On the other hand...

Although my experience of pitching has mostly involved me pitching to someone, rarely has anyone actually pitched to me.  I'm not saying it doesn't happen; it just doesn't happen very often.

So when it did  happen two weeks ago, it allowed me to see pitching from a different perspective.

Until that point, I was convinced pitching was all one-sided; that it was only the pitcher who had the sweaty palms and quivering voice.  But recently, I've learned that the person being pitched to - the 'pitchee' if you will - is also under a considerable amount of pressure. 

• Firstly, they have to maintain a smile, even after they've been presented with a turkey of an idea.  This demands an enormous amount of willpower. (Tip: A sign that their smile is fake is when they make a dry 'click' sound when swallowing.  This means they're bored.  When this happens, I've found spontaneously breaking into song very effective.  Sunny Side of the Street or That's Entertainment always seems goes down well)
• They also have to fake interest, when what they're really thinking is, "I can't believe I made space in my diary to listen to this tripe!" Again, a telltale sign their interest isn't genuine is if they haven't blinked for twenty minutes or so (in this case, the pitchee is really asleep.  They've painted eyes on their eyelids to give the impression that they're wide awake.  The giveaway here, however, is snoring sounds coming from their side of the desk)
• They have to constantly think of new but polite reasons to cut the meeting short (this comes from bitter experience.  I'm still convinced that one time I was pitching Arthur, the fire alarm was a deliberate ploy for the guy to make a sharp exit.  He couldn't have got out of the room any quicker had he jumped out of the window and abseiled down the building)

I'm hoping now that by seeing the art of pitching from the other side of the fence, it has improved my own skills.  Of course, knowing what the pitchee is looking for is always helpful.

But if I can also know what they're really thinking, maybe I can block the exits and disconnect the fire alarms in advance...