Life's a Pitch

Life's a Pitch
Author: Stephen Bayley
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2011-07-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1446487644

The pitch is the absolute essence of modern business. Ideas are the most valuable commodity in the modern economy and it is human skill which develops them. However the skills of the pitch are not only relevant to the world of business, rather they apply to just about every significant personal transaction in your life... So whether at a sales conference in corporate conference room hell or over lunch at a glamorous restaurant, Life's a Pitch tells you how to handle human transactions. A pitch is not a meeting, it's a drama. A pitch is not about transferring information, it's about transferring power. It is business, but it is also theatre. Part inspirational manual for business, part guidebook to a successful and happy social life, Life's a Pitch is written as the result of an accumulated half century of (mostly successful) pitching by the authors. Ground-breaking and genre-busting, it will transform the way you think about the art of persuasion for ever.

Perfecting Your Pitch

Perfecting Your Pitch
Author: Ronald M. Shapiro
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2014-11-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0142181226

Whether you’re asking for a raise, selling but holding your price, ending a relationship, or talking to children about divorce, success is predicated on planned, effective communication. Yet, most people fail to properly prepare their message. A veteran corporate attorney, sports agent, and expert consultant, Ronald M. Shapiro has spent years developing and honing his negotiation techniques. Now, Shapiro shares the bulletproof system of scripting he calls the Three D’s: Draft, Devil’s Advocate, Deliver. Illustrating his methods with fascinating real-life stories and helpful scripts, he walks readers through the process of creating an effective message, preparing for counterarguments, and delivering the results with confidence and grace. Applicable across a broad range of situations, Perfecting Your Pitch empowers us to get the results we want.

You Get What You Pitch For

You Get What You Pitch For
Author: Anthony Sullivan
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2017-09-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0738220078

TV's most popular pitchman reveals the secrets of pitching to get what you want in virtually any situation. Anthony "Sully" Sullivan went from selling car washers in rainy Welsh street markets to selling to audiences of millions around the world as the face of OxiClean. How did he do it? Convincing people to give you what you want is an art form that takes charisma and confidence. But no great pitchman achieves success based on those qualities alone. The good ones make themselves great with practice and discipline, mastering a series of skills that Sullivan dubs the ten "Pitch Powers." These are essential techniques he's learned in more than twenty-five years "on the joint" (that's pitchman-speak for the area where you're selling). For the first time ever, Sullivan reveals the secrets behind his seemingly superhuman ability to persuade others--even if they start out regarding you with suspicion or even hostility. Do it right and you'll change minds, open doors, get opportunities, turn adversaries into allies, make more money, and gain the kind of confidence that makes other people want to know you. From the first Pitch Power ("Know Your Acceptable Outcomes") to the last ("Finish with Confidence")--with invaluable strategies along the way on using your flubs to get a laugh, how to deal with push-back, and more--Sullivan reveals that pitching is all about engaging a person face-to-face and eye-to-eye so they feel like you're speaking directly to them, even if there are fifty other people in the room. It's turning a crowd of strangers with their arms folded into a legion of fans ready to say "yes" enthusiastically to whatever you propose, what Anthony Sullivan calls fierce agreement. It's the power to get the job, get the girl (or guy), get the part, make money, get better service, advance your career--do just about anything you want to do.

Inside Pitch

Inside Pitch
Author: George Gmelch
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2006-10-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780803233867

From the spark of ambition to play baseball professionally to the necessity of reinventing life after baseball, the anthropologist and former Minor Leaguer George Gmelch describes the lives of the men who work at America's national game. Twenty-four years after his own final road trip as a minor leaguer, Gmelch went back on the road with ballplayers, this time with a pen and pad to record the details of life around the diamond. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews with Major and Minor League players, coaches, and managers, Gmelch explores players' experiences throughout their careers: being scouted, becoming a rookie, moving through or staying in the Minors, preparing mentally and physically to play day after day, coping with slumps and successes, and facing retirement. He examines the ballplayers' routines and rituals, describes their joys and frustrations, and investigates the roles of wives, fans, and groupies in their lives. Based on his own experience as a player in the 1960s, Gmelch charts the life cycle of the modern professional ballplayer and makes perceptive comparisons to a previous generation of players.

Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch
Author: Nick Hornby
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2005-05-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0141926546

*WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR* Fever Pitch is Nick Hornby's million-copy-selling, award-winnning football classic 'A spanking 7-0 away win of a football book. . . inventive, honest, funny, heroic, charming' Independent For many people watching football is mere entertainment, to some it's more like a ritual; but to others, its highs and lows provide a narrative to life itself. But, for Nick Hornby, his devotion to the game has provided one of few constants in a life where the meaningful things - like growing up, leaving home and forming relationships, both parental and romantic - have rarely been as simple or as uncomplicated as his love for Arsenal. Brimming with wit and honesty, Fever Pitch, catches perfectly what it really means to be a football fan - and in doing so, what it means to be a man. 'Hornby has put his finger on truths that have been unspoken for generations' Irish Times 'Funny, wise and true' Roddy Doyle

The Phenomenon

The Phenomenon
Author: Rick Ankiel
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2017-04-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1610396871

Rick Ankiel had the talent to be one of the best pitchers ever. Then, one day, he lost it. The Phenomenon is the story of how St. Louis Cardinals prodigy Rick Ankiel lost his once-in-a-generation ability to pitch -- not due to an injury or a bolt of lightning, but a mysterious anxiety condition widely known as "the Yips." It came without warning, in the middle of a playoff game, with millions of people watching. And it has never gone away. Yet the true test of Ankiel's character came not on the mound, but in the long days and nights that followed as he searched for a way to get back in the game. For four and a half years, he fought the Yips with every arrow in his quiver: psychotherapy, medication, deep-breathing exercises, self-help books, and, eventually, vodka. And then, after reconsidering his whole life at the age of twenty-five, Ankiel made an amazing turnaround: returning to the Major Leagues as a hitter and playing seven successful seasons. This book is an incredible story about a universal experience -- pressure -- and what happened when a person on the brink had to make a choice about who he was going to be.

Fast Pitch

Fast Pitch
Author: Nic Stone
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2021-08-31
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1984893033

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field. Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the plate. Nothing can stop her from leading her team to the U12 fast-pitch softball regional championship. But life has thrown some curveballs her way. Strike one: As the sole team of all-brown faces, Shenice and the Firebirds have to work twice as hard to prove that Black girls belong at bat. Strike two: Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her great-uncle Jack reveals that a career-ending—and family-name-ruining—crime may have been a setup. Strike three: Broken focus means mistakes on the field. And Shenice’s teammates are beginning to wonder if she’s captain-qualified. It's up to Shenice to discover the truth about her family’s past—and fast—before secrets take the Firebirds out of the game forever.

Knuckler

Knuckler
Author: Tim Wakefield
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2011-04-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0547517718

At forty-four years old, Tim Wakefield is the longest-serving member of one of baseball’s most popular franchises. He is close to eclipsing the winning records of two of the greatest pitchers to have played the game, yet few realize the full measure of his success. That his career can be characterized by such words as dependability and consistency defies all odds because he has achieved this with baseball’s most mercurial weapon—the knuckleball. Knuckler is the story of how a struggling position player bet his future on a fickle pitch that would define his career. The pitch may drive hitters crazy, but how does the pitcher stay sane? The moment Wakefield adopted the knuckleball, his career sought to answer that question. With the Red Sox, Wakefield began to master his pitch only to find himself on the mound in 2003 for one of the worst post-season losses in history, followed the next year by one of the most vindicating of championships. Even now, as Wakefield battles, we see the twists and turns of a major league career pushed to its ultimate extreme. A remarkable story of one player’s success despite being the exception to every rule, Knuckler is also a lively meditation on the dancing pitch, its history, its mystique, and all the ironies it brings to bear.

A Long Pitch Home

A Long Pitch Home
Author: Natalie Dias Lorenzi
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2016-09-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1607348705

A sensitive and endearing middle grade novel about a young Pakistani immigrant adjusting to his new life in contemporary America Ten-year-old Bilal liked his life back home in Pakistan. He was a star on his cricket team. But when his father suddenly sends the family to live with their aunt and uncle in America, nothing is familiar. While Bilal tries to keep up with his cousin Jalaal by joining a baseball league and practicing his English, he wonders when his father will join the family in Virginia. Maybe if Bilal can prove himself on the pitcher’s mound, his father will make it to see him play. But playing baseball means navigating relationships with the guys, and with Jordan, the only girl on the team—the player no one but Bilal wants to be friends with.