Jan 28
How to detect bullshit instantly…and gain confidence while doing so.
Over the past 8 years I have trained thousands of people how to master their pitch on stage and how to persuade others to believe in them. And here is one little tricked that may have made the difference.
Most people I meet think pitching is about delivering as much information as possible as fast as possbile. But its not. They couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, pitching is only about two things: earning time and building trust (read more on this here).
Pitching is about two things: earning time and building trust.
Put simply: you earn time during the pitch and build trust during the following Q&A (question and anwsers) session. And this is the moment were the tricky questions are asked and your honesty is evaluated.
Pro Tip: be honest.
Serisouly, be honest, it always pays off.
But hang on, I know what you are thinking! “Fake it till you make it?” Well no, you shouldn't. Or simply put: if you have strong evidence that something is going to work, but you are still lacking the final bullet proof evidence — go ahead, this is fair game. But if you have no clue and you are just trying to wing it, stop right here!
Now of course you shouldn't bullshit, simple as that. But there is something else. Bullshit can easily be detected, in fact even more simple than you think. Fun thing is, somehow everyone thinks they are the masters of the poker face…but guess what, they rarely are.
“But I always got away with it!”
No. You quite likely just weren’t put on the spot and confronted because the others were too polite or just couldn't be bothered.
And this is were my little dirty trick comes in.
I have made it a habit to randomly ask people in my trainings, without warning and context one simple question:
“Whats your favorite animal?”
First thing is always that look. Utter confusion.
But then something nearly instantly happens.
Either people look me dead in the eye and then somewhat still confused say “dog” or “cat” or “hippopotamus” but the answer is always given in the same way: one single word and direct eye contact. Lets call them Type A.
They are confused or sometimes even shocked about the question but utterly confident about the answer. And this is key. Take me as an example. I love dogs. And no matter when you ask me the answer will always be “dog” — even if you would wake me up at 4:37AM in the morning shouting “whats your favorite animal?” …”dog.” It will always be “dog” — no matter how much you pressurize me or doubt my answer. “Dog.”
And then there is the other type. Lets call them Type B.
Same confused look. But thats the only similarity. Then it starts. Or rather. The pause starts. And then usually the inhaling begins followed by an “Ummmm” and then *that* look. Not straight in the eye but rather to the top and left (or right).
Now I know what you are thinking: its about the direction you are looking, left is truth and right is lie. But that turns out to be bullshit and also goes in-line with my first hand experience: looking left or right doesn’t mean a thing other than as it turns out this is a popular myth originated in NLP training in the 1970s. You can read more on this here for starters. But its something else that is a clear giveaway for me.
The rambling starts. “Favorite animal? Ummmmm. Yes, ummmm, I like animals. Favorite animal? Ummmmm…I guess….ummmm, the fluffy ones. Ummm, you know the ones that arent so smelly. Yes, dogs. Yeah, dogs I guess.”
And this is were the fun starts. I just hold eye contact and don’t say a thing.
Now Type A usually stays calm and they stick with their answer. Good stuff.
But Type B reacts differntly: they go on the defence:
“I mean who doesn't like dogs? I also like cats. They are great. My cousing has a hamster, I like hamsters too! But dogs are good. Do you like dogs? What do you like. Cats, yes…”
Now this pattern is very obvious and easy to spot. You have to try it out and see for yourself, how easy it is to detect bullshit in an instant and how quickly you get proficient in it.
But you can turn it around.
As quickly as you get proficient in spotting bullshit you also get proficient in spotting something else: confidence.
As quickly as you get proficient in spotting bullshit you also get proficient in spotting something else: confidence.
Now here comes the most important part. Try and understand what it means for you and more specifially for you when you are delivering answers!
“How much money are you looking for?” A typical investors’ question!
Lets have Type B go first:
“Well, thats a great question. Its difficult to say exactly…well good people are expensive and we are in the midst of a pandemic and..uuummmm…you know its hard to tell and we are still not quite sure but we think we need maybe…uhhhhmm, let me think — maybe $1 million to $ 2.5 million.” You get the idea.
Now Type A:
“$ 1 million.” And hold it right there. If the person asking the questions wants to know more, they will ask. Pure confidence. Put the answer first. (of course you can make it a complete sentence).
“MRR?” — “$ 50k”
“Acquistion cost?” — “10$”
“Next milestone?” — “Break even by December 2022.”
Go to market strategy? …
Now reflect on the way you have been answering questions in the past and figure out if you are Type A or Type B and decide who you want to be. And understand how much confidence you need in the acutal answer you are giving and how to get there. Hard work and doing your homework.
And belief.
Not trying to influence you here…
Thank you very much for reading this…in fact, if you found this helpful and want me to create more content around pitching and public speaking, please take a second and follow me here on medium or clap on this article. Or both … this really helps me a lot!
And if you want to know more about me: www.daniel-cronin.com
