Fruits of a misfired pitch

Seventeen years ago this week I made a fool of myself attempting to pitch a national journalist in person.

I was at one of those PR conferences where panels of journalists answer a moderator’s questions. When the formal part of the first session ended, a bunch of PR people half-raced each other to form lines in front of each journalist, hoping to introduce themselves and share a pitch in person.

I knew I was clueless, but I also knew this was a rare opportunity for face-time with top-tier media. So I ran and got in line and THEN started thinking about what I would say.

Too soon, I found myself standing there, looking down at a producer for NPR’s “Fresh Air.” This was the person who chooses who Terry Gross interviews on one of the top-rated programs on public radio. (It’s now also one of the nation’s most downloaded podcasts).

I started pitching one of my experts as a guest for the show, and I could quickly tell from the producer’s  body language that it wasn’t going well. So I just made things worse by talking faster without giving her a chance to react. Eventually she put her hand up and shook her head, then looked over my shoulder as if to say, “Run along, young man, time for me to talk to the person behind you.”

In desperation, my mind groped for anything I could use to turn the tide. It latched on to something I’d heard one solitary person on my team say once a couple months before, and I blurted it out without thinking: “Plus she’s a woman, and there aren’t many good female experts who can talk about this!”

Her eyes narrowed and her demeanor went from bored to annoyed: “Yes, there are.” Then she waved her hand, and I finally stepped aside, slinking back to my chair with my head down.

Fast forward to this week: I just spoke at that very same conference, invited to address the hundreds of experienced PR pros from around the country who gathered in DC.

I’m still the same guy I was back when I crashed and burned in front of that producer. The only difference has been 17 years-worth of shaking off nerves and cold-contacting journalists and bloggers, over and over again.

Back when I screwed up, I was ashamed and wished I hadn’t even tried. But now I take the opposite view – I’m grateful to my newbie-self for taking that risk and going for it. I learned way more in that tortuous 90 seconds than I would have in a year of merely talking about how I would “someday” pitch an expert to a national outlet.

Sure, there’s the potential downside of being unprepared and annoying someone you want to be able to go back to again later. Ideally, we should reach out once we’re sure we have the right Message to Influencer MatchTM and have our pitch fleshed out.

In my case, I actually never gave that producer my name – when it started going south, I kept my business card in my pocket :). In most cases, if you whiff, you just wait a little while, then come back with a different topic, and they don’t even remember you.

If you’ve never had a misfire, you’re not pitching often enough. If you have, make sure you’ve learned what you need to learn from it, then shake it off and get back on the phone or the keyboard. You’re leaving placements – and further learning – on the table.

To your success,

Michael

P.S. Premium-level members of my Inner Circle program get the opportunity to test-drive pitches on ME before they send them into the wild. All the slots are full –  to get more details and receive alerts when we’re about to open up, get your free Inner Circle Preview Pass.