The Personal MBA

Master the Art of Business

A world-class business education in a single volume. Learn the universal principles behind every successful business, then use these ideas to make more money, get more done, and have more fun in your life and work.

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From The Personal MBA's List of the 99 Best Business Books...


Review: 'Pitch Anything' by Oren Klaff

A funny thing happens when you combine the old art of selling with the new science of neuropsychology: you realize you've been suffering from a bad case of Caveman Syndrome. Your modern mind is capable of presenting complex logic and data, but when you pitch a potential customer, they're evaluating your presentation with the most ancient parts of their brain. That fundamental mismatch is a recipe for poor results.

Pitch Anything is a primer on how to structure your sales presentation to ensure your prospects find it enticing enough to buy. In order to close the deal, your job as a salesperson is to grab and maintain the prospect's attention and interest, help them recognize your offer as an opportunity, and cultivate their desire for what you have to offer.

To accomplish these objectives, you must fully appreciate that your prospect is evaluating you and your offer at a very primal level: who is dominant in the situation, who exhibits the most confidence, who is chasing / who is being chased, and whether or not a new piece of information is worth considering. Other major topics include Framing, motivation, social signals, loss aversion, authority, and curiosity.

Oren Klaff is a veteran investment banker, and illustrates these principles with vivid stories of high-stakes deals. Some pitches go well, and some of them are disasters. Klaff doesn't sugarcoat his mistakes, which serve as excellent examples of what not to do.

Pitch Anything has fundamentally changed how I think about the sales process. Parts of the book are disconcerting, but in the best way possible: the human brain undeniably works in particular ways, regardless of how we might prefer it to work. Tune your pitch to your prospect's ancient brain, and you win.


Buy 'Pitch Anything' by Oren Klaff


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The Personal MBA

Master the Art of Business

A world-class business education in a single volume. Learn the universal principles behind every successful business, then use these ideas to make more money, get more done, and have more fun in your life and work.

Buy the book:


About Josh Kaufman

Josh Kaufman is an acclaimed business, learning, and skill acquisition expert. He is the author of two international bestsellers: The Personal MBA and The First 20 Hours. Josh's research and writing have helped millions of people worldwide learn the fundamentals of modern business.

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