Do you ever get the opportunity to make a pitch to someone? The fact is that nearly everyone has a chance to make a pitch to someone fairly often. It's how we get others to cooperate, to do something that they would likely not do were it not for our pitch. We might be pitching a family member, a business associate, a potential customer, or a total stranger. But pitch we do.

So what is the perfect pitch? Up front, it's not whether the other person does what we want him or her to do. If not that, then what?