How the rise and fall of Boris Johnson could help your next pitch

Boris Johnson’s resignation as UK Prime Minister isn’t just good news for world leaders with conservative haircuts. It’s a powerful lesson about the role authority plays in winning — and keeping —an audience.

Authority took BoJo to power. He echoed the concerns many Brits expressed around immigration and their desire for a Brexit and in doing so demonstrated a deep knowledge of many in his community. This won him authority with the electorate and they rewarded him.

Then he broke trust, lost that authority and was punished. 

His experience can be your opportunity.

In today’s corporate world, many professionals and practitioners are similarly qualified, work for companies with similar reputations, and are more than happy to sharpen their pencils to win business.

So how can a potential client or collaborator differentiate between you and your rivals when you show up to pitch your offering?

One opportunity is to rethink the concept of authority, and commit to winning it, not just bringing it.

In 2017 I visited the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation in Bethesda, Maryland, to attend a Public Innovators Lab. Harwood is Base Camp for organisations working to strengthen communities, especially deeply troubled ones.

And because it tackles some of the nastiest problems our communities can face, it has come up with some of the cleverest solutions.

Harwood is big on the importance of winning authority to take an audience with you.

To do this, the Institute’s founder, Rich Harwood, challenges us to rethink “authority”.

Authority, he says, occurs when we can stand up on a table and reflect back to the people in the room their shared aspirations and concerns — and be believed by them.

This insight opened my eyes to the missing link in many pitches and what true authority might look like.

True authority isn’t only the subject-matter knowledge a pitcher brings to a pitch. It’s the authority that is won by displaying both subject matter expertise and a deep knowledge of your audience and what’s important to them.

An audience granting you this authority is so much more powerful for your cause than any perceived authority you think you are bringing. And it might be the leg-up you need in a close race.

How to bring it — and win it.

So how do you stand on a table and reflect back to your audience their aspirations and concerns, and win the authority that really matters?

This comes down to three things:

1. Knowing your audience

2. Knowing your stuff

3. Committing to the right structure to bring them together

There are plenty of free resources on all three of these on the website and our workshops offer even more support. Taking the time to get these right is perhaps the greatest competitive advantage you can give yourself in a parity market.

More than once in Redsuit’s thirty years of successful pitching, it wasn’t the authority we brought to a pitch that was the differentiator between us and similarly qualified competition. It was the authority we won by demonstrating our deep knowledge of our audience and their challenges. And it could prove the advantage you are looking for too.

So as you prepare for your next pitch, ask yourself: what can I tell my audience about themselves and their situation that will make them want to know more about me and my offering?

Chances are it will have you digging for deeper insights and have your audience seeing in you a partner that ‘gets’ them.

It worked for Boris, and it might be enough to win you the votes that matter.

Just remember to keep that trust.

Happy Pitching!