Pitching for business

AUCKLAND, Sunday: Herald on Sunday columnist Paul Catmur’s take on the lies we tell to win a pitch: “As a creative director in advertising, a large part of my job was to judge what would make a successful campaign for a client,” he writes.

“You’d hope that after 30 years or so I’d be reasonably good at it. I was probably okay, but my weakness was that I didn’t actually know, and I knew that I didn’t know.

“In a pitch, clients will generally reject anyone who says ‘I think this will work’, for the person who says ‘I know this will work’ – even though it’s clear they are lying.”

“I found it impossible to swear that any particular campaign would be a resounding success.

“All I could offer was an educated and experienced guess that it would work.

Unfortunately, if you are pitching for business the clients will generally reject anyone saying, “I think this will work”, for the person who says, “I know this will work”, even though it’s clear they are lying.

• nzherald.co.nz/why-you-listen-to-liars