Pitching a new idea? Do this first

Hello friends and welcome back to A Scott in the Dark. I know, so soon. I go so long and then I just get these ideas one after the other, so I'm back. I think part of it is that I get on Podomatic and I look at it and I go, "Hey, I am now #3 in the performing arts category!" So, once I see that, I think my ego kicks in and it's like, "Oh, I should do more of these." So, here, I'm back for another A Scott in the Dark episode in a relatively short time, it's been about a week, so that's pretty darn cool. 

So anyway, I am back, and I have a new topic. This is a topic that, again, this is being recorded at the beginning of February, in 2023. So, for those of you who are catching up and listening later, that's cool, I just wanted to give you a frame of reference. This particular topic is one that has come to me, I think partially, because at this point in time, I'm in Abu Dhabi working on a large project, so I'm living here for an extended amount of time. As I walk around everybody asks, "Are you doing something haunt-related in Abu Dhabi?" And the answer is, "No, not at all. This is more theme park related." But this is clearly a brand-new market. 

There is some Halloween stuff here, but I think everybody is eager to do more, especially the American ex-pats who are in control of a lot of the operational side, at least for what I've experienced for the parks and such. So, I've had just, you know, off-the-cuff conversations with a couple of different people saying, "Hey, we'd love to do Halloween. Is that something that you do?" My response is, "Yeah, that's something I do." Plus, it's also early in the year, so there are those folks who are trying to get all of their Halloween stuff lined up. 

In our last show, I talked about what I was missing about the Transworld show, and one of the things that I've talked about in that show is seeing all the cool stuff on the trade show floor and getting those orders in. I've heard from many friends that the orders went in, and by the end of the show many things were already sold out, and it's February, so that's kind of a bummer. But there are people who are still trying to finalize their concepts. I guess it's not a bummer for vendors, by the way, it's quite wonderful for vendors. They're getting a lot of money upfront and so they can get their whole year, sort of sussed out, figure out, "Oh, got to make 40 of these and 30 of these, and 120 of these, and we got the money for it." So, that's pretty cool.

But is the time when pitches are being made, new ideas are being thrown out there and trying to get finalized. So, I thought because A) I'm in a market that Halloween is expanding and B) we're at a time of year where we're doing these kinds of pitches, and I've done multiple pitches. So, I thought I'd do A Scott in the Dark episode about pitching new ideas and pitching to new clients. 

So, I think the most important thing to remember is, part of the reason it's called pitching is because you want to make sure it gets caught, and there may be a whole bunch of stuff that gets in the way, whether it's the wind or a batter. I'm sorry, me, using a baseball reference? Really? But it's happening. I know I'm shocked too. We want to pitch it so that it can be caught. So, in other words, you have to identify all of the things that can break down in communication between you and the person, or people, who are going to make that final decision. Those people who are going to say, "Yes, this is what we're going. To do." Or, "No, go back to the drawing board and try something." 

So, hopefully, in this episode, we'll be able to identify some ways to get around any sort of miscommunication, some ways to prepare so that your communication, your pitching of information, is appropriately caught without getting smacked into a foul ball situation somewhere. I'm sorry, I'll stop with the sports references. So, anyway, we're going to

see if we can figure out the best way, or at least based on my experience, some ways that you can at least consider to incorporate into your own personal style, to pitch new ideas, new concepts, to pitch yourself to new clients. 

Now I'm. In a unique position, because as an independent contractor, I'm not always looking for new clients, I love to go back and work for my existing clients, which I do quite regularly, but every now and then I have to pitch to a new client. I think the most important thing with any sort of pitch, whether you are pitching a concept to somebody who's never done a haunt before, you're pitching a new idea to your own team, or you’re pitching a radical expansion that's going to require a great deal of money and you have to get everybody on board in the finance department in order to make it all happen. I think the most important thing is, know your audience. Know what they want, or the information they need to hear. That is by far the most important piece of information I can give you, the most important advice I can give you. Know your audience. 

Don't do a pitch that sounds cool to you and your friends just because it sounds cool to you and your friends. Put yourself in the other person's shoes. Make sure that the catcher is ready to receive the information that you are pitching. I know I said I was going to stop with sports references, they just don't suit me. Sorry. It made sense at the time when I wrote my notes. So, anyway, know your audience. What are they going to respond to? What are they going to respond to positively? What are they going to respond to negatively? I've even gone so far, before pitches or before sharing new ideas with new clients, is to see if I can find out if there are any buzzwords that are going to throw them off the deep end in the wrong direction. That are immediately going to make them shut down because they will only fixate on one thing? 

One of my clients in the past, for example, I found out they did not want blood, guts, or gore. So, I had to pitch something that did not include blood, guts, or gore, because I was told that the moment you mentioned blood, they're going to fixate on that and they're going to think that you don't have anything else to offer. So, again, know your audience. What do they want to hear? What are the buzzwords that are going to set them off in the wrong direction? And what is something that they think is really cool? You know, if you can get that information, you can craft your pitch to make it significantly more impactful. 

One of the ways that you can look at your audience is, ask the question, how well do they understand the haunted attraction industry? Because, for me at least, I'm pitching not just to the same people over and over again. I realize that for some of you, that is the case. If you have new ideas and you want to pitch them to your bosses who you've worked for 20 years, that you probably already know your audience and they know haunts work. 

Let's talk a little bit about sort of the two ends of the continuum as to how well people know haunts. Let's assume that you are the kind of person that's pitching to somebody who knows haunted attractions very well. I have several clients who've come to me, they've been doing haunts for many years, many, many years, and they'll come to me and they'll say, "Hey, Scott, you kind of know our product. What would you do?" 

So, I think the way I've approached it is, with any pitch you need to start with your North star. Why are you doing this pitch? Why are you doing this enhancement improvement, new haunt, new concept, new storyline, whatever? What is it you want to accomplish? What is a measurable goal? I think that that's a good thing to lead with because that way it kind of forms a litmus test for you as you're creating the rest of the pitch, but it also helps the person you're pitching to, to know, "Here's where we're headed, now let me explain all the steps to get there."

I am, and this will come as no surprise, a huge proponent of pitching the story first. Pitch a good, strong story, tell a great story. If you are a good storyteller, do the pitch. If you're not a good storyteller, find someone who is. Verbal storytelling is one of the strongest pitch tools you can find. Having been on both sides of pitches from back in my theme park days, I was required to sit in on multiple pitches for new shows, new concepts, new haunts, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. One of the best pitches we ever got, they did two things that were super smart. One, they told a full and complete story, and as they were telling it, of course, they integrated, "And we could use this that you already have, or we could use this that is off the shelf." 

Don't lead with money unless you've been given a budget upfront. If they say you have X amount of dollars, then what I would suggest is, before you start telling your story say, "Here is a story that could be told for the budget that you have allotted to this project." So, that puts their mind at ease. That way, they're not thinking through the whole story, "I told them it's only this much, this story sounds too expensive. We'll never do it." Then, of course, you have to deliver on that, but that's we'll get into that in a second. 

Make sure you pitch the story, and make sure that you share the dollars. This is for a live pitch. This is if you're going to either do it via Zoom, Teams, or whatever, in person. That right that still exists doesn't it? People do still talk to people in person. Who'd have thought? 

So, for a live pitch make sure that you find a great story, find a great way to tell it. If they know haunts already, or have been doing haunts already, if you can find out some of their current assets that are still in good shape that they would like to reutilize, that's a huge help, not only for you but for them. It gives you a jumping-off point, and it gives them a point of reference to say, "You know what? We bought this XYZ prop five years ago it fits in our old theme, but may not fit in the new theme, but we still got it, and we'd still kind of like to use it." If you as a creative person can come up with a new way to use it, then go ahead and make that part of your pitch. Say, "You know, I know you've got this exploding tractor animation." I don’t know whether anybody makes an exploding tractor animation. "That still works, and should you continue to use it, here's a way you can. Here's a way you could incorporate that into your new concept." 

Also, if at all possible, get some sort of ground plan of, at least the building, so you know you're telling a story that will fit in the space. It's another thing that's kind of important as far as knowing their current assets. If they know the haunt industry, you can use shortcuts to pitch ways that your new idea is going to be easily instituted or implemented, and easily operated. Because people who know haunts already know how difficult it is to operate them, and if you pitch something that doubles their cast size, requires fifteen additional staff members, or requires them to get certain permits for things that they've never done before, they're going to shut you down. So, find ways to create a story, to create a concept, that will make it easier for existing haunters to operate their haunts. 

So, now let's go to the other side of the spectrum. What if you were doing a live pitch for somebody who knows 0 to nothing, or little to nothing about the haunted attraction industry? So, if they don't know at all, you have to educate them. You have to take them along, not as if they've been through 100 haunted houses. You have to take them along as though you're sharing your experience with them. You know, I've got a lot of years of experience, and in fact, I think that's part of the reason that I get hired for a lot of gigs. People know, "Well, he's done this before. So even though I don't know whether I'm 100% certain he's doing it right, he's had experience doing XY and Z." So, you kind of have to give them a little bit of back story, you have to educate them as to what's going on.

One of the things that will help you with that is to figure out why they want to do it. If you can figure out why the new client wants to do a haunt, then it will help you educate them in the right way. Do they want to do it because they think it's a quick buck? Ha-ha! Are they profit-motivated, is that where they want to go? Design accordingly so that you have a really low operating budget, perhaps a low capital expense budget, or you may have somebody who says, "I want to spend lots in capital and very little in operations or I want to spend a lot in operations and very little in capital." If you can get that kind of information ahead of time, you can design the pitch, and their education, to their needs, to their desires, what they want. 

I think you are usually best served to get their buy-off on the concept, but don't go into huge detail about the concept. But when you're pitching the concept, give them the overarching story and one or two things that are stand out. You know, those things that guests talk about as they leave a haunt. So, "we've got this room, which is where this happens. Here's the overarching story. We've got this room where this happens, and then here this really amazing effect happens, which is basically taking two existing effects, putting them together, and creating something that nobody in your market has ever seen before." You know, those are the kinds of words people want to hear, especially if they don't know a whole lot about haunting. 

I'm not saying make it up. I'm not saying BS them. What I'm saying is, make sure that there are things that excite them. That's probably the most important thing that you're trying to do, is to excite them. This goes back to, why are they doing the haunt? You know, do they just want to do something cool? I've had clients who just have a bunch of money, they just want to do something cool, and they love Halloween, so they decide, "Let's do a haunted attraction." 

I have one client that I've worked for, for many years, who isn't really focused on the profit, but is more focused on the attention that it brings to their venue. Which is great, because our venue is used year-round for other things. Are they trying to do something cool? Are they trying to make big bucks? Where do they fall in that continuum? Are they half and half? They want something cool that eventually needs to make money. Or is it all about the money? So, figure out where that is and that will help you not only design your concepts but also pitch your story. Again, this is all if you're doing this pitch in person. 

In my opinion, there are a few subtle differences between pitching live and pitching in like a written format. When you're pitching live, make sure that you think visual. Do not put together a bunch of PowerPoint slides, or keynote slides, that you're just going to read to them. If you're just going to read to them, why not just have them read it? Why do it as a live piece? That doesn't mean you can't have words on there. You absolutely can, and in fact, what I will often do is I will put words on the presentation slides more for me than for them. But if they want to follow along or get the basic idea they can. I want to talk to them, I don't want them to read stuff that I'm saying, if that makes any sense at all. So, think visual, use pictures to help tell the story, and use charts for numbers, for dollars, for anticipated throughput. 

Use charts, use pictures. 

Use pictures, charts, graphs, pie charts, those kinds of things. 

Use pictures.

Again, when you're doing a live pitch. You don't want them to take the time to really dive into the information, because I don't think that's fair. I think what you really want them to do is, get excited about the product so that you can move on to the next level of the development. 

I'm not trying to say you want to bamboozle them just because it's a live pitch. It's like, "I'm going to throw so much information, I'm just going to give you all these fun graphics and pictures, etcetera." But also have a printed version for them. Have a PDF version so that they can take it home and dig a little deeper if they want to. Don't give that. PDF version to them beforehand, alright? Don't let them read ahead. Because then you can't engage them in the moment. Remember, you want to pitch the information so that it is caught, and they get excited about it. So, make sure that you have that information, but don't let them read ahead. 

If you're going to do a written pitch versus a live pitch, I think it's even more important to explain why you want to do this attraction. "I want to create a walk-through immersive experience," so a simple explanation of what it is, "that terrifies adults between the ages of 14 and 25, and utilizes a cast of 15," really small, "and engages guests in a post-experience social media game that we can continue to use as, not only a marketing tool, but perhaps generates additional revenue." So, there's a basic North Star, that's what you're trying to accomplish. 

Everything else you talk about in this written pitch, and you can do this to a certain extent in a live pitch as well, but I think it's even more important than a written pitch because they have a chance to go back and literally read, "is this accomplishing the goal that he/she/they set out? So, make sure that you explain why, what is the North Star? Where are we headed? Use that as a litmus test and make sure that the pitch does what you say it's going to do. 

Again, tell a great story, but before you go into a huge, drawn-out, guest narrative, or even a full venue flow before you get the gig. My suggestion is, if you can, pitch three or four one-sheet concepts. I have one client that this is what they hire me to do first. My first contract is to just write one sheets for them that don't have any breakdown as far as, "Here's what room 1 looks like. Here's what Room 2 looks like. Here's what Room 3 looks like." Then, the second phase of my contract is, they will pick one of those and I will develop it into a full venue flow. What I don't want to have happen is, because Halloween is so subjective, I want my clients to see that I can do ghosts, I can do blood, guts and gore, I can do vampires, I can do elegant, or I can do visceral. Again, everybody has their own vibe as to what is scary. Not everyone is scared by the same thing. So, if you could do a series of one sheets prior and let the client pick which one they want explored in greater detail, that's awesome, that's amazing. So, I strongly recommend that. 

Now there are people who will say, "Well, you're just giving away way too much information." I got more ideas, I've got more stupid crazy concepts than I could ever pitch to 1,000 clients in 1,000 years. So, I don't buy that, I don't buy that you're selling the farm. What you're really doing is, you are getting them to pay you, I get paid for all these different concept developments, these top-line concept developments. I get paid to do that, and then I get paid more to actually do the venue flows. So, if you could do that, I strongly recommend it. 

If you're doing just a cold pitch that you're not getting paid for upfront, then come up with 3 one paragraph concepts and say, "Here's how all of these apply." If the client has come to you and said, "I want vampires." Great! Do a big *** vampire pitch. Sorry, do a great big vampire pitch, there could be kids listening, I don't know. Do a great big vampire pitch, but if you're not sure, especially if it's a new client, give them a little bit of wiggle room and find out how you can test the waters with the ideas that you have. 

Call out some off-the-shelf stuff, some haunt props, that can be immediately incorporated. I love to do this. I mentioned it earlier, but I love to do this, especially in written pitches. Then when you do a flavor board, which I always do with my written pitches, and for those of you who don't know, a flavor board is a series of images that create the same feeling or vibe that you're trying to convey in the words. I have just recently started using some of the AI generators to create images for flavor boards, and those are really, really messed up and fun to play with. They're not all I use, because if I know that a specific vendor has a specific mannequin that I think is really good, really strong, very realistic, I may go straight to their website and I'll nab the photo of it, put it into the flavor board, and actually put a little note under saying, "This is from suchandsuch.com," so that they can go and see what kind of quality merchandise they have, and if they're lucky enough to go to a trade show, they may actually get a chance to see it there. So, they know that it's called out. This does two things. Number one, it shows that your ideas are executionable... not executional, could be if you're killing people, but are executable. That they're executable, but it also shows that you understand the industry and you've done a little bit of extra homework, or you have experience with various vendors, and you know how to get stuff, you know what to get, You know what you like. So, it kind of helps you in both directions. 

Once you've got the first full concept ready to go, flesh it out. Flesh it out. I actually think that written pitches have to have two parts. I think the first part is kind of, "Here's what I think," but you're more fishing for ideas. Then say, in a perfect world, "Now let's get together and I will flesh out this one idea that you really like, and I will do a live-in person pitch for you." So, now you know, "OK, they don't like this, they don't like this, they do like this, and I'm going to spend the majority of my time making the best proposal I can for something that looks just like that." So, that's in a perfect world, you don't always get the chance to do that. But if you can, flesh it out, make it really cool. 

Then when you're ready to close, when they say, "OK. We like this idea. We think that your numbers are close. Here's the budget that we have," which most clients won't tell you because they won't necessarily know, so be willing to say, "Here's the ballpark that I think we can do this in." Keep thinking about time. If you're doing this pitch in September and they want to open in October, your prices are going to be five times higher because you're going to have to borrow and buy from people who've already bought stuff, because nothing's going to be available. Even down to lumber and that sort of thing. 

Also, think timeline for anything that's coming in from outside the country. If you listen to Green Tagged Theme Park in 30, you've heard Philip and I talk about this over and over and over again. Take into consideration that time equals money. Take into consideration the rest of your commitments, how much time can you give to this specific product? And that will help you set those milestones. Then also set up a payment schedule. 

Set a payment schedule, "I get paid X amount at this time." I'm making this up because I have a different payment schedule for almost every client I work with, but maybe it's, "Upon signing of the contract I get 25%, and then at the approval of the full venue flow I get 50%/ Then upon opening of the attraction," or sometimes I've even done closing of the attraction, depending on what their cash flow is like, "then I get my final 25%." Again, that's up to you, but work that out, and make that payment schedule part of the contract. That is negotiable, and if they say, "No, we're not going to pay you until the end," then you may have to charge them more, because you have to float all the money upfront for everything that you do. 

Again, you're thinking, "Well, Scott, you're a creative how much money are you floating upfront?" I still have to pay rent, or I still have to pay a mortgage. I still have to pay my mortgage on a regular basis. I can't go to my mortgage company and say, "Well, I've got a big gig that I'm going to finish in two months, so why don't you just hold those mortgage payments and I'll pay you when I get paid." You can't do that. So, work in that payment schedule. Maybe you can say, "If I'm paid at the end, it is this price. There is a 15% discount if I get 25% or 50% upfront." Certainly, things that you can look at. I think it's important to negotiate these things because you don't want to over-promise and under-deliver, number one. Number two, you're trying to build a relationship with these clients, especially if it's a new client. So, if you can build a relationship that's based on transparency, clarity, and you show that, "I've thought through this." Then hopefully you're developing a good long working relationship with this new client, or reinforcing a relationship that you already have with an existing client. 

Then after all of that's done, then you have to get to work and write the darn thing, create the darn thing, direct the darn thing, or direct and cast the darn thing. So, that's when the work really starts. I've done a bunch of shows about all those topics, and I will continue to do more. So, that is my a little bit disjointed and somewhat rambly show about pitching new ideas to new or existing clients. I hope that you're able to take at least one or two ideas from this and integrate them into your next pitch so that you can be successful whether you are an outside vendor, or even a specific vendor who does lighting, or just an internal haunt actor who really has a cool idea that you think is perfect for your haunt for the upcoming season.

All right, well, that's the end of this episode. Thank you so much for listening, again, for sticking with me, even though I don't record these very often. I'm glad to be back so quickly compared to the last one. Until next time, this is Scott Swenson saying, rest in peace.