A couple of posts back I shared Coach K’s (Duke University, Men’s Basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski) standards that he used when he coached Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

In the below 5:03 video clip titled Mike Krzyzewski, Coach K, Talks About Kobe Bryant and Compares Him to Michael Jordan, Krzyzewski, shares another idea that can help pitch teams gain an edge against their competition.

The key part of the clip I want you to watch is (from the 42 second – 1:13 section).

Here’s the LINK for the clip

Here’s the words of the clip:

“From all the high school players I’ve seen, I think Kobe was the best player . . . he carried himself in a way that was way beyond his years . . . when he was on the team he hurt the other team, not in what he was doing physically, but from his mere presence . . .

you believed you were supposed to lose to this guy”.

What’s my point in sharing this vignette.

Simply this …

What if your competitors in a pitch, believed they were supposed to lose to your pitch team – because of the presence every person on your team projected through their facial expression, body carriage and body movement, voice tone and speaking cadence?

Could that be the difference between you winning the pitch, and placing second?

As you know, in many competitive pitches – from the client’s stand-point/point of view – your team is not much different from your competitors (even if you think you are). And sometimes small things can help you to outpoint your competitors*.

*This post describes an example of a pitch team gaining a competitive edge by continually asking WECID (What Else Could I Do) that my competitors won’t do, question.

Own the Conversation

With the thought of, ‘We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be* – and to upgrade the presence you project, do this:

• Every day for the next seven days, pretend to be at next higher level of seniority from your current one. DON’T tell anyone what you doing. Carry yourself, walk, speak, look, sound as if you’re at that next seniority level.
• If after seven days, the pretending practice is going well, keep pretending – until you’re no longer pretending.

*This quote is from the book Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut.