What a Bank of America Phone Rep Taught Me About Product Pitches (With a Little Help From Will Smith)

I once faked a coughing fit to get out of a pointless meeting.

You know the type of cough where it’s clear that you need to get water ASAP? That's what I faked.

*Don't gasp in horror. Just think... about how pointless... that meeting... had to be.

So it should come as no surprise that one of my favorite lines from a movie is in "iRobot" when Will Smith fake sneezes and says:

"I'm allergic to bull$#%@."

That's how I felt in that meeting.

And it's also how I felt the other day on the phone with a Bank of America representative... which yielded a surprising insight about effective product pitches

Here's what happened:

I asked her a simple question about my account. I actually think it might have been a "yes or no" question.

Rather than give a straightforward answer, she took 3 minutes to explain the bank's policies and procedures and how, in this case, those policies and procedures didn't allow for the thing I asked about because the thing I asked about wasn't in line with those policies and procedures.

Rather than give a direct reply, her "answer" to my question wasn't really an answer at all. It was an explanation.

A long one.

It actually felt like she was filibustering the conversation in the hopes that I would forget what my original question was!

The way she answered my question... made me want to sneeze like Will Smith. And she gave the same answer each time I asked for clarification on what she was saying.

Looking back on it now, it's actually kind of funny.

But it got me thinking...

Her long, drawn-out explanation-answer to my simple question is a powerful analogy for a common problem I've seen inventors and product teams have with "pitches" for their sophisticated innovations:

Complex innovations often take a while to describe... but in the meantime your audience may (secretly) get lost or confused

Often, it's very difficult to give a simple, straightforward answer to the question "What does your product do?" Especially when it's a multifaceted, multi-pronged, kaleidoscopic innovation that delivers multiple benefits. Or when it's a piece of technology that achieves the "impossible" through complex, breakthrough engineering.

Unlike the Bank of America phone representative, when asked a simple question like "What is your innovation?" or "What does your product do?" as innovators and inventors, we're fully justified in giving a complex response.

• We have to give enough context so the other person (potential investor, partner, client, or customer) has all the information needed to understand the details we're about to give.
• We have to give enough detail about the inner engineering of our product so the other person has enough information to know why they should care. (To "get" the amazing-ness of our product)

Given all this, understandably, our explanation will be kind of long.

(Kind of like this post. *sheepish grin*)

• We're explaining an innovation that is sophisticated, complex, powerful, detailed, highly-engineered, and transformative.
• If it takes a while to convey what it is and what it does (just count the adjectives in the previous bullet point!) - if our "answer" is more of an "explanation" than an answer - we have a really good reason. (Unlike my loquaciously verbose friend at Bank of America)

But there's just one thing.

The longer that Bank of America phone rep talked, the more her "answer" started to sound - and feel - like bull$#%@.

To be fair, the answer to my question was somewhere in there: she did manage to say "Blah blah blah blah... And so we really can't do that...blah blah blah blah blah..."

But she never directly got to the point. The answer she gave lacked precision, clarity, and power.

More bluntly: It took too darn long.

And the same thing can happen with descriptions of complex innovations and technologies ...even though they're way more interesting than Bank of America's policies.

The problem is that if the answer to a simple question like "What does your innovation do?" or "What does your technology do?" is a long explanation, and not a crisp answer... then the answer isn't clear. Or powerful.

In fact, it loses power for every extra word added past the 10-second mark.

Just ask expert FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss. According to Voss, in any high-stakes conversation, you really have just 10 seconds to make your point. And convince your audience.

The first 10 seconds.

So, when answering questions about or defining a complex innovation, if you don't want your audience mentally sneezing like Will Smith, then this translates to something like the following:

** THE 10-SECOND RULE FOR INNOVATIONS **

Sophisticated innovations better be fully describable in under 10 seconds (no matter how complex they are) - or else you lose people

And that's really because...

Simple questions should be answered in under 10 seconds (even if they're about complex things)

Or else the answer starts to sound like bull$#%@.

If you're not convinced, notice the next time someone doesn't - or is unable - to give you a straight answer to a simple question.

• If the core of the answer isn't somehow stated within the first 10 seconds...
• ...then the answer starts to sound a little too complicated, or unclear, or Bank-of-America-y.

When it comes to describing a sophisticated innovation, sure, you may have "15 minutes to chat." But when someone asks a simple question about it, they're listening for a simple answer. And from my work guiding clients to create powerful pitches, I've seen that simplicity and directness go out the window past 10 seconds.

Past 10 seconds...

• You start to lose people.
• They're searching for that simple answer somewhere in the long explanation you're giving. This can be exhausting for them (as I know from chatting with my Bank of America friend)

Ever notice how when the answer to a simple question isn't "simple" (i.e. requires too many words), we start to think that something is wrong?

Either:

1. The person is dodging our question
2. Or they don't really know the answer

Likewise, when the answer to a simple question like "What does your innovation do?" is long and drawn out, the people we're talking to may start to think something is wrong.

Either:

1. Our product is too complicated to explain simply (and therefore too complicated to understand)
2. Or we don't know how to explain it, which could seem like we don't understand it ourselves. ("If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" said Einstein.)

So how do you give a straightforward answer when the thing you're answering about isn't simple but sophisticated?

Ah. There's the rub.

*To quote Eddie Murphy in "Coming to America"...

But here's a fun distinction that may help.

"Bank of America Phone Rep" vs "The Savvy Restaurant Server"

When describing a sophisticated product or technology, we're either operating like:

(1) The Bank of America Phone Rep: Giving a long, drawn-out explanation that confuses, loses, or exhausts people. (Time elapsed: 3 minutes. Oh boy.)

OR

(2) The Savvy Server: Experienced in giving simple answers to simple questions about sophisticated concepts (exotic menu items) to people who are not experts (newbies to the cuisine). (Time elapsed: under 10 seconds.)

Savvy Server? You know what I mean...

• It's that friendly, expert waiter or waitress who knows the menu inside and out and knows how to translate it.
• They can rattle off quick clear answers about any item on the menu, so you know whether or not you want to order it.
• You point to some exotic-sounding thing on the menu and ask "What's this?" and they don't launch into a long explanation about the process used to season the aioli and infuse it with hints of basil. They tell you "Oh... it's chicken with greens" or "it's kind of like mashed potato but a little bit sweet."

Just as the server is able to distill sophisticated cuisine into concepts and terms non-experts can understand ("It's a salad with carrot shavings and a light lemon dressing"), you want to distill all relevant attributes of your sophisticated innovation into clear and direct answers people can understand. So that you're able to just...spit it out. In the first 10 seconds.

So, when someone asks you "What does it do?"...

>> PLEASE don't be the long-winded Bank of America Phone Rep! You don't want the other person mentally "sneezing"... like Will Smith.

• (*In real life, people don't let on that this is happening. They just smile politely. And then politely...don't give you any money.)

>> Rather, what would it mean for you to be the Savvy Server? What would it mean to have a simple - (but still comprehensive) - answer that fully addresses the question, without losing their attention? Or causing confusion?

**It requires some work, insight, and forethought for sure.

But, as the expert in your innovation, you're the one best equipped to do this. You probably don't want to leave it up to the people you're speaking with to figure out the answer from your long explanation. (Most people won't do this; it's too much work; they'll just tune out.)

You're an expert in the inner engineering and "ingredients" of your innovation. Now just tell them what it all adds up to. Tell them "it's thinly sliced beef with a light cumin gravy."

Now what?

So how does this show up in your own experience?

Where does the need for a crisp, precise answer to "What does your innovation do?" show up for you?

• Pitches to investors?
• Client presentations?
• Informal meetings with potential partners?
• High-stakes networking opportunities?

What would it mean for you if you could condense what is typically a heavy 3- or 5- or 7-minute explanation into a sleek, powerful 10 seconds -- that still delivers all the informational "nutrition" your audience needs? i.e. all the relevant facts about your innovation.

Now that you know the 10-second rule for giving answers to simple questions, how can you be the Savvy Server (and not the Bank of America Phone Rep) in your next pitch, presentation, or conversation about your innovation?

Please feel free to share in the comments below.

* * * *

Nkiruka (Kiki) Nwasokwa is a Concept Clarity Strategist who helps leading-edge Innovators to convey the transformation their projects bring to the world. She holds a degree in Mathematics from Dartmouth College with a minor in Philosophy of Science. In Igbo, her name means “the future is always brighter.” (And it is!)

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