The "Concrete" base of persuasion

It was like one of those meetings that we have all been to. A group of "interested parties" trying to brief a design company on the key messages for our new marketing brochure.  And believing that we could quickly "knock them out" ...without any prior agreement on our proposition or our distinctive competence (preferred speak for USP.) Let alone a published mission statement ...or company vision and values. And adding to the challenge...it was with some  creative agency colleagues.  So we had a room full of clever minds ...excess testosterone ...and fierce desire to see one's own idea prevail.
As generally happens the MD and I got into a row! He was insisting that we should lead off with "service excellence." "But what does that mean?" I asked.  "What are you saying?" he retorted "...that we shouldn't want to offer service excellence...that's stupid!"  He "qualified" stupid in the way that he qualifies most words when being assertive.  Then as we do ...our exchanges deteriorated into moody mutterings ...all my persuasion skills having long since "crashed!"
 If only I had read Made to Stick ...and knew then what I know now about "Concrete" as the authors apply the term to making your message work. 
I would also have known the full and proper meaning of the word Abstract!    

But then I've always known what abstract means! It means abstract...like as in abstract art. You know! Modern. Not the real thing! 
And I guess that's the first problem the MD and I had, as do so many others when communicating - not sharing the same meaning of words.  But now that I do understand better the meaning of abstract ie: considered apart from concrete existence  I can see the other problem that we also had. When you discuss things in abstract terms it leaves too much vagueness for clear understanding. To achieve that, you must convert abstract terms into their concrete equivalents or constituents.
This is the point explained so well by Chip and Dan Heath in their book.  Illustrating this with several examples, my favourite deals with the challenge of raising grants to protect California's vast  environmentally critical areas.  Acreages or area percentages were abstract. The solution was to identify the key areas they wished to protect with the recognisable "concrete" term Landscapes.
My problem with "service excellence" was that it is too abstract. To influence prospective clients, "service excellence" needed to be translated into its concrete constituents such as "cost management" or "sustainable production" or "project communication."  Then the MD and I would have had some concrete terms we could recognise  ...evaluate ...and I'm  sure to ultimately agree on.
But at the time I didn't know what abstract meant.  Next time I'll do better!

For more on persuasion visit  http://persuadability.co.uk/