objections. So always ask. Yeah, always ask for the close. And then for any objections. And you can do that very delicately by saying, just out of curiosity, what what are some of the concerns you might have? What are some of the challenges that you might see, etc.?

SPEAKER_04 45:50

Absolutely. Oh, that's so sounds so simple, and it and it would be easy to say, but it's something if you don't know, you're just going to be stumbling for words. So this just your expressions and uh and how to say it is uh really worth a million dollars to us. And which brings me to another thing. I wanted you to to close with giving us some information on your statement that pictures are worth a million dollars. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01 46:20

Well, yours is a visual medium, so whenever we can show people something, a demo, a pilot, uh perhaps a a video from some other film interspersed within your solution, it helps to it helps to bring that point across. So I've seen a lot of people, if you perhaps have two, going to do big PowerPoint presentations with lots of text on the screen, it's uh generally speaking a turn-off. So I would avoid a lot of text if you're gonna use PowerPoint, and you certainly don't need to, but photos, anything that you can show people, and video particularly is it's really good. Really good way to go. So that's that's what I mean by pictures are worth a million dollars. In one picture, you can capture the essence of your whole funding campaign.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

Exactly. That's the brand, that's the photo that they want to use to brand their picture. And you're so right, that is worth a million dollars because that's gonna sell the film. So right.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 47:47

Tell us again where people can reach you, uh, so in case they they want any of your your services.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Yeah, no, happy to do that again. So my website is pygmalioninc.com, which is P Y G M A L I O N I N C dot com, all one word. And you can contact me at Gary.hankins at pygmalioninc.com if you'd like to schedule a meeting, have a conversation, uh, learn more about the the Power of the Pitch program. And while you're on the website, if you click on the website, be sure to sign up for the Pygmalion community. Join that so you can get all of my tips and strategies. And you can also what was the other key point I wanted? Oh, while you're on the website, you can order the book too if you like.

SPEAKER_04 48:47

Okay, and you you would thank you very much for that. You mentioned something about the schedule presentation we could uh ask and you would email that to us for Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

So there's a there's a there's a form I have that's that helps you prepare that helps you ask the right questions of the prospective buyer. Uh you want to have a copy of that. I'm happy to send it out. So just let me know. Email me. Please send the please send the uh please send the form. Preparation form. That'll do it.

SPEAKER_04 49:27

Preparation form. Okay, that's what I need. Yeah, the title. Okay, great. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, we thank you very much and and uh wish you lots of luck with your next seminar. And hopefully my daughter will be part of that. Sounds like it's going to be a wonderful event.

SPEAKER_01 49:46

Yeah, right, that'll be great. Great to have her part of it as well. So it's all good. Love doing what I do. Happy to work with with your with your listeners, with your clients anyway. I can provide any tools and ideas. Happy to do it. Happy to do it.

SPEAKER_04 50:04

Thank you so much, Gary, for sharing all this knowledge and thank you, Claire, for help hosting the show.

SPEAKER_05 50:10

You're welcome. Oh, always happy to be here.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Thank you, Gary.

SPEAKER_05 50:15

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_04 50:16

Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Bye. Bye-bye. Be well, everyone. Now, in its second edition, Carol Dean's popular book, The Art of Film Funding, has 12 new chapters to cover all areas of film financing and how to avoid expensive pitfalls. Learn how to start with an idea and end with a trailer. How to make an ask for money. Create your story structure and your trailer. Legal advice, fair use, successful crowdfunding, how to ask for music rights, and what insurance you can't shoot without. Available on Amazon under Carol Dean and at FromTheHeartProductions.com. I want to remind our listeners that David Rakelin is a brilliant and talented award-winning musician who scores films and can compose music for a trio or for a full orchestra. David is a very good friend to the independent filmmaker and comes highly recommended by From the Heart Productions. If you need music to help tell your story, please contact him at DavidRakeland.com. That's David R-A-I-K-L-E-N.com. And Carol and I want to thank you for tuning in to the Art of Film Funding. Please visit our website at FromTheHeart Productions.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. Good luck with your films, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

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SPEAKER_00 52:35

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