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Big Shifts: From Pitching to Connecting

Jan 14, 2022 | Daily Trek, Trusted Relationships

Pitching - Radical Trekking - Ayelet Baron

How Many Deals are Made Pitching in An Elevator?

Imagine if instead of needing to pitch, there was another way, and no I m not referring to tossing a ball, setting up a tent, or playing cricket. Isn’t it interesting that the concept of the sales pitch “in the modern commercial advertising sense” is from 1943, American English; pitch in the sense of “tedious or inflated sales talk” is attested by 1876, perhaps ultimately from the baseball sense. Pitch also was a “place on which to pitch or set up a booth for sale or exhibition” (by 1851).

When you’re pitching, there are a few options: Someone will 1) embrace whatever it is you are selling, 2) reject it or 3) only become aware of the existence of the product and service you are pitching. That’s what happens in a transactional world. And when your product or service is rejected, you may give up or keep trying over and over because who wants to feel like a loser or a failure? Isn’t the mantra that we must succeed at all costs and continue to pitch and hit our revenue goals?

Why Pitching is Not the Way Forward Unless it’s Baseball

The key to the future of work and a healthy life is available to each of us in different and unique ways. One of the most important skills we need to develop and maintain is our ability to build strong partnerships and connect deeply with ourselves and others. We can all teach and learn from each other in different and sometimes surprising ways when we have conversations instead of pitching our wares.

We are more interconnected to each other than we could ever imagine. And in today’s open and connected world, if we are awake to co-creating, we will discover ways to build communities and unlikely partnerships as we start to move beyond the boundaries of traditional frameworks and systems that no longer serve us.

Many of us no longer find satisfaction in pitching or being pitched at, when we start looking at life through a lens of co-creation and deep connection.

What Does Co-creation Really Mean?

Co-creation is all about partnership; that you can bring to life by connecting with others around a shared purpose. You may have a great business idea, but whether you are in a small organization or a large one, you need to be clear within yourself about what you believe and what you want to create. Who do you create and design with and what brings us together to become whole? What will help you expand your thinking and bring unlikely partners into your designs and projects?

You can also create greater harmony and unity as you find new ways to co-create with your customers, rather than viewing them merely as stakeholders or a target audience worthy of a sales pitch. Co-creation sparks the need to master the art of conversation and shifts us to new ways of working and being. By having trusted relationships, co-creation provides us with the space to share thoughts and ideas openly with the understanding that we are in it together.

We no longer need to go it alone. We can connect with other people to co-create something beautiful in the world. For many organizations, there is a huge untapped potential for imagining how we can co-create in trusted communities and unlikely partnerships.

Here are some thoughts on co-creation:

  • Focus more on the shared purpose than the means or the tools. Who can you co-design with?
  • Everyone is an active participant. How can you co-create around new insights? How can you network and connect people together and leverage their individual capabilities to help each other?
  • Tap into the value of bringing people together around an opportunity and allow for open collaboration. How can you provide experiences to generate new insights, platforms, products, or services?
  • Focus on integrating learning and increasing capabilities. How can you merge capabilities to create value?

And how do you let go of control and force and flow with possibilities?

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