Perfect Pitch

Jon Steel, a pitching coach at one of the biggest marketing groups in the world, writes about winning new business through presentations. He lists the presentation crimes committed daily across the business world and sets out the pillars on which a successful pitch is built. Steel discusses how audiences think, why listening matters, and how real-world examples help a point land, along with the habits to keep and those to drop. The book covers the whole pitch process, from assembling the presentation team and running rehearsals to preparing the documents left with the client afterwards. It came out in 2006.

Bogdana Butnar, head of strategy at Poke, put it on her books to read list, which she started for younger people in advertising.