Inside the head of every one of your prospects is a little man.

He’s from New York.

He’s grumpy, tired, and doesn’t like other people.

He’s wearing a beanie and a leather jacket, and he’s eating a dirty water hot dog.

He’s got a mustard stain on his jacket.

His name is GFY.

GFY can only say 3 words.

Go.

Fugg.

Yaself.

In a heavy New York accent.

You heard of GFY?

He stays asleep most of the time, but wakes up during shitty or mediocre advertising. When he wakes up, you lose the sale.

You see, when being pitched, people are looking for every reason in the world to stop paying attention to what you’re saying. They don’t care. They have better things to do than be sold. They have more entertaining videos to watch than yours.

Unless, of course, what you’re saying is more exciting than those other things. In any good pitch, you need to give your audience a return on their attention with each word, sentence, and paragraph.

GFY is a light sleeper, and the second your pitch becomes:

• Confusing
• Boring
• Uninspiring
• Focused on you instead of them

He wakes up. Shouts, Go Fugg Yaself, and the prospect is gone.

The question then is, how do we keep GFY asleep.

How do we provide a return on attention for our audience in such a way where they are not only interested in what you’re saying, but eager to hear more.

The way to do this is to tell a story, where each line is adding one of the following to your prospect:

• Knowledge
• Entertainment
• Intrigue
• Hope
• Release from past mistakes / shame / shortcomings

The more that you provide these to your audience, in a logical, compelling, story-driven way, the sleepier GFY gets.And that’s because you’re providing your prospect with things they value. There’s actual benefit to listening to you. So next time you’re putting your pitch together, shhhh… don’t wake GFY.

Write (or rather edit) in fear of waking up cranky New Yorker, GFY, and see if that doesn’t completely change your approach.

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