Persuadability

Generation X and Y uncovered

2011-06-20T03:51:00.000-07:00

I admit I was only ever vaguely aware of the Generation X and Generation Y debate...

...And it was only when my colleague John kept referring to it in that knowing way that people “in the know” do when they know you’re not – in the know that is - that I felt inclined to take a closer look. With many original opinions claimed on the subject the most readable explanation was an article by Jo Jackson.
Jo brings opinion up to date and introduces Generation Z - born post 1995 - and of course as happens with these social profiling questions the first thing I wanted to know is where I fitted in? Well it obviously wouldn’t be “X” or “Y” I knew that much about it. “Boomer” seemed a fair bet - what with the 60’s and all that. But I certainly wasn’t prepared for the shock I got on discovering I was a “Veteran!!” Yep – post war cohort born 1928 to 1945 - surely not? And as I read on... “disciplined ...respect for law and order ….comfortable with command management style” confirmed it -yes that’s me all right.
But hold a second - “optimistic, ambitious and loyal ….job status conscious.” Yes, that’s me too - and that’s your Baby Boomer. OK I'm happy now - I’m on the cusp.

: Generation Y

Even if unread on the subject you won't have escaped the Generation X and Y effect if you’ve been in any kind of communication or relationship oriented career, had kids, or paid attention to the world around you as you grew up.
Certainly as a know-it-all 15 year old I had different values and opinions to my dad, my schoolteacher, the caretaker who “policed” the flats where we lived, and practically everyone remotely connected with authority – which was anyone more than 5 years older than me. And together with my mates I insured those differences were always recognised by talking in an alternative language designed to confuse and exclude our elders.
Then when I was a 20 year old I experienced the second phase - Next Generation Reversed Perspective. It was the Beatle's Christmas Concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. We'd taken two 15 year olds - and overhearing them chatting about the upcoming acts I realised they were talking in a language that now excluded me! It got worse when they gasped in disbelief on reading that one of their heroes "was 21!!" I gulped in dismay - realising that I was now officially past it.
Get to the point please...

Winding forward to my 40's I then remember working with a former boss and mentor - he'd always been a role model for his directness and fluency with words - and hearing his "anarchic" young team agreeing "he'd always use ten words when three would do!"
And then only last week Holly was telling me "Gran-dad ...I'd love to hear the end of your story ...but I must get on!" Bless her.
So inter-generation dialogue has always been an issue. But it certainly is more conspicuous now because of mobile communication technology and social networks. But they haven't caused the problem. They've certainly encouraged a new alternative language of phonetics and shorthand - things need to be said quicker as Holly points out.

Keep out - Generation Y only

But it's not just about brevity. The "Y" and "Z's" really love their 'phones and facebook. They provide peer acceptance, empowerment and inclusiveness - all huge issues in a coming-of-age generation. And issues that in turn influence and shape values, beliefs, needs and opinions - shepherding individual belief systems into the strongly defined group identities we now see.
As anyone in communications knows it's the belief system that lies at the heart of choices and decisions that we make. So as we strive for hearts and minds - tailoring the message for the distinctive groups ...and getting it across in a minimum of words seems a pretty essential strategy.
But inclusiveness has an exclusive side to it as far as outsiders are concerned - and as brand managers and employee engagement managers rush to embrace social media they need to ensure there is congruence between message and messenger - or else the audience won't let them in.
Listening to a "Generation X going on Vet" talking about his "wicked apps" is more likely to prompt thoughts of disco dad rather than garner attention and create rapport with this generation.

The map is not the territory!

2010-12-06T03:54:00.000-08:00

The map is not the territory?
I took a long time to work that one out when I did my NLP Practitioner training.
For a start I've always been very comfortable with maps "so why should anyone else have problems?" was my reaction. Navigation is a straightforward exercise. I instinctively know my east from my west and I've always followed those instincts whenever needing direction - whether in a big city at home or on holiday in a dusty hire car.
Of course there was the one exception when I drove from Lake Garda to Milan some 6 years ago.

I left Garda and drove south to join the A4 - my "hard-wired" mental map directing me that I should turn left and head east towards Milan and Venice. Now whilst Venice is indeed to the east - Milan is actually to the west. And with Italian motorway junctions being a bit tricky it was easy not to notice that in following the Milan sign I'd turned right and was heading west. Later when returning from Milan and rejoining the A4 the first sign I see is Venice - my mind map says "not that way - head west away from Venice."
It was as much denial as disbelief when I neared Turin. When a helpful local insisted I must turn around and drive back my mind wouldn't accept. Even the Dolomites to my left was not "mountain of evidence" enough to convince me that I was travelling east not west. Bardolino is only a short distance up the east side of Lake Garda. When I finally hit the lake - which inexplicably had now shifted south of the A4 - I chose to drive round it's entire west, north and east sides before reaching Bardolino from the "wrong end??"
That "mind freaking experience" of 6 years ago prompted understandable curiosity in an article published recently in Current Directions in Psychological Science which covers our capacity to orientate ourselves.
Dealing particularly with architecture and the layout of buildings it explains how the mind builds a cognitive map as you enter a new building. It creates a layout of objects and shapes which we then use to navigate our way back out as we leave and back in when we revisit. Apparently, what the mind doesn't do very well is store a record of the route we took - that sequence of left and right turns that we made.

Now that very much explains a problem I have when asked to remember directions that are coded in the format: "1st left ...2nd right ...4th on the right." Forget it! Because I will.
My processing preference is definitely for recognizable landmarks: "left by the park ....right at McDonalds ....and right by the Ford dealers."
There are some inevitable parallels that we can make here with the ways in which we communicate with others and attempt to influence their thinking.
You will have built your own "mental layouts" of knowledge and experience of - well pretty much everything really. The way you encountered situations and stored the parts became your map.
Now your map it isn't going to be wildly different from other peoples but different nonetheless.
So at the simplest level of communication - if for example you're wanting something done and you assume understanding and don't check - you'll probably not get the job done as you'd hope.
At a more extreme level when you're putting people under some pressure - like overselling ideas or being demanding then there is a very good chance that you and the other party are going to be in two different places altogether - like Turin when it should be Garda!

Get working on that inner self

2010-11-27T10:26:00.000-08:00

Listening to the radio yesterday and hearing some 'phone in requests I realised how naturally humble we tend to be!
"I'd just like to say...." "I'd just like to ask..."
And it's the same when somebody receives an award or is invited to make an impromtu speech at a leaving do or something like it.
"I'd just like to thank..." "I'd just like to mention..."
Listen to us! What is it that we're really saying?
"Forgive the intrusion ...this won't take long I'll just be a few minutes?
"I'm not worthy of this attention that I'm attracting to myself?
"Whatever I say I know it'll be rubbish so I'll lower your expectations now!"

I reckon it's one of those cultural things that history has blessed or cursed us with. Whether we're a product of the forelock touching toiling class or the stiff upper-lipped landed gentry. Who can say?
Certainly not me I dropped history in the 2nd year at school.
But what I will say is that such a simple phrase as "just like to" - together with the inevitable excusatory voice tone and body language has a powerfully negative effect on the message that we communicate.
And it's this devlish thing called sub-conscious communication at work again. That cunning second channel into the other parties mind that is so sensitive to auditory and visual signals. To the extent that it can undermine and over-ride the words travelling in via the conscious channel.
My colleague Julie at career change specialists Churchill Brook talked recently about candidate performance at interview. She highlighted how candidates who were currently employed displayed significantly more confidence and presence than candidates who were not working - and of course how this influences the outcome of interviews.
How we outwardly express ourselves through our non-verbal language is of course an outcome of the way we inwardly feel. But it seems that few of us recognise this and take steps before an important presentation or interview to prime our inner self.
There are several simple and highly effective "inner-self workouts" you can try such as affirmations, visualisation and reframing - the link will tell you more about them.
But also ask yourself how thoroughly you plan and prepare for that interview or presentation. Go on be honest - do you tell people that you're good on your feet or better when spontaneous? Yeah right!!
When you are clear about the specific outcomes you want to achieve - and equally clear about the steps you will take to achieve that outcome - then you effectively create for yourself a flight plan.
Now you know where you're going and how you're getting there.
You are confidently able to direct things - and it shows!

For more tips and advice visit http://persuadability.co.uk

Men really are from Mars!!

2010-11-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

Why is it blokes can't read body language?
Now it's not that I was eavesdropping ...but you know how it is in Costa with the tables being so up close and personal!
I'd have said they were meeting for the first time? It's usually the case when you see couples showing exaggerated interest in the mundane background stuff they chat about. And it was going very well. Leaning forward ...faces cradled in hands - they were mirroring in perfect rapport. Big smiles. Tentative touching when they got up to order seconds - yes definitely must have been a first date.
Then I heard him say that he still lived with his parents!

Her smile went. The voice lost its happy ring. Hands dropped into her lap as she sat back in her chair locking her feet together under her chair. "Is that mine?" she asked - turning her attention to the toasty with a suddenly acquired interest in moving things along.
He of course hadn't noticed a thing! He happily continued - leaning in and going on with the same hyper-enthusiam. Whilst she - now fully out of rapport - was visibly backing away from this "alien" from another world. This person whose body language was saying "yes" when her's was definitely saying "no!"
Because it isn't just words that consciously register and suggest disagreement.
More telling is the non-verbal language that unconsciously registers and confirms disagreement!
What I was observing does of course go on everyday in both both personal and business relationships. Even in telephone conversations

The daft thing is that most of the time we are actually trying to behave in the right way. As an illustration of this picture the scenario:
Angry customer telephoning customer services: "That TV you installed isn't working. It cost £700 and I'm missing the cup final!"
Customer Service Agent #1 with a doubting tone says: "I am surprised. I'm sure there can't be anything seriously wrong with one of our new state of the art LCD HD sets"
Fair answer but wrong answer. The customer wants empathy not questioning of his complaint. Sensing no sympathy for how he feels, he demands his money back.
Customer Service Agent #2 with an angry disappointed tone says: "Really!! That is not good! We need to quickly sort this out for you."
Good answer and right answer. The customer senses a likeminded response. They're in rapport and he is happy to be talked through the set up steps as the agent now shifts into calm problem solving manner.
This is pacing and leading at work. Matching the non-verbal language as it reflects the mood and rhetoric of somebody before using it to lead them out of conflict and into resolution.
Yes our friend at Costa's needs to learn to mirror the "state we don't want to be in" language of his friend and lead her out of it - otherwise he'll always be living with his mum.

For more tips on persuasion go to http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Allow people to persuade themselves

2010-11-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

I talked in the previous post about the "ying and yang of persuasion." And about borrowing the soft hands techniques of Tai Chi - where you use the force of an opponents argument to your advantage.
Allowing somebody to persuade themselves towards the outcome you want is undoubtably the best form of persuasion. I'm convinced of it - it's what I've been observing in business for over 40 years.

I first consciously applied it in sales. Not as a salesman but as an Area Sales Manager - the best job there is in which to learn and practice influence and persuasion. Because it exposes you to situations every day: Sitting in on a sales interview where with a coach's 3rd party perspective you see and feel so much more than when you're actually doing the selling. And as a Manager and coach - encouraging people with different needs and personalities to meet team goals and standards.
Generally speaking people don't want to be told what to do. And that is definitely the case if you suggest that what they're doing isn't good enough. So launching in with a direct "I think this is what you should do" approach just doesn't work. You'll most probably get a defensive reaction. If you don't ...then the chances are you're being temporarily tolerated ...just for a quiet life. Once you're gone with no commitment made they revert to old ways and attitudes.
I was reminded of all this when catching up with one of the old team from those early days and we talked about the success of the team and in particular the dynamics of area meetings.

Apart from revelling in the flattery which was very enjoyable it was good to hear how he had taken on board and applied the same approach in his subsequently successful career:
At meetings he would establish and agree the team goal.
Then invite suggestions on tactics - and lead towards consensus on the preferred tactic - which happened of course to be his choice too.
With ownership of tactics secure he would invite the first bids on individual targets and identify the predictable gap.
Then allow further debate to shapen up the tactics followed by further bids - knowing just as he had years previously that personal conviction plus a bit of self-esteem would ensure an achievable but stretching pledge would fill the gap!
Then he would confirm commitment - again remembering just how he would always achieve any target he'd agreed and committed to - and knowing full well that I would probably have settled for less!

Use ying and yang to get agreement

2010-11-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

I must get back into the routine of Tuesday evening Tai Chi.

The first hour is very well spent on the "health" aspects - practicing the moves and understanding the breathing and skeletal massage benefits.
The second hour our teacher Bernie gets us on the martial arts stuff - that is great fun.
Not necessarily the diving forward rolls onto a mat - that makes me giddy! Nor the stamina building routines - holding weights and swinging your arms at shoulder height for several painful minutes. Nor is it necessarily the sparring with the gloves on - its a nose protector not gum shield that I need! But Bernie explains that "you need this stuff just in case it kicks off outside the chippy on a Saturday night!"
The part I get the biggest kick out of is the pushing hands practice. Embodying one of Tai Chi's key principals of using your opponents force to your advantage - it teaches you to be alert and sensitive to their imminent movement and then to allow their own attacking momentum to unbalance them. Initiate the attack yourself and you end up on all fours!

It's a principal that I find serves us very well in resolving conflict or when influencing opinions towards our own point of view.
Disappointingly we are inclined to counter-attack when our opinions are challenged. Which is fine if you just want to enjoy a good row but not very productive if agreement is the end aim.
And an attack can be very innocent in it's intent. Simply saying "you're wrong!" "that's not the case!" "I disagree!" signals a difference which in turn means that you're on opposite sides. And the shields go up.
We have our own "soft hands" that we can use to counter disagreement:
Keep quiet - listen intently - don't rush in with a response.
Nod your head in apparent agreement
Empathise with a response like: "fair point" "I think I can see why you say that"
Qualify their thoughts: "would you mind explaining it a bit more to me please?"
Qualify their feelings: "I see ...and why is that particularly important to you?"
Now - not only have you let them talk out their objection - deflate the balloon as it was once taught to me - but you know the needs and wants that sit behind their objection. You can tailor your response and make sure it meets those wants in every way.

Which is much better than a sore nose ...or falling on all fours

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

Why do we love "Top 10 lists?

2010-10-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

Why do we love "Top 10" lists so much?
What is so compelling about discovering "The top 10 ways of doing this!" or "The 12 greatest ways of doing that?"
Why is it that as a teenager I couldn't move from the radio when they were playing the latest Top 20 selling singles?
Or be fascinated by the list of most watched programmes around the TV regions? And delight in seeing that Ulster TV's favourite show was The Flintstones!
What persuades me to sit through a two hour TV programme on a topic of minor interest just to see how Channel 4 viewers counted their favourite bits down from 50 to number 1?
And while I'm about it - who was it who said that any article we write for the web has to be "the 6 top tips..." or "8 awesome ways...?" Where is the evidence for this unchallengable rule?
If not evidence, there is plenty of opinion about. I particularly like the offering from National Public Radio http://tinyurl.com/alhhp2 Their No 1 is Lists bring order to chaos. And they quote David Wallechinsky who co-authored the Book of Lists - talking about lists he says "lists help us in organising what is otherwise overwhelming." Spot on there mate!
The Montreal Observer's no 1 reason is They make us feel smart followed closely by They make us feel smug. Yes. have to agree with that too.
And Stuart Brown of Modern Life writing from the perspective of a blogger and article writer points out their obvious attraction - They are easy to digest!
I think that is a key point - digestability. Which is why I and many others ignore the rather ridiculous 100 hot hints or 50 finest findings. Even 8 awesome ways may be stretching it a bit.
But with an eye or brevity I think lists or rankings are a brilliant aid when putting together a presentation or lengthy pitch.

Lists help retain attention - telling the audience there are 5 compelling benefits you want to share conditions them to listen up for five chunks of information.
They hold interest - positioning your list in a "saving the best until last" manner hooks the audience with curiosity - just like I get hooked by a two hour TV show!
They have implicit authority - probably because our brains have become "Google'ised" to think this way - we just seem to accept that a list is definitive.

For good measure, qualifying your list with "based on proven demand" or "derived from research findings" makes it practicably irrefutable. And to be really on the money with your message why not assemble it into your own Top List of ...usefulness or ...value in the benefits? A simple e mail questionnaire or an hour or two on the telephone would do it for you.
So the next time you're mapping out those presentation key messages express them in a ranked list. And get yourself into the No 1 slot!

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

The compelling power of a story

2010-10-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've been reminded three times this week about the compelling power of stories:

Once by an item in the paper about the eye witness account by sail-maker Robert Hope at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805. Written in a letter to his brother he vividly describes moments like "when five more of the Enemy’s Ships came upon us and engage us upon every Quarter, for one hour and sixteen minutes. When one Struck but being so closely engaged that we could not take possession of her at that time. Two more seemed to be quite satisfied with what they had got so sheered off, but the other two, was determined to board us..."
It's impossible to read his story and not be there seeing it through his eyes and experiencing the reality of it.
The second reminder came when reading Bill Bryson's - At Home. In the chapter The Kitchen he talks about food and he quotes from Tobias Smollett's The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. Referring to the vivid picture of life that Smollett paints in eighteenth-century England, Bryson illustrates this with the description of how milk was carried through London streets into which plopped "spittel, snot and tobacco quids from foot passengers, over-flowings from mud carts, spatterings from coach wheels, dirt and trash thrown in by roguish boys for the joke sake, the spewing of infants ...and finally, the vermin that drops from the rags of the nasty drab that vend this precious mixture."
If I had simply been told that milk vending in 18th century England was unhygienic I wouldn't have understood quite so well!
And it is this experiencing it and therefore understanding it factor which is the magic that makes stories a compelling communication medium. And why story-telling should be in the tool box of anybody who has to regularly influence and motivate others.
Tips on how to create and tell a story are widely available. For a rapid master class read Mark Twain's How to tell a Great Story which is available as a free download. And read anything by Jeremy Clarkson.
For my money the secret of storytelling - that magic ingredient that entrances the listener and gets them internalizing it - is vivid description. As was pointed out to me this week. Painting the picture in the listener's mind so they can see, hear, and feel the situation and the people - and be there with them.
So when you're putting together that story for your next presentation check it over for some of Hope's "every quarter for one hour and sixteen minutes" or Smollett's "spittel, snot and tobacco quids."
The third reminder? Oh yes. That was when listening to a compelling story on the radio.
It was on Womans Hour - so less said the better really!

For more tips on persuasion browse the Resource Centre at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Put your tie on!

2010-10-15T01:25:00.000-07:00

I watched the apprentice last night. It's a great show. And I think it was great to see all the blokes were wearing ties. It seems that appearance is something Lord Sugar takes seriously. And it was interesting that the chairman gave the evential fire'ee an early rebuke for not sitting at the boardroom table in the expected manner!

Of course many argue that the current trend to be tie-less is fine. In a Linkedin discussion group the very learned Chartered Management Institute are giving this topic more air time than any other - much to to the chagrin of the discussion group moderator!
Early contributors show their support for open-necked business - obviously they are leaders rather than followers -even adding the odd endorsement for jeans (designer of course) to show just how "trendy" they are. Latterly the traditionalists are fighting back. Defending all that is right in "appropriate dress." I am of that persuasion. A belief no doubt instilled by many detentions at St Clement-Danes GS for not wearing the mandatory school cap! And subsequently reaffirmed in my equally impressionable years as a sales trainee by Borden and Bussey's training film message to VIP your way in!
But appearance does count. As colleagues Keith (ex-army) and Carl discovered when requesting a testimonial from a newly acquired customer. Expecting some praise for their ethical selling style the lady explained that she was encouraged to buy by their clean shoes.
It was of course a post-rationale. The customer hadn't consciously inspected Keith and Carl's shoes before saying yes, but on reflection she realised this was the trigger.
Like most people she is sub-consciously influenced. Signals we don't even notice - especially visual ones - trigger a stored thought in our beliefs system and in turn affect how we make decisions.
And when those decisions involve somebody's recommendations we intuitively ask questions about them and their values first - and the first answer we get back is from what we see.
So lads if we throw off the tie there's the dilemna:
Be consciously observed as "with it! ...modern ...innovative etc."
Or sub-consciously recognised as "inappropriately dressed" ....casual" Or worst of all "a follower!"
So I'll be leaving off the leather overcoat and shades today!
Where's my white shirt and tie?

The curse of buyer's remorse

2010-10-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

I filled up the Lexus this morning ready for a trip to London tomorrow. £70 ...ouch!
Then I discovered the car wash was closed so it was back home ...out with the hose and sponge and be reminded of another reason why I've finally gone off the beast!

That evening 4 years ago I'd gone out intent on buying the IS200 model. Then overcome by the smell of leather seating I found myself driving home in the indulgent GS300. And I've been telling myself ever since that I made the right choice.
Which apparently is a proven behavioural trait. After we have made a choice we adjust our thinking to think better of the option we chose. It's been demonstrated in some research carried out by psychologists at University College London and Lake Forest College and published in Psychological Science. Their study actually showed that we can rate two things equally, but once we've made a decision on one we subsequently convince ourselves it is superior. It seems we need to relieve the psychological tension of rejecting a perfectly reasonable alternative.
I certainly relate to that ...but my experience also tells me that eventually that other well known trait "Buyer's Remorse" will kick in ...just as it has with me and my GS300. And guess who I blame? No not myself! I blame the salesman ...of course! For allowing deep pile carpet and a pneumatic drop down compartment for my shades to distract me!
Of course shifting a car off the forecourt may be a result in the used-car trade - but the majority of business situations have a more lasting consideration when it comes to buyer satisfaction. And there's nothing like a lingering attack of buyer's remorse to turn a once happy customer into an ex-customer!

Which is why I always worry about the lack of requalification and consolidation in selling interviews. These days most of us are quite good at identifying needs. Some of us are quite good at fully qualifying identified needs and underlying wants. But from my observation, not many of us are good at requalifying and consolidating.

It's understandable. We've got the prospect nodding at our pitch. Why risk a rejection. Let's press for a close! And make a short term win!

What do I mean by requalifying and consolidating?

Checking that they are happy! By asking questions as you present your ideas or benefits like "How does that sound?" or "How do you feel about that?" "Are you happy with the solution we've discussed?"
Properly handling any objections ...to make sure that these and other concerns are resolved. With questions like: "Does that answer your question?" "Do you have any other concerns?" Adding in for good measure the so reassuring and effective "Are you sure?"

Like it or not, customers are always right ...and they never forget!

Which is why I'm on the look out for a VW!

Men and women ...there is a difference.

2010-10-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

A sofa discussion on Breakfast TV this morning got onto the question of political correctness and how it had changed over time. They were actually making the comparison between a couple of currently showing TV Detective programmes where one was set in the 60's. Now the 60's was my "finishing" era as far as adolescence goes so I have to confess to once holding some "dated" attitudes on the subject of men and women.
However in recent years I have championed the cause of women, particularly when it came to hiring and developing good sales people. My experience was that women just happened to excel at reading body language. So consequently they were better at mirroring and establishing rapport. Which meant they were better qualifyers ..and so on.

So it was an unbiased eye that was caught by reports on some work undertaken by the University of Southern California.

It seems that there are sex differences when it comes to recognising someone else's facial expression when we're stressed. For example us blokes don't respond to angry faces ...so they say. Although I do think the expression "diminished brain activity" is a bit strong. But it does seem that there is "decreased co-ordination" in the part that interprets what facial expressions are saying.

The trouble is that these experts now have the brain imaging technology to prove it!! As shown by another team at University of Pennsylvania who have come up with more or less the same conclusions. http://tinyurl.com/cymoan
And it seems in this case that when stress abounds in situations involving personal inter-action - like that key client negotiation - us guys are much more inclined to resort to the old fight or flight response. Sadly I must associate myself with those last remarks!
So lads we better brush up on those calming positive affirmations as well as the body language skills before that next big business pitch. Or else we're going to have to leave things to the ladies.
Still there is one comforting thought ...it's no longer politically incorrect to talk about the differences between the guys and the girls???

Whistle while you work and it will all happen!

2010-09-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Do you talk out loud to yourself? A colleague in the next office frequently does ....to the extent he thought he may have a problem. I argued "of course not!" ...because I also happen to talk to myself a lot. So it was reassuring to read this week that a team of psychologists are backing me up. In a series of tests with volunteers at the University of Toronto the researchers looked at the influence of our "inner voice." That way we have of announcing and explaining to ourselves something we're about to do. Like tackling self-assembly furniture or explaining to your partner that you're off for a golfing week-end when her mother is due to stay!
Apparently letting the inner voice out can make us more decisive and resolute, improve our self-control, and make us less likely to do things impulsively.
The same day I read about this, I came across another piece of research that showed how whistling while you work can be a huge help. Again I could relate with this concept as I'm sure many other happy whistlers will. It always fascinated me how my old window cleaner Ted would whistle this repetitive non-tune as he scampered up and down his ladder and across window cills with all the instinctive assurance of a mountain goat.

The scientific part of this story deals with our working memory ...kind of like the RAM in your computer. It seems that if we think to much about what we're doing we use up too much RAM and can lock up. Something else I can relate to! On the other hand if what we need to do is hard-wired into our consciousness then we don't have to think about it ...just do it!
Both of these stories have a relevance to nerve wracking occasions we encounter in business. Like an important pitch or a key presentation. Neither should be "busked!" Something we are all guilty of at times when time pressures encourage us to believe that "I'm better when I'm spontaneous!" Yeah ...right! Both should be properly planned and prepared and dare I say rehearsed. Then once learned and hard-wired we have to trust our inner self to deliver.
With a few words of encouragement ...or maybe a whistled non-tune!

For more tips on persuasive communication visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Be up front and honest with your sales pitch

2010-09-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

"Never sell to a salesman!" So the saying goes ...and I'd add to that "...certainly not on the same day!"

The first attempt came through the letter box. One of those bells and whistles extravaganzas of direct mail from that well known subscription book. I muttered something like "Blooming Rxxxxxx'x Dxxxxx!" and threw it back on the mat. But then I just had to open it up and view the contents ...clearly they had scored well on Attention and Curiosity. With so many goodies to investigate I felt immediately involved. Clever display of the words "Time sensitive" ..."Official" ..."Medically approved!" ..and "Free!" subliminally communicated Limited availability ...Reassurance ... Reciprocity. They were getting through to me! Even an apparent handwritten letter from an ex-employee was thrown in to to press the Social Proof button. Yet despite more subliminal urging from the YES envelope ...the contents returned to the hall floor.

The second attempt came over the telephone. Friendly introduction of caller and company and successful attempts to pace me earnt them a point for Rapport. "We're carrying out a survey on media attitudes!" he said. Yes I should have spotted the old "survey" line, but rapport was doing its stuff. And "media" triggered thoughts of recent correspondence with my MP about the News Corp and BSkyB merger ...so a simple Generalisation allowed me to misinterpret what the caller meant.
When I subsequently found myself revealing my monthly spend on telephone and internet services the penny dropped. But a salesman has to encourage one of his own. And there was the question - do I lose face and admit I'd got it wrong when taking the call? So I saw it out to the bitter end ...already thinking how I should reply when Sky or Virgin media inevitably call and tell me I had declared an interest in their services.
Such attempts to camouflage a pitch do of course ultimately back fire. Whether it's disappointment over raised expectations, irritation over timewasting, or annoyance at being mislead. Any of these reasons will prompt us to curtail the interview or cancel the order afterwards.
Which is why I've argued with sales colleagues over the years that upfront openness and honesty ...with its consequential state of trust and rapport is undoubtably the best policy.
It also corresponds with a life long belief that people prefer to buy ...not be sold to!
So whenever I get in front of a prospect I always start off with something like this:
"I believe what I have to talk about will certainly interest you ...but so that I can focus on the particular benefits that will be of interest ...would you mind if we first talk about your needs."
I rarely encounter a prospect who doesn't respond well to this. I've certainly never met one who was happy to be duped into a sale!

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

Presenting with spontaneous creativity!

2010-09-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

I do not have a great memory! I believe it to be quite large ...as you'd expect at my age! But my filing system and search facility or should that be faculty, are barely average on a good day. Unless of course we happen to be talking about acronyms! Then I just can't forget as these two favourites from way back on the CV illustrate:
Work Study Analysis (c1966):- 1:Select 2:Record 3:Examine 4:Develop 5:Install 6:Maintain.
...Rarely used now but unforgetable thanks to S.R.E.D.I.M.
Kraft Foods Promo-Display Criteria (c1976):- Position + Impact + Message + Price + Ease of self-selection + Stock availabilty + Stability.
...Of by-gone interest but forever inscribed through P.I.M.P.E.S.S.
I don't know why my brain finds acronyms so powerful but I know it likes them and responds very well to them! I think it may have something to do with my left-brain right-brain balance?

Which in my case suggests a leaning towards things of the left-side such as lists and logic, but also a "rightish" passion for imagination and day-dreaming. Something often mentioned in school reports.
This manifests itself in a particular way when I try to write a presentation or a training programme. Try as I might I cannot anticipate and write the content in full and final detail. Not a problem uniquely mine by any means ...a great proportion of people I work with face the same difficulty. When circumstances demand that I write a script in this manner I can guarantee that on delivery day I'll think of something a lot better to say. So the end result is that the script becomes a constraint. That apart, there are often occasions when an informal talk is the order of the day and working from a script just isn't right. But if you're like me you'll still need a flight plan to fly by or there's no knowing where you'll end up or when!!
Is this sounding familiar? If it is and you're like me then try out this scriptwriting strategy:

Write your script out in the usual way. Sorry you're not getting away with it! Choose your style, set your objectives, map out the key topics, and write the words. But don't worry about perfect grammar and spelling. This is just for you to read.
Read your script several times to yourself to hear the messages and their meaning and to get the timing right.
Identify KEYWORD(S) that relevantly describes each key message throughout the presentation.
Create an acronym from the Keywords. Play around with them if you need to, to get acronym-friendly keywords.
Finally for reassurance and the visual confidence that this gives, list the Keywords with first letter in bold on a pocket-size card. Visualize the acronym on the card in your pocket.

So why do I think this works for me? I believe that my brain needs to lean on the orderliness of its left hemisphere to then allow itself confident free-rein into the creative right-side. Something that Tony Buzan discusses in his The Power of Creative Intelligence.
So give this method a try and don't be surprised if it's the best presentation you ever made.

for more on persuasive communication visit http://persuadability.co.uk/

What really is the most important step in the sales process?

2010-09-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

What is the most important step in the sales process? Well like I said three posts ago is has to be Qualification. Qualifying of needs, wants, underlying preferences and beliefs. However if the question had asked for the most important skill I would have to say Handling Resistance would be an equal-first choice.

And I say that because as a persuasion skill we observe it every day in exchanges of opinion between: business colleagues, fellow travellers, TV talent show judges, football pundits, and critics of anything from art to books to cookery. Actually we don't see it so much as see the absence of it as "exchanges" descend into heated and often bad-tempered disagreement!

When you step back and think about it ...it's not difficult to understand why this happens ...and with a little bit more thought how to avoid it.

The "bad" feeling happens because we don't like our opinions being dis-respected. And that's because our opinions all stem from our beliefs and values system ...something we are highly protective towards. After all much of it came from grannie

So I'm OK about you disagreeing with me ...but when you tell me that I'm "wrong to think that way" you instinctively trigger off an attack on my beliefs and values.
And it's not just saying it. You're involving my subconscious here. And it is hyper-sensitive to audio-visual signals. Which explains the instinctive trigger bit. So interrupting me ...a shaking head ...a dismissive tone of voice can all be such triggers.
Are you starting to get the picture? Right then, here are four good habits that will help avoid these problems and get more people agreeing with you:
Good habit No.1: Listen attentively and patiently. Let me hear and see that you're interested in what I'm saying. Encourage me to explain and elaborate.
Good habit No.2: Don't tell me that I'm wrong. You may think it but don't say it ...or show it!
Good habit No.3: Show respect for what I'm saying. Develop some natural sincere responses like: "Fair point" "I understand why you say that" "I can see why that's important to you." Mutual respect is an essential pre-cursor to agreement. Start by showing me some.
Good habit No.4: An important part of the psychology this! Make me feel that rather than arguing with me you're actually discussing my doubts or concerns. Rephrase my statements (eg: "Telesales is a waste of time") into a question. "Yes you understandably question it's role Bob ...what are your main misgivings?" With these aired you're then able to align your points of view with them and move towards agreement.

I reckon (not researched!) that disagreement is 80% bad communication and behaviour. Letting somebody know that you respect their opinion, and implicit in that share their beliefs and values, sees you 80% of the way to gaining their agreement.
Something that grannie would be very happy about!

How do you pitch your idea quickly?

2010-08-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

"How do you pitch your idea quickly?" That was a question that came out of a chat I was having yesterday with Jason, my digital designer buddy. He was showing me his great designs for a new company logo at the time. We talked about presenting these to his co-MDs for agreement ...and got onto the general subject of pitching ideas.

There are a many issues to think about when putting a pitch together. Issues like:
Is it in response to a pre-qualified brief?
Is it a competitive pitch with a decision to come later ...so a "highly memorable" presentation is key?
Will a decision be made on the day and so should the style be more options based and participative?
Or is it a situation where a need has to be established as the first step.
That last scenario is what we see reflected in the classic advertising sequence Attention! Interest! Desire! Action! ...etched in stone generations ago. And of course for any of us that served a traditional sales and marketing apprenticeships ...it would have been etched in our brains too! As was the 1975 upgrade "the 5 Part Brand Talk" which made Market! Product! Pack! Support! Profit! unforgettable as an etched-in-my-brain Sales Talk template.
And unforgettability is the beauty of it! To have an embedded pattern around which you can pitch an idea or proposition ...when as occasionally happens you have to do it spontaneously.
What I love about this old favourite is that you can adapt it to suit whatever you're pitching:
Market: What is the proven opportunity or need? What are its size or growth characteristics that make it a must have?
Product: What is the solution we're coming up with that meets that need? What makes it really special and says it will be a winner?
Pack: (keeping the anticipation going here) So what does it look like ...feel like ...sound like? Let's get enthusiastic about the details and benefits ...experience the solution and understand why it's special!
Support (The reassurance part) What is the research that proves it's a winner? What are we doing to "guarantee" a result?
Profit What will you get out of this? What is the financial ...people ...reputation value that this delivers?
Follow this Jason and it should be a piece of cake with the MDs!

For more on persuasion visit the Resource Centre at www.persuadability.co.uk

The "Concrete" base of persuasion

2010-08-20T05:17:00.000-07:00

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/

Which of these options would you prefer?

2010-08-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Do options encourage decision making?

Well it's something I've always believed since it was ingrained into me in my Sales Training Manager days at Kraft Foods.
We were taught and so in turn taught others to: "Offer a choice between an in-cabinet promotional display of Dairylea or a dump bin." And more often than not we got one or the other. Always the innovator! I introduced the "options approach" when selling in large sizes of regular stocked lines like Philadelphia in the then 8oz size. "Suggest to the store manager that with one size only customers have a 50% choice of saying yes. With two sizes the choice is small, large or no. So we're increasing the chance of a sale to 66%!"
To be honest our success with this line did surprise me! But it seems I was simply ahead of my time with my persuasion psychology.
Since then some serious research has looked at the issue of options and decision making. I was introduced to one in the excellent book "Made to Stick" by Dan and Chip Heath. They discuss work carried out by Psychologists Amos Tversky and Donald Redermeier into situations where the existence of choice affects how people make decisions.

In one example, students faced the choice between - going to the library to study or attending a lecture given by a famous author. 21% chose to study.
Another group of students was given the same choices and a 3rd option was offered - to watch a foreign film you've been wanting to see. 40% chose to study. Suggesting that increasing the number of alternatives to the "responsible" option reinforced it as the choice that should be made.
Further insights into the impact of choices are currently available in a fascinating presentation by psychologist Sheena Lyenger available on http://www.ted.com/. She points out that different cultures respond in different ways to choice. Apparently Russians see a proliferation of soft drink brands as simply one choice of soda! And she also makes the interesting assessment that too many options result in bad choices being made.
Clearly no researchers are trying to mathematically model the probability of success based on numbers of options - apart from me that is!!! But when planning that next response to a business pitch ...as an option to the single solution response why not work up two options? And ask them which one they prefer? You'll probably increase your odds of success!

For more on persuasion browse through the Resource Centre at http://persuadability.co.uk/

What is the most important step in the Sales Process?

2010-08-06T05:14:00.000-07:00

"What is the most important step in the Sales Process?"
I love the questions that are pitched into the discussion groups on Linkedin.

And of course you can't resist offering an opinion...for a variety of motives:
- Genuine altruism from sharing "wisdom" with industry peers.
- Satisfaction when peer approval and agreement is bestowed on your opinion!
- Recognition as being a trend-savvy pundit if you get in early on a subsequently popular discussion.
All of which was in my mind when I posted my carefully considered answer:

"Happy to echo what most others are saying here. Yes it has to be the Qualification step with Rapport Building as its essential pre-cursory step. When prospects/clients etc feel that you really do understand their needs and share their values, and you maintain this state of rapport when discussing solutions and recommendations, then they will instinctively trust and believe in you and your ideas...."
And I absolutely do believe that. Based on the realisation over time that almost all of us do not enjoy being sold to. Because most of those that try are content to learn something about our needs, and then happily attempt to satisfy them... without any recognition or reference to the underlying values and wants that drive our needs.
And that "values referenced" approach is even more critical when seeking acceptance of change in opinion or behaviour in business and life. Persuading a colleague to happily change to another team, or enthusiastically embrace new practices means finding reasons that align with their inner motivations.

Discussion Groups are of course exercises in persuasion.

We want buy-in to our views and opinions. Ironically, groups with Sales Professionals tend to go heavy on the weight of opinion rather than subtly with values recognition! Response number 370 kind of summed it up "Oh for heaven's sake. How is Trust part of the Sales process ...Does any body know of what a Sales Process consists?
Are well! I guess he like me didn't find his inner needs of peer approval and recognition were satisfied.
But then we should have remembered that you should never try and sell to a saleman!

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

Sell them the benefits!

2010-07-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

"These are great. They used to be brand leader!" was the last ditch pitch from the stationery goods sales representative stood beside me in Goss's General Store. He offered Mrs Goss the card of ball-pens from his now empty sample bag. She remained indifferent ...and seized the opportunity to serve me as her excuse to close the sale.

I remember that lovely sales cameo from about 40 years ago. Today our friend the sales representative could have used a different story.
"Consumers prefer these because they're not brand leader!"
Well that is the case according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. To be precise what they are telling us is that consumers do actually favour underdogs. It seems that it is part of our psyche to sympathise with a hero who has overcome a disadvantaged start compared to their adversary, and who triumphed because of a determination to beat the odds. Remember how we all felt about Leonardo di Caprio's character Jack in Titanic when he came up against Billy Zane?
In terms of market position it is something that Avis Car Rentals recognised almost 50 years ago. They were second behind Hertz and made a marketing virtue out of it...adopting the slogan "We try harder"

They make a positive persuasive statement to their customers that they should expect to be treated better with Avis.
Yet many of us in business do not follow the Avis lesson. Perhaps we believe it is better to pre-empt what we feel is a conspicuous weakness and confess that we are "a small company" or "quite new" or "provincially located."
And then because language works at two levels... not only do we make the prospects see a concern that they probably didn't have ...but we also send a sub-conscious negative signal of our own lack of belief and determination.
So check out your own language. Are you making a virtue out of being "a responsive company" with "a fresh approach" and "free of expensive overheads.
Time to be a hero in your business!

Cognitive dissonance did it for me!

2010-07-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

Cognitive dissonance did it for me!

Yes I remember the date November 11 1996. That was the day I quit smoking. After the usual number of failed attempts and despite the discouragement of my puffing peers I finally did it. And the secret of ultimate success was seeing myself as somebody that just wasn't a smoker.

So I quickly related with a recent article in Science Daily reporting on a study carried out by Dr. Reuven Dar of Tel Aviv University's Department of Psychology which found that the intensity of cravings for cigarettes had more to do with the psychosocial element of smoking than with the physiological effects of nicotine as an addictive chemical.
In observations on in-flight attendants with limited opportunity to smoke and on religous Jews subject to a sabbath ban they found that both groups had low craving levels in situations where they expected not to smoke. For anyone that has ever smoked they would recognise that this is a pretty extreme illustration that our behaviour is formed by perception and belief. But it is the case... if I had been one of the flight attendants in the study and I smoked in flight then I would feel that my behaviour was at odds with what I believed to be right. Just like when I quit. I told myself that I was no longer a smoker. If I had a wavering moment I would have been experiencing cognitive dissonance ...the feeling of discomfort that results from holding two conflicting beliefs.
People tend to seek consistency in their beliefs and perceptions. In an often quoted study of misbehaving children it was shown that telling them that they were bad simply reinforced the bad behaviour. When told that they were good they ultimately corrected their bad behaviour because it was dissonant with being good.
All of us have deeply held beliefs. All of the choices that we make such as how we behave...to the kind of work we want to do....to the car we choose to drive are based on needs and wants that ultimately are derived from those deeply held beliefs. Anybody in sales will more than once in their career have encountered buyer's remorse and a cancelled sale. And probably dismissed the purchaser as a "time waster."
Truth is....if we are in the business of influencing others and we attempt this without regard for their beliefs and values then we shouldn't be surprised when we encounter some serious cognitive dissonance.

Things aren't always what they seem!

2010-07-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

Talk to anybody that watched the recent World Cup Final and they will probably agree that Holland had tried to kick Spain out of the game. Holland of course cried "foul" insisting that referee Keith Webb had been biased in favour of Spain.

I couldn't see any bias myself but if there was one it could have been to do with the direction that Holland were playing when the fouls were called? It seems that Soccer referees have an unconscious bias towards calling fouls based on the direction of play. According to a recent study into football referees carried out at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, there was clear evidence of more fouls being given when play was moving from right to left. The main conclusion drawn being that the mind is conditioned by reading to accept information flowing from left to right as normal...and therefore right to left flow seems instinctively wrong. The study participants were all English Speaking so we assume that Chinese referees would call it differently.

Many of the familiar optical illusion "tricks" we come across are also answered by this "seeing what the mind expects to see" explanation. And if you want some fun with these follow this link to the exploratory.org and check out their illusions.
In a creativity workshop last week I had fun in an exercise that had us randomly scrawling our representation of various emotions on blank paper. It was interesting to see how some of us came up with similar images for a given emotion.... but that others chose that same shape as interpretation of a quite different emotion.
And the point to emerge from this?
We see what we think we see... and what you see is possibly quite different to what I'm looking at!
Modern technology has added enormously to business communication but e-persuasion and the "so convenient" emailed pitch is risky!
To make sure you get your meaning across get in front of the people...tell them ...show them ...experience it with them and make sure they do see what you mean.

Look for the common ground

2010-07-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

I am definitely a "fence sitter" when it comes to liking Jeremy Clarkson and Alastair Campbell. On occasions I think they can get a bit up themselves and be irritating...but most of the time I find them hugely entertaining. And I'd put them both up there as "hall of fame" contenders when it comes to persuasive communicators.
But they are also known to be fairly wide apart...politically speaking. And to be what you might call combative persuaders. So I was very interested to see them in conversation on Top Gear the other evening.

They began as you would expect with little attempt to conceal their mutual antipathy. The fact that Alastair was welcomed with boo's by some of Jeremy's courtiers didn't help. Although the reception was more of the style of a panto audience greeting Captain Hook than the deep hatred implied by the Campbell-hating Daily Mail. Nonetheless it probably did encourage Clarkson to hold court and get in some easy hits off his guest.
It was never going to be an easy conversation. I can only judge them by their public personas and these suggest few levels where rapport would get a toe-hold or likemindedness be uncovered.
But I had a go using the popular Levels of Thinking template:

On what each would see as their purpose in life they were at their widest apart.
As to how they see themselves in promoting that purpose they are actually very similar. JC is just as much a spin doctor as AC.
On the question of beliefs and values...yes gaps definitely appearing again.
Looking at capabilities. Harmony again with both having a mastery of PR and rhetoric!
What about behaviour? It's yes again. Have you ever seen two more dedicated wind-up merchants.
And environment. Most of the time they do what they do separately and the people they do it for love them. Put them together unnaturally and territorial problems are bound to occur. Although as we also saw, put them into an alternative environment which they happen to love...in this case a fast car and they're best of mates!

So a very interesting exercise I thought...
Two controversial and provocative opposites who when you go looking for it share a few more opportunities for rapport and agreement than you would think.

The power of hypnotic language

2010-07-03T02:52:00.000-07:00

Become a master persuader with advanced conversational hypnosis! Seduce the women that you desire!
I just Googled "Hypnotic Language" and apparently those are just two of the things that it achieves for you. So I'm definitely up for that!

But then I've always been very open-minded to ideas...maybe even too ready to believe stuff I read. Which is why I have a daily scan of the newspaper headlines as a susceptibility check... excuse me a second or two...
Arise captain Rooney! What Capello must do now to turn England around (Robbie Savage Daily Mirror)
.....Yes that worked nicely....back to my sceptical self now.
But the reality is that we are susceptible to certain forms of language and always have been. As a kid at school I learnt that hyperbole was a figure of speech that greatly exaggerates the truth. Today "hype" is an expected element of media communication.
Early on in my career as a young salesman we were trained to use positive phraseology. Don't say "Hopefully this will be enough?" because that sends a signal of doubt. Say "The order size you'll need is x cases!" ...end of discussion!
Today there cannot be many leading politicians or barristers who haven't been introduced to the "hypnotic" power of presuppositions,generalisations, or complex equivalents. There are probably a few who fancy themselves with the odd embedded command and study every second of Youtube clips of Derren Brown.
What they of course would see is an expert and perfectionist who with endless hours of practice performs his "magic" imperceptibly.

By contrast you will spot the occasional newly trained NLP "Graduate" who attempts sleight of mouth with all the subtlety of a fairground barker...and wonders why it doesn't work.
If you can see it then it isn't happening. It is the imperceptibility that makes it work.
Hypnotic language does work...although I prefer to call it persuasive language...it sounds better without the hype!

visit http://persuadability.co.uk/ for more articles and tips on persuasive communication

Is social media a threat to team loyalty?

2010-06-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

This week's news included an improbable link between the Afghan conflict and The World Cup in South Africa. The connecting stories were about the US Military Commander Gen Stanley McCrystal's interview with Rolling Stone magazine and ex-England skipper John Terry's comments at the World Cup daily news conference.
Both were unhappy with the direction coming down from "Top Command" and both sought to tackle it through the media.

In an article in the New York Times http://tinyurl.com/2ueglkd it describes how General McChrystal and his aides spoke critically of nearly every member of the president’s national security team. In summary they wrote: Over all, the magazine article depicted General McChrystal at the head of a small circle of aides engaged in almost locker-room trash talk as they discussed foreign policy, the French, their allegiance to each other and their own concerns about course of the war.
In reply President Obama was quoted as saying "I think it’s clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed poor judgment.”
The John Terry "rebellion" similarly appeared to involve an inner group and their dis-satisfaction over team formation and player selection. Inevitably it prompted hyped reporting with quotes like The Sun's "England's World Cup camp was in meltdown!" When responding Fabio Capello said ‘My door is open always and if you want to speak with me, you can speak with me. I think he’s more disappointed some players because when you speak you have to speak privately, not with you (the media). This is the big mistake, this is a very big mistake. It is not a revolution, it is one mistake from one player.

I have to admit to a traditionalist view on this issue. Being of an era of large national salesforces with several tiers of line-management...we learned to follow the flag and deal with "dissent." Evaluation of tactics was expected...and feedback was expected back up the line. And the system worked.
But today we live in a world of open comunication...largely because of the internet....and in particular the impact of social media. The openess that inspired the web pioneers has been carried on by Facebook, Twitter etc. Today we are enabled and encouraged to speak up and influence situations upwards.
Those of us involved in Internal Communications were quick to see social media as the answer to the perenial problem of employee engagement. To me its original attraction was in its "proletarian" ownership. People wanted to opt in to what was their "news channel" It had similar anarchic attitudes as graffiti and underground radio.
But in using it "the establishment" needs to be wary of a couple of isses.

To keep its opt in appeal Social media must retain that "proletarian" attitude. And that doesn't mean seeing the HR Director in a Chey Guevarra tee shirt and saying "innit" every 2 minutes!!
Also...we must not forget the importance of line-communication. People work for people. If top down communication is going the social route then "line-management" communication must as a minimum match it for content and speed. Otherwise disaffected leaders may genuinely feel that open communication means "open season" to say what you like about the boss!

My "old ways" worked because downline communication was flawless and so it was commensurately rewarded with good feedback...and loyalty.

And leaders who instinctively put themselves in the firing line!

For more thoughts and tips on persuasive communication visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/ and browse the Resource Centre. PQG3YRNTY5VA

"Stay away from my Personal Belief System!!!"

2010-06-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

I got into a row on a Linkedin discussion group recently!
To be honest I was probably gatecrashing a private party and shouldn't have been there. It was a professional group's discussion on nominations for Internal Communicator of the Year, and I chipped in with:
"I am being serious and I do admit to being a fan. Is there anybody better than Jose Mourinho when it comes to influencing minds and outcomes with just a few words?"

It drew an immediate, curt and damning response from one member. When another member then indicated some support for Jose our friend ramped up his condemnation. I did think that comparison with a certain fascist dictator was extreme...but probably more intended to discredit our opinions rather than Jose's suitability for nomination!

I wanted to go back with a really clever and cutting response...but that would have taken too long. So it was a couple of days later when I finally thought...No, I can't let Jose be hung out like that...so I replied:
"Anonymous– I must respond. Jose’s team wholeheartedly believed in his plan and shared his vision. His competitors ultimately lost belief arguably due to his rhetoric and body language - watch him on the touchline intimidating Aaron Robben.
Short of humility? There’s no doubt of that...and I can understand how this will lessen his wider appeal. But maybe not so in his world of football…which is why Real Madrid just appointed him. "
I have to admit I did admire my very well reasoned response. But I guess it only needed one slip up...and in my case it was the word intimidating...and my friend was back in minutes waving his red card at me.
Or "resting his case" as he put it...I don't think he went in for football metaphors!
But it was also getting personal. Now the testosterone was kicking in. More than reason with him... I just wanted to get even.
Which of course is what so often happens when we get into an exchange of opinions. And the reason this happens is because our opinions are based upon a "very personal" belief system. A set of deeply held beliefs and values that started to form when we first became aware of the world around us. That were strengthened by the behaviour and lessons of the people around us like my gran with her "there is always somebody worse off! lesson on life. And were ultimately reinforced and cemented by our own subsequent experiences of life.

Not surprisingly these beliefs and values are not for shifting. So when somebody offers opinions that attack our values...even unintentionally or indirectly...our instinctive reaction is to attack them!
Which is why when you are trying to persuade somebody around to your point of view...to offer opinions without regard for their beliefs and values can be a pathway to a row! Especially if the subject is football!
So I m pleased that I showed maturity and didn't go back for the last word with my friend on Linkedin.
No I'm happy to let the Wall Street Journal have that with an extract from an article they published on lessons that can be learned from football managers http://tinyurl.com/3792vb5 Under a headline The way Mourinho manages, the quote I liked was: "Mourinho may come to be seen as a rare example of a model manager: Someone from the world of sports whose methods could profitably be emulated by business managers and executives everywhere."
I'm just wondering whether I should post that link on Linkedin?

For more posts and articles on persuasion visit http://persuadability.co.uk/ and browse the Resource Centre.

Techno-dependent communication health warning

2010-06-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

I work with some real techno lovers or maybe that should be "techno-luvvies" who seem to get off on owning the latest this or that ...plus of course loads of apps!

And when it comes to contact and comunication they are entirely techno-dependent.
They text when a 30 second walk would have allowed a face to face chat.
They can't have a business conversation without showing off their pivot table skills in Excel.
They choose the naffest audio-tones to signal incoming emails....and cannot resist immediately opening them ...to your constant irritation!
Up until now irritation has been the extent of it...but after reading a recent article in the New York Times I'm more than a bit concerned for them.
Telling the story of a businessman who "lost" a $1.3 million deal email amidst a "deluge of data" in his inbox , and of the distracting effect his gadget dependancy has on his family life and relationships, the article describes how "he craves the stimulation he gets from his electronic gadgets." Telling the reader "This is your brain on computers. "
Apparently there is a primitive impulse at play here to respond to opportunities and threats. The resultant excitement causing a potentially addictive "dopamine squirt!"
More worrying is the evidence that as we handle more information and attempt to multi-task we actually struggle to keep focus and shut out irrelevant information. And that this "fractured thinking" continues after multi-tasking ends.
A further angle on this issue came out in a recent article by Dr Mark Goulston in PsychologyToday where he talks about the fact that we are simply interacting with machines. And because it's a machine then we communicate with it with less concern for consequence. Bit like shouting at the TV!
Added to this he feels that the speed of the technology prompts us to fire a reply off quickly. And that this is encouraged by feelings of anxiety if we don't reply quickly... and of relief when we have replied.
Something I'm sure we can all relate to. Ever had an "oh ____!!" moment when you've hit [Send] to soon?
For myself. I'll admit to a sceptical and cynical view on techno-communication.
Sceptical because words without accompanying tone and visual expression can be interpreted in so many different ways. Cynical because the product developers have done such a brilliant job in managing a market that has everything to do with ownership and aspiration and not too much to do with functional needs.
Nonetheless, as the The Forrester's Technographics Benchmark Survey of 2008 pointed out "Generation X 'ers (29 to 42 year olds) uses technology when it supports a "lifestyle need" whereas it is embedded into everything Generation Y 'ers (18 - 29) do!

So like it or not it is the preferred way for an increasing portion of the working population but it doesn't have to be the only way!
And for the messages that really needs to be clear and understood...take that 30 second walk down the corridor.

For great tips on persuasive communication visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/ and browse the Resource Centre

Do you want to speak like Barack Obama?

2010-06-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

The recent Kraft Cadbury merger took me back to my early days in selling. Kraft gave me my first sales job. I loved it... and with rapid promotion quickly followed by a "fast tracking" secondment to Head Office I soon became a Kraftman. I so much wanted to be like the "special ones." The guys who really had been fast tracked...to Chicago Head Office! Instantly recognisable with their purposeful stride, short hair cuts... and affected mid-Atlantic language and accents. Often spoken in amusing blends of Bronx-London or Chicago-Scouse...the accent was always delivered with those exaggerated deep tones that Americans cultivate so well.

It was these guys that came to mind when I read an article in escience on work undertaken by Sarah Wolff and David Puts of the Department of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University.
In a series of studies they examined the relationship between a deep masculine voice and male group dominance. And the practical conclusion from this particular research would seem to be. Yes...you are unlikely to power your way through a debate talking like Tiny Tim (remember him)...but trying to affect the bass tones of Bryn Terfel is not really going to make that much difference.
And the same can be said about affected language. The special ones loved all that...the jargonise...but we were amused rather than impressed...because it was so affected. And we found a satisfactory and satisfying way to deal with it that was based on the Honeywell Buzz word chart that was used back in the 70's to debunk computer jargon.
Here's how it works. When hit with jargon.... respond with a statement or question that randomly selects a word across each of these columns:
          Customer               Sensitive               Analysis
          Value                     Monetized            Campaign
          Socially                  Reversed              Strategy
          Real-time               Empowered          Model
          Transparency        Centric                  Concept
          Diversity                Integrated            Supposition
          Metrics                  Optimized             Mindset
          Collateral               Aligned                Threat
          Supply                    Leveraged            Opportunity
          Demand                Segmented            Protocol
          Organically            Embedded             Paradigm

For example "we've approached this as a demand leveraged opportunity!" "whilst working hard to satisfy a socially embedded protocol!" Or.
"That's impressive but there are several organically aligned threats in that assumption aren't there!"
Then just shut up and watch the faces.
Cruel maybe...but a worthwhile lesson that effective not affected communication is what we want and that means being yourself and keeping it simple

For more tips and advice on persuasive comunication visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/ and browse the Resource Centre

Picture the outcome

2010-05-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

I had a quick glance this morning at the book that is permanently left open on my coffee table...

It's my book of goals. There I am ...sailing my Princess 58 in the Mediterranean en route to some playboy resort...someday! And it's that picture that helps get me at the desk for another day working on the business!
Visualising your goals isn't a new thing of course, and seeing success in the form of specific tangible outcomes is what many people have attributed their success to. And a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research has shed some new light on this. Report authors Julia Belyavsky Bayuk (University of Delaware), Chris Janiszewski, and Robyn LeBoeuf (both University of Florida) carried out experiments to examine consumer behavior when it came to the goal of saving money. Some participants were asked to focus on a firm plan, some were asked not to plan, and some were asked to focus on why they should save...rather than how.
With an interesting question being raised over the traditional belief that a clear plan is always best, the How-focused group did less well, particularly when dealing with unforseen issues. The authors concluded that "Planning is more effective when people think abstractly, keep an open mind, and remind themselves of why they want to achieve a goal'"

This same principle of focusing on why...Picturing the outcome...Showing you what you will achieve... is what we see elegantly demonstrated by the best communicators. It's what CEO's do when sharing the vision. It's what presenters do when imparting a message. It's what salepeople do when talking up a case history. The technique they use is simple story telling. Engaging our attention....shifting our thinking from where we were or are... to where we will be and what we will find there.
It's also happens to be a technique that we are introduced to very early in life. We eagerly learn it! We enthusiastically practice it! We passionately and imaginatively use it! Then we grow up. Lose our imaginative outlook on life. Get all self-conscious...and stop!!
For a master-class example of storytelling from the conference stage, watch Sir Ken Robinson persuading a Ted conference why we must alter our approach to education. The standing ovation shows that he was successful http://tinyurl.com/7swydn
Right...I wonder what the weather forecast is for St Tropez this week-end?

For tips and advice on persuasive communication browse the Resource Centre at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

What you see is what you get!

2010-05-21T05:09:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I thought I'd bring out my cherished Pierre Cardin burgundy leather "RHS" monogramed A4 executive organiser...rather than save it for special occasions. Gratefully appreciated as a gift (from myself) at our HP Foods annual sales conference in 1988...it nicely complimented the gold-plated, personally inscribed Cross pen and pencil..."earned" at a previous year's event! Yes we were a bit pretentious in those days... but we also knew that these eyecatchers worked for us in front of customers. Put it this way if the Trading Director of Tesco coveted them... they were working!

The psychology of this didn't overly concern us back then. But as it happens... one of our selling commandments was "Thou shalt always use a pen when presenting!" That regularly involved persuading a sales representative to throw away his chewed Bic ball point and invest in a Parker Flighter. Flashing the Cross clearly helped with it's subliminal message "This is what you could aspire to one day....perhaps?"

Subliminal influence has been a subject of much debate over the years. Most people think straightaway of subliminal advertising and the subsequently discredited claims of the Cocoa Cola cinema ad of the 1950's. These days subliminal advertising is banned although this seems to have been forgotten by the Conservative Party in their pre-election advertising. But in fairness it wasn't deliberate or mischeavious ...according to an article in Marketing Week.

In fact it was quite the opposite. While intending to present negative messages about Gordon Brown they had unintentionally promoted a smiling likeable Gordon...as subsequent consumer research was to prove.

Maybe the advertisers hadn't seen Derren Brown's famous stunt where two executives designed a logo. The design having been subliminally implanted by carefully sighted ad' hoardings and the like passed en route by their taxi.

These examples plus numerous scientific experiments illustrate the power of visual communication.

People's minds are made up by what they consciously see...often they don't bother to read the text or hear the words.

Their minds are also made up by what they unconsciously see. We know that the sub-conscious channel of the mind is highly responsive to sensory stimulii. We also know that this route to the mind diverts thought away from the critical reasoning areas...encouraging a more creative imaginative outlook on issues.

Compelling reasons why presenting from behind a lectern and reciting from bullet pointed texts is such an ineffective way to communicate.

Get out from behind the lectern. Communicate wth your body language.

Use areas of the stage to anchor different moods and then trigger emotional response.

Illustrate your meaning with graphics...or photographs....or animations....or video.

Communicate with your audience through all the senses...consciously and unconsciously!

For more tips and advice on persuasive communication please visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

The map is not the territory!

2010-05-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

"Neanderthals mating with humans!" was a headline in last Sunday's New York Times
And instantly my mind was reacting. With an amazing sudden grasp of anthropology I was explaining to myself the origins of man... and picturing the different evolutionary examples that I regularly see at the local shopping centre.

Of course my assumptions on evolution were flawed..if not to say rather facile. As was my reading of the headline. It said something quite different.
But I'm going to forgive myself... because we all do it. We read a headline or hear a sound-bite and we get it all around our ears...rather than accurately into the grey matter between them!
Often that is down to ambiguity in the headlines and here are some great examples of that..
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft!
Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told
Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
Sex Education Delayed, Teachers Request Training
And a lot of miscommunication can be blamed on the ambiguities of the English language. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the 500 words used most in the English language each have an average of 23 different meanings!
As a quick example of this ask yourself what does the word mean mean?
Another factor is how in recent times we have evolved different ways of absorbing and sharing news and information. When I was a kid we poured over the Newspapers, sat engrossed by the Radio or TV or was entertained by the wonderful British Pathe News at the cinema. And we shared it around on the telephone...but mostly face to face.
Today of course many of us are satisfied with the "bits" of news we see on-line. And we share it around through emails....posts on Facebook...IM's ...or text messages. And with a language that is cryptic going on coded!
One particular concern I have in all this is...the trend towards e pitching. The "dumbing down" of business presentations or proposal pitches into a click of the [send] button as another pitch document is e-mailed to a prospect!! Accompanied by the hope that the prospect team get our meaning.... and if they don't that the 100 Powerpoint slides we created will impress them and do it for us!!
I'm often reminded by a pal of the three rules of selling:
Talk to the People. Talk to the People. Talk to the People.

And it's not just because of media constrictions and ambiguity that we should. It is also because as individuals we will always see things differently! One of the Presuppositions of NLP is "The Map is not the Territory!" Meaning that we each have a perception of the world and life (our map) that is based on our own personal beliefs, values, emotions, experiences....and this perception will differ from reality.

So to make sure that your meaning is understood....and with a slight para-phrase of the "3 rules"
Rule 1: Get in front of the people.
Rule 2: Remember that they each have their own map.
Rule 3: Talk with them as individuals...not at them as a group.
Rule 4: Question them....understand their map... and walk it!

For more tips and advice on persuasive presentation please visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

It's how you say it!

2010-05-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

I'm off to the polling station soon....."to exercise my franchise!" as we quaintly put it.

Everybody has talked about how close the polls are and maybe a lot of that is just down to a lack of understanding of what is in store for us. We've had the TV debates...but I for one was still not clear what Dave, Nick or Gordon are planning for us. I thought maybe an outside view from The New York Times would help.

Well it's enlightened me!! Particularly about the scale of our financial problem summed up in an off the cuff quote attributed to Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England when saying “whoever wins will be out of power for a whole generation because of how tough the fiscal austerity will have to be.”
The article then goes on to suggest that "When these issues have been discussed at all in the campaign, it has usually been in the context of which of the parties could get away with being most evasive in setting out deficit-reduction plans that economists say fall far short of the cuts that will be needed."
So where will that leave us when we inevitably reflect back on the election campaign. We have had innovation in the form of those wonderfully entertaining TV debates which pitched Nick Clegg from chorus line to super-stardom! We were treated to the brilliant personal brand campaign - "Dave!" Beginning with his "jogging to front door" the morning the election was called...and steadily building through to his 36 hour marathon vote catcher the day before polling. And just to show you don't have to stage things and spontinaeity works best...we revelled in Gordon's brief encounter with Mrs Duffy on the streets of Rochdale!!
And all of that... just so they could be evasive and not tell us what they really needed to???

But then that is the particular nature of politics. It's not what you say but how you say it!
Barak Obama was once accused of delivering "empty rhetoric" by one political pundit...yet he is widely accepted as being a great speechmaker.
Audiences respond to charisma and congruent delivery. These presentational qualities register subconsciously. The persuasive language techniques used also register in the same subconscious way. The audience intuitively feel good with the messenger and with the message.
But stay clear of empty rhetoric otherwise you could sound like this hilarious Peter Sellers' "Speech in the House" recorded back in 1958 http://tinyurl.com/29xf3ul
Right then. Time to go and vote. So who does it for me on charisma and congruence?

We are all different...and good job too!

2010-04-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

I was first introduced to science-based aptitude tests about 40 years ago. As an upwardly mobile sales manager I was delighted when they identified in me the requisite "predictors of success." Even the so-called weaknesses of "aversion to planning" and "a tendancy to socialise" to me meant natural optimism and people minded...and were definitely valuable attributes in the role.
No surprise then that I have been a long term advocate of such tests to "scientifically" assist the otherwise mysterious art of fathoming people out!
Over the years one of my recurring fathoming challenges has been the question "What motivates salespeople...and in particular how important are incentives and rewards?"

And some recent work by neuroscientists at Washington University in St. Louis, has introduced both new answers...and a few questions on this perennial issue.
The key point emerging from their research seems to be that given a task...there are people who are motivated to perform better whether there is a reward or not. At the same time there are those that don't respond to money! Closer reading was enlightening. Apparently it's to do with our "lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), located right behind the outer corner of the eyebrow, an area that is strongly linked to intelligence, goal-driven behavior and cognitive strategies."
When researchers scanned activity in this area they found that reward sensitive individuals have persistent motivation even in the absence of rewards. As they report "once the rewarding motivational context is established in the brain indicating there is a goal-driven contest at hand, the brain actually rallies its neuronal troops and readies itself for the next trial, whether it's for money or not."
At first read it seemed a repeat of the McGregor X and Y Theory that I'd previously encountered ...and erroneously interpreted as saying "Some will... and some won't give a ----!"

Of course it's not as simple as that. People are motivated to do things for different reasons.

Some of them will be motivated by money... some will not. Even those motivated by money will reveal differences...some being attracted to adding wealth...others more interested in reducing costs.

Some people will do things for personal benefit others will be motivated by altruism. And so it goes on.

So what do you do when trying to fathom out what motivates the group of the people that you are trying to influence?

Lateral prefrontal cortex scans and personality profiling tests aren't really on! Questions will tell you... but that's not really practical either. No...the simple answer is just remember to cover all the bases in your presentation: Appeal to:

The Security minded...by describing the profitability benefits or perhaps the efficiency gains
The Social approval minded...by covering maybe the welfare benefits or sponsorship plans
The Self-Esteem minded...by possibly highlighting the bonus scheme or recognition programme
The Self-fulfillment minded...by pointing out the long term growth and career opportunities.

One thing is sure....we aren't all motivated by the same things or share the same traits and tendancies.
If we did you might never plan a thing .... and spend too much time socialising!

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on improving your business messages please visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Brown, Cameron, Clegg or Aristotle?

2010-04-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

I frequently find myself referring back to the lessons of the "ancients" on persuasion. Maybe it's an anti-ageist instinct on my part...I hope not? But Aristotle is a bit of a hero for me as I indicated two posts ago...and whatever aspect of persuasion I'm considering his Ethos, Logos and Pathos principle seems to provide an ideal template for discussion.

And so it was when watching the Party Leaders TV Debate between messrs Brown, Cameron and Clegg.
I listened to the logic of their arguments. I gave my feelings a free hand to see how the implications of their arguments affected me. But inevitably it was the big "E" of Ethos that kept coming to the fore and swaying my preference. Which of them spoke most convincingly from the heart... rather than with "spin- primed" answers?. Who was most passionate about his views and responses? Who seemed genuinely moved when criticised by his opponents? Who shared beliefs and values that accorded best with mine? Was it Dave, Gordon or Nick that I could most trust to be PM?
Inevitably these questions were partly answered by their existing reputation. They were also partly answered by some of the personal background comments that they slipped into their answers...but this always seems a bit self-serving so it doesn't work for me. And of course their body language also gave us clues....although personally I think too much is made of body language in these debates. I don't see non-verbal skills being entirely relevant to the election of a government...unless of course there is a plan for a follow up TV programme where Andrew Lloyd-Webber and a panel of judges auditions our next PM. Now there's a thought!
What did interest me though was their persuasion style and what that might say about them. We are so used to seeing confrontational politicians arguing the toss....attempting to shout each other down. No wonder we stop listening. No one enjoys hearing somebody else's row! And to quote another of Aristotle's principles: "it is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it!"

So step aside media consultants. Cue another of the "ancients and step forward Socrates! Let's see a bit more "socratic" persuasion from our would be leaders.
When you have to move audience opinion in your direction...and that happens all the time in business....then it's usually better to drop the "Tell and Sell style" in favour of the questioning style of Socratic persuasion.

Don't make statements...offer your opinions as carefully planned questions -rhetorical if to an audience...open and real if engaged in debate.
Don't confront or contradict...acknowledge and para-phrase responses, subtly and patiently aligning them towards your own point of view.

So come on then lads...let's see some quality debate next time and then we might start to get your Logos and Pathos!

Bob Howard-Spink is a Partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on persuasive communication visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

The very essence of a great communicator!

2010-04-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting for that knock at the door. You know...the knock of the friendly election canvasser anxious to see who I'm voting for in the general election. Funnily enough the only person who has knocked so far has been the chap from some energy company wanting me to change supplier. I thought at the time well you're either very brave or a bit daft...if there's ever a time when you won't be welcome on the doorstep it's right now.

There's an awful lot been said and written about Direct or "Door-to-Door" Salesmen...and a lot of it was awful! The utilities industry in particular has come in for a lot of attention with consumer groups, suppliers, Regulators and journalists having plenty to say about questionable door-step practices. Society in general has been quick to knock the door knockers!
I know there are some rascals out there....I've met a few of them. But having spent several years working in this industry I've gained a tremendous respect for what door step selling can teach you...and a huge regard for those that do it well.
Because let's face it, it's tough! We all make it so because we don't like strangers knocking on our door. Some very natural instincts are triggered off as we open it. Defensive, protective, aggressive instincts that get us thinking: Who are you? What do you want? What right have you to disturb me? What are you doing in my space? How quickly can I get rid of you?
...and all of this before the poor bloke (they're mostly guys) has had a chance to open his mouth!.
Handling that situation successfully and ethically requires skilled application of those familiar universal persuasion skills:
- Body language that instantly reassures and relaxes...
- Facial expression and voice tone that creates rapport...
- Clarity and brevity that immediately gains attention and interest...
- Attentive questioning and listening that quickly confirms a need...
- Conversational pacing and leading that reasssuringly satisfies a need.
Plus that other universal persuasion quality - positive attitude and the ability to reframe. The attitude which says "This is good...I can talk to 10 prospects just by knocking on 100 doors!. Whilst the "losers" will only ever complain about the rejection.
Door to Door selling is an exceptional "learning academy" instilling habits that transfer to any persuasion role. You don't prevaricate through fear of failure...you just get on with it, again and again because success is waiting. You learn from the continuous feedback and strive to improve again and again... and you become exceptionally good at it! Ultimately you "graduate" as the very essence of a great communicator:

clear and concise with your words...
engaging and compelling with your body language. ...
driven by unshakeable self-belief!

So bring it on you election canvassers. Let's see your doorstep persuasion skills.
Actually thinking back to my friend the Utility Salesman. I've changed my mind. This is probably a time when people will be glad it is you knocking on their door!

What's in a name?

2010-04-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well it's official. The election has been called for May 6th! And we got all the immediate images and sound bites thanks to morning television.

Gordon and his cabinet were talking to us outside no 10! Young Nick Clegg and Uncle Vince had a few reassuring words to say from somewhere or other. David "Dave" Cameron managed to find a soap box along the embankment....still pink-faced after the morning-jog. We saw that too... thanks to a well choreographed photocall outside his home. Oh and what's his name?....Alex Salmon was telling us that he would be holding the balance of power come May 6th

If that other old campaigner Aristotle had been anchoring the news broadcasts this morning he might have reflected on all the recent troubles of MP's expenses etc., and offered the advice "keep in mind Ethos, Logos and Pathos!"

The ethics, integrity and trustworthiness of the orator.
The logic of their argument.
The compelling benefits of that argument.

And probably with a rider....that as far as political campaigners go Ethos, and getting across the right message about yourself is crucial.
Something that the New York Times picked up on in their March 22nd edition under a headline "Tories Put Posh Foot in Mouth!" They reported the story of Sir Nicholas Winterton and his preference for first class rail travel, and how in a radio interview he spoke of "the ghastliness of people in standard-class trains!"
The other Tory toff story they liked was about Annunziata Rees-Mogg and the suggestion from "Dave" that she might campaign as Nancy Mogg. She declined as it happens but the magnificently named Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax was happily caste down to a humble “Richard Drax” on campaign posters.
This "de-toffing" of names may have confused New York Times readers a bit. After all, Americans seem quite partial to double or even treble-barrell names...apparently seeing them as an indicator of status or reputation. And clearly a good reputation can be everything when you are in politics.....or business.
And if you are in the business of persuading others, either from a presentation lectern or in a board room pitch, you can be sure that interested parties are regularly "Googling" your name...double-barrell or not? So what kind of reputation will they find? Better make sure that it is the right one!
Regarding the name thing. Personally speaking...I don't think it matters if your name is Brown or Howard-Spink!

Practice makes perfect

2010-04-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

Oh my! We're at it again. The sales guys on Linkedin have got into another discussion on selling technique...this time it's the #1 reason why salespeople can't close. And it's getting very competitive!!!

And so it should be. Sales people need to be competitive. Not because they have to be pushy and assertive but because selling is a performance event. In athletics, tennis or boxing, success comes through the application of technique, stamina and correct attitude...and only the top few who train and compete hardest achieve real success. So it is with selling. Well that's my view...but I don't think I'm alone.
Very similar conclusions are offered in a new article from the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. Looking at the issues of success and exceptional performance amongst entrepreneurs, they determined that these are not necessarily linked directly to talent, experience, or luck. They say it is about "sustained, intense, and deliberate practice in a particular area of expertise, in order to improve performance and cognitive thinking levels."
The authors show that across many fields of expertise most people work only "hard enough" to achieve a level of performance that is deemed "acceptable" by themselves and others. Successful entrepreneurs of course want to perform above the "acceptable" and many of the most successful are seen to have previously excelled in another field of performance such as sport, art, music and science. It seems that these experiences condition minds "to expect to have to work long and hard, and to delay gratification in pursuit of a more long term goal." Such high performers instictively parallel the sustained intense effort associated with their sporting or musical excellence as being the qualities necessary in building a successful business. They become resourceful under pressure and acquire what the authors call mature intuition.

Highlighting what they call the principle of deliberate practice, the authors claim that through this principle most anyone can rise to true excellence. Most of us will connect with that in some way of other. Expressions like "practice makes perfect" and golfer Arnold Palmer's famous quip "The more I practice the luckier I become!" occur to mind.

Thinking back to my earlier years in sale management it was recognised that ex-servicemen would make excellent sales recruits. They were certain to quickly respond to training and always semed to develop into exceptional salespeople. This recent research suggests that their background of intensive situation-focused training is a very probable explanation.

Now this may seem like I'm stretching the point a bit! But I have aways argued that the intensely repetitive training I received on my introduction to selling contributed much to my success in later years.

I might just lob that suggestion into the Linkedin Discussion Group and see if anyone bites!!

What motivates people

2010-03-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

What really motivates people?
A former Sales Director boss of mine would answer that question by saying "my mother in law knows if I'm doing well, by the car that's parked on my drive."

His answer corresponds well with the findings of a recent study by researchers at the University of Warwick and Cardiff University. Looking at the motivational effect of income, they found that satisfaction was much more strongly related to the ranked position of the person's income compared to their demographic peers. Put simply money only makes people happier if it improves their social rank. Something like keeping up with the Joneses!
"Are salespeople motivated to sell more by commission and bonus?" is a question that I have encountered countless times over the years. Interestingly, the people who say yes tend not to be in sales or working for performance-geared income.
Personally I'm from the Maslow Hiearchy of Needs School and believe that money is no more than an enabling currency for the things that influence and persuade us. Maslow's theory demonstrates that social acceptance followed by recognition are the powerful motivators for getting us to achieve more than is basic and essential. Something that I have observed working with thousands of people over the years. It explains the findings in the Warwick Study and it explains Keith's need to impress his mother in law. It also explains why I was chuffed to bits when The Golden Strip Greenville South Carolina Branch of Toastmasters recognised me and reproduced one of my articles in their newsletter!!
To my mind there is also an issue in reverse here. Because it also tells us that price is never the real reason for losing out on a sale.

We simply failed to identify the "Maslow Motivators" that underpinned our prospect's buying criteria and match them with the respective values of our proposal.
So if you've been losing out too much on price (you think) then read up on your Maslow, sharpen up on your rapport building and questioning skills... and watch how things improve.
Then you can get that better car and impress your mother-in-law!!

For more tips and advice on improving your persuasiveness please visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Persuasive language

2010-03-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

I can't claim to be a fan of Top Gear. It's probably because I work with petrol heads who "rev on" relentlessly about the programme, and anything they like I'm inclined not to like....Just because! So I don't watch Jeremy Clarkson on the box. But reading his books and articles is something else.

To my mind they are a masterclass in storytelling and how to use metaphors to powerfully communicate your meaning. Consider these gems:

"The air conditioning in a Lambo used to be an asthmatic sitting in the dashboard blowing at you through a straw."
Illustrating the lack of power of a Boxster: "It couldn't pull a greased stick out of a pig's bottom"
"Much more of a hoot to drive than you might imagine. Think of it if you like, as a librarian with a G-string under her tweed pants. I do, and it helps."
Apart from being very funny what metaphors do so very cleverly is to occupy your thinking with an image or a story. The funnier or more absurb the story the more you are engrossed by it. Which is the very reason why metaphors are such a powerful way of getting your ideas across. Of persuading people. Here is why...
When you try to make a point....or to sell an idea, whoever is on the receiving end has an immediate reaction. They think about it! More than that.... they think very deeply about it. Not just consciously but unconsciously too!
They run it by their belief system to see how they feel about it. And they get this feeling...call it intuition. And no surprise! That is often a negative intuition and they reject your idea!
Metaphors have this very useful tendancy to occupy and divert thought away from that questioning belief system. Leading it into the subconscious...and here things are a lot more relaxed. Ideas are considered in a much more creative and imaginative way.

Metaphors are just one example of persuasive language. A way of speaking that takes account of how words communicate at different levels of consciousness. Some people call it hypnotic language...and perhaps you want to emulate Derren Brown's Mind Control? Matching Jeremy Clarkson's mastery of metaphor would be a pretty good aim too! But certainly if you are looking to improve your persuasiveness then take a close look at persuasive language.

Visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/ for more tips and articles on persuasion and public speaking.

Persuasive language patterns through the years!!

2010-03-12T04:41:00.000-08:00

"Interest... Quality... Sample... Code... Merchandise the Advertising... Sell the Display... Quote the return... Describe the shipper... Suggest the order!"
Thus went the Kraft 9 point selling pattern that as new sales recruits we were taught back in 1972. It was the company way for selling into the trade great brands like Dairylea, Philadelphia and Cracker Barrell. And it worked a treat when persuading store managers to buy in the range, to gives us prime facings and stock cover in the dairy cabinet, and to agree the extra space and merchandising support we wanted during promotional activity.
We didn't question it a lot at the time because it worked. It worked because it assembled the sales presentation into a logical and compelling sequence which by itself was persuasive. And because we knew it worked it "empowered" us to chat the presentation through in a conversational and presupposing manner that seemed destined to gain agreement.

Later on as Sales Training Manager I would teach the 9 Point Pattern to new sales people. It was easy because the pattern was "wired in." I could demonstrate any sales pitch at will. Yes! OK! I was a show off!
Today's recollection of why the selling pattern worked is of course made with retrospective understanding. Back then I wouldn't have been talking about "conversational hypnosis" or "persuasive language patterns" or "sleight of mouth!" NLP hadn't arrived. It would be a few decades before I would be trained in it and start to apply the techniques in persuasion and presentation training..
Persuasion patterns feature strongly in presentation training. We discuss how they support the presenter and "hypnotize" the audience. I talk about the Kraft 9 Point Pattern as an example of one that has endured in my subconscious for 40 years. With just a small amount of prompting I happily demonstrate it. Usually to spontaneous applause. Yes...I'm still showing off!!

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on adding compelling words and images to your messages visit us at http://persuadability.co.uk/

Winning business - Getting the Rapport right!

2010-03-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

I think all of us involved in business and management recognise that rapport is an essential part of the persuasion process. Although over the years I have come across lots of different interpretations of what rapport is. From younger salespeople who saw "getting on well with the customer" as a reason never to push for more business or higher prices. To the "old sweats" who asked for bigger entertainment budgets each year to keep their favourite customers happy. And who legitamized their selling strategy with the old maxim "people buy from people they like!"

They would be very interested in a recent study carried out at Ohio State University and summarised in escience news. This concludes amongst other things that buying a prospective client a nice lunch could backfire on you. It seems that there are many amongst us who if predisposed not to trust somebody will become even less trusting after attempts to jolly us along!
Of course the expression "people buy from people they like" was always a misrepresentation. Yes we are unlikely to buy from somebody we dislike! But like is not meant to be taken in the context of friendship...but in likemindedness.
People are more likely to buy from people who are like them. In other words people who look at things in the same kind of way. Who seem to share similar values. Who go about making choices in much the same manner and for similar reasons. Who genuinely seem interested in how we think and feel. Who even seem to relax and chat in the same kind of way.
That is true rapport. The kind of subtle rapport and likemindedness that prompts the instinctive belief "if you think it's right...then I do too!"
So sharpen up your body language, listening and questioning skills, and save the entertainment budget for a thank-you lunch once you're doing the business.

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on how to present your business messages more persuasively visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Story Telling with passion to win hearts and minds

2010-02-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

A couple of posts ago I talked about how stories can so powerfully communicate a message. There was one ingredient of story telling that I forgot to mention...Passion! I was reminded of the oversight yesterday when I watched a brilliant presentation by Chilean author and activist Isabel Allende. With a list of best sellers to her name written over many years her other great passion is The Isabel Allende Foundation. It primarily supports organizations that help women and children in need, by providing education, healthcare, protection and the means to empowerment

The dual topics of Isabel's presentation were passion and eradicating the abuse of woman across the world. Isabel introduced herself by saying "I tell stories." And she proceeded to tell with passion the stories of two woman and the abuse they had suffered at the hands of men.

I will admit that having stumbled upon a presentation on feminism that was going to take 20 minutes to watch I did not expect to see it through to a conclusion! The reason I did see it through and then wanted to quickly share the presentation with others was....I was completely hooked!

Isabel beautifully demonstrated the story tellers art with elements that I would recognise afterwards. A central character (the hero), a place and time, a challenging situation, an outcome and a conclusion.

But for me what made this a story telling masterclass was her use of passion and emotion to make you experience the situations she spoke of. And how did she do that?

She began with humour. The emotions "ice breaker" that enabled the audience to connect with their feelings.

Using self-directed irony she endeared herself with a story that included personal comparison with the magnificent Sophia Loren. In the process, offering a subtle metaphoric reminder of how the world popularly views women.

This set up the dramatic contrast of the harrowing stories of her real heroes. Told to an audience who had been subconciously primed to feel the pain and the shame of the stories they heard.

With her stories told, Isabel brought the audience back to "feel good" state with concluding humour and a further reference to Sophia Loren's legendary breasts. Anchoring the metaphor maybe?

And finally...with the message embedded...the final stirring call for action!

I viewed the presentation at http://www.ted.com/. Ideas worth spreading is their mission.

I certainly was compelled to share Isabel's idea.

For more tips and advice on adding persuadability to your message visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

why can't you see what I'm saying?

2010-02-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

If you haven't had a look at Linkedin then give it a try. I'm a great believer in the value of business networking, and if there is a relevant group that I can attend without getting up at dawn then I'm definitely up for that. One feature of Linkedin which I particularly rate is "Groups." Likeminded members regularly post questions of interest, inviting other members to comment. There is a bit of a risk that you post a question and nobody responds. That must be a bit crushing....especially in the gregarious Sales group that I belong to. On the other hand you can suddenly find yourself to be an "industry luminary" when you post a question and everybody wants to express an opinion on it.
We have one such question at the moment. "Have you seen anything genuinely new from a sales trainer recently or is training now simply a commodity differentiated purely on price and service level?" ......Seems a straightforward enough question?

Of course the responses (110 so far ) were always going to be interesting! We Sales Trainers are passionate about our profession. We encounter sceptics and critics in the marketplace and winning them over comes with the territory. Which is probably why we need the comfort and reassurance of consensus amongst our peers. However as passionate professionals we do tend to argue our case in what you might describe as an explanatory and assertive manner. I begin well enough...offering my first concise explanation. In this case discussing amongst other things, the importance of rapport, empathy and listening skills. When my response fails to gain the nod of approval from a peer I blame it on brevity...and go in again with a more expansive explanation. Followed by another even more expansive explanation. By now my interest in the comments of others has declined. Besides, they are so lengthy I find it difficult to grasp the point.

Only the fittest survive to this stage. I drop out of the debate, convinced that it is the poorer without me. After a while I reflect back on arguments about rapport and empathy. "Hmmm!....Practice what you preach" seems good advice....but it was great fun!

Then a couple of hours later I happen upon a quotation that had been posted by a Linkedin member....

"A fool finds no pleasure in understanding...but delights in airing his own opinions!"

I'm just off to revisit those responses...particularly the ones that seemed to contradict with my opinions!

For more thoughts, tips and advice on persuasive communication visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Tell a story and get your audience to really understand

2010-02-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

There are some great new programmes currently on TV. And for me BBC 2 takes all the "medal positions" with "Empire of the Seas" with Dan Snow, "How Earth Made us." with Prof. Iain Stewart, and Virtual Revolution with Dr Aleks Krotoski. As well as fantastic television imagery what makes these programmes so compelling is the presenter. Clearly the show producers have chosen them because of their terrific understanding of the subject. Also because they are highly engaging presenters. And I'm sure there is also a reason somewhere in there which connects with widening the appeal of the programme. Something clearly lost on the computer geeks complaining in their Guardian blog posts about the "dreamy shots of Dr Aleks walking across a concourse!"
The other thing that makes them such compelling presenters is that they all tell stories.

Dan explained how a combination of totally overwhelming naval supremacy and a visionary approach to finance drove Britain's acquisition of an empire. Prof. Iain showed why the trade winds circle the earth and how they effectively blew Columbus to America and then blew him back again. Dr Aleks beguiled us with the origins of the internet, both technical and cultural, empowering me with an informed view on the arguments for freedom of information.
Their stories are told around familiar elements:

Central character or hero.
Location and Time.
Some kind of challenge.
Solution or Outcome.
Something unexpected or special about that outcome.
A conclusion.

When we listen to stories we allow our more open, imaginative, and creative right brain in on the conversation. What we hear we act out in our minds....setting the story within our own map of the world. We experience it and because of that we better understand it.
When planning your next presentation see for yourself how easily the storytelling format can be applied to your message. And see also how much you will enjoy telling that story to your audience as they experience your message.
Remember what Confucius said - What I hear I forget. What I see I remember. What I do I understand. .....he'd have been great on TV too!

For more helpful tips and advice on how to influence and persuade others visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Seven great habits to improve your speaking voice

2010-02-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

"Enunciate!....Enunciate!" 50 plus years later I can still hear that empassioned call from Miss Lawler as she urged Old Oak Junior Mixed school choir to give it our all! Thinking about it, her words have probably been "recorded" in my sub-conscious all this time....which possibly explains why I find voice such a compelling element of communication.

But it is the case that audiences are as much if not more influenced by the sound of a voice than by the words that voice utters. And with so much of that influence happening at a subconscious level.

You only have to catch the latest TV commercials for Barclays Bank to get an example of that. Where Stephen Merchant lends his "so honest and trusting" sounding West country dialect to a market sector much in need of restored trust.

So if you are routinely influencing others...whether that be in a buyer's office, the board room or from a conference stage then you should be making the best of your voice. Here are some excellent habits that will have a big impact on your voice:

• Sing in the shower. Give your lungs and larynx a good work out, it will also add power to your voice.

• Find a willing young listener and read children’s story books. They are a great way to practice dramatised delivery of words and comfortable regulated breathing

• The dreaded “gruffness” is nearly always due to digestive mucous in the tubes caused by eating too late or food that is too rich. So avoid both. Avoid coffee and chocolate, these dehydrate you.

• Lubricate your throat. Warm water with lemon is highly recommended.
• If you need to clear your throat cough gently. Do not “slap” the vocal chords.
• Good breathing creates resonance which creates vocal power. Trying to squeeze power from the throat or unnaturally lowering the voice in a growl will strain your voice.
• Practice breathing evenly from the diaphragm and not the chest. It frees up the chest to add sound capacity and resonance. And it gives greater stamina.
For many of us in business we have to speak to impress. It is a physical activity. The more we practice the better we become. And if we try and perform without putting in the training then we only have ourselves to blame if we get "crocked!"

For more tips and advice on how to improve the persuasiveness and presentation of your business messages please visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Mastering the art of visual persuasion

2010-01-31T12:29:00.000-08:00

My very good friend Angela was recently sharing some excellent advice she'd been given on how working environment and surrounding visual stimulii can be used to influence and focus our thinking. Thinking about what she had said I started to connect with several situations which seem to illustrate this. Like creative agencies who dedicate a work room to a client and dress it entirely with client-related images. Like Derren Brown's famous red BMX bike conversation where peripheral images were seen to play a big part in influencing thought.

And then of course numerous other examples came to mind going back over many years. Reminding me that we have always known about visual communication but without really understanding it or making full use of it.
With an interest triggered off by my NLP training I've avidly researched the whole topic of subconscious thought and the power of visual stimulus. This has revealed some fascinating facts. Certainly fascinating enough to impress this unsophisticated mind! But the notion that our minds are busily thinking without us realising it I find fascinating. The notion that visual stimulii will influence that thinking I also find fascinating. And the notion that the less we are consciously aware of that stimulii then the greater we will be influenced by it...I find really fascinating! This of course is what the masters of visual communication recognise....as they visually communicate in a subtle unobtrusive way.
I smile inwardly when I meet many newly trained NLP'ers. They enthusiatically and as a result rather obviously apply their mirroring techniques....and of course it doesn't work! But when with time and practice it is done elegantly and almost inconspicuously... it does work! And this "inconspicuous elegance" is the secret element that....
Distinguishes the body language of great persuaders and gains them instant rapport!
Generates the "charisma" in great presenters and wins them audience approval!
Adds the "magic" in visual presentation design that makes it compelling!

For more free tips and articles on persuasive communication visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Why people are hard to sell to!

2010-01-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

How much thought do you give to the words you use when pitching for business or when selling your ideas to a colleague. Go on be honest! How often do you enthuse with total gusto but choose reasons and express your argument in terms that you would find convincing. In other words sell it as it would have been successfully sold to you. I was reminded of this by some recent research into group motivations to tackle a particular task. The quick summary of this research was that in any cross section of people you will find half of them regarding completion of the task as the key driver whilst the other half would be motivated by getting fun out of it.

I work with a couple of guys who illustrate this difference very clearly. Present an idea for them to consider and you get two reactions. One is more interested in how it might improve control, or reduce costs. He asks a lot of questions. The other is more interested in how it might deliver marketing advantages or added value. He tells me how he sees it working. One likes to carefully read through back-up information and maybe even create an excel spread sheet before making up his mind. Give his partner the supporting papers and he will push them aside with instant boredom. He wants to talk about it and hear how it will work.
And that is the reality of selling and persuasion. People are different. How we would go about deciding on a particular idea is not how others will do it. Roughly speaking, 3 out of 4 people will by varying degrees of difference have their own reasons and their own ways of deciding.
So don't rush to present what you want to hear. Take some time to listen and learn what it is that they want to hear.

For more helpful tips and advice on how to influence and persuade others visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

The key to a successful sales pitch

2010-01-08T06:39:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with a Creative Marketing pal today about his current success rate with new business pitches. Despite coming up with some terrific responses he just wasn't winning the pitch. We chewed over the usual factors that arise in these conversations...Price...the client testing out the market! But eventually he admitted that when asking for some feedback he was told that he hadn't really answered the brief. That kind of response is of course abhorrent to any professional creative! "Well they moved the goal posts didn't they!" was his first explanation. Followed by "They didn't really know what they wanted anyway...and they asked us to come up with ideas!" "That must make it really tough for you when working up a responsel" I inquiringly suggested, anxious not to offend creative sensitivity. He explained at length just how difficult and then listened attentively to my observations - That enthusiasm alone will never close a sale if your best shots are just fired off hopefully at an unknown target. That building agreement can only happen when you know that your solutions are right on target with the prospect's needs. That only then can you present those best shots with that vital smile and nod of the head, as you use that magic closing phrase "and this will give us (their key need) which we know is important to you isn't it?

This then allowed me to nicely loop back to the brief and to talk about the crucial need to question, probe and qualify the brief. We talked about the need to create rapport as a precursor to qualifying needs and he promised to read the blog post How to really listen and influence people. And in the end we agreed that:

Buying decisions are of course based on practical requirements or needs which will be prioritised in some way. But they are also and ultimately based on wants and desires. This kind of criteria are rarely articulated in the brief. Sometimes they are not even fully clarified in the buyer's mind until the final proposals are considered.
Decision makers do not readilly share these inner criteria. They need to be encouraged by an attentive and empathetic listener who can comfortably ask questions like:

"What are you looking to achieve?"
"Why is that important to you?""
And what ultimately does that mean to you?"

Suppliers who create that rapport and ask those questions will be seen by Decision Makers as the Pitch Team who "really got to understand what we wanted!" And as the Team that when presenting solutions, hit the target and closed by saying ".....and that is what you are really looking for isn't it!" ....Not forgetting the nod and the smile!!

Bob Howard-Spink is a Partner in Persuadability. For more tips and help on improving your persuasive business messages visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Why is it that some people just don't trust our advice?

2009-12-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

Beep! ...Beeep!! ...Beeeeeeep!!! The increasing annoyance was enough to get my attention as I stood waiting to cross the inner ring road to the town centre. But when I looked around I didn't recognise the car twenty odd yards away. However it was pretty clear that the driver wanted my attention as she frantically beckoned me towards her. I walked back over...intrigued by this interest in me? "I need to get back onto the A43 for Northampton" she hurriedly explained, "....and the signs were not clear!" I offered her an ironic "Good morning!" wondering what "unclear" signs could possibly have lead her into this cul-de-sac car park for the nearby church.

"No problem!" I said. "You just need to get back out onto the ring road, carry on heading south and you'll pick up the A43 and Northampton signs." I waited for the thank you. "But I need to be in Northampton for a meeting at 10 o'clock!" she replied in an agitated state that quickly worsened to irritated when she asked "Where am I now?" By now I am thinking that a little bit of graciousness wouldn't go amiss! I said "you're on the north side of town and you just need to carry on heading south!" "Shall I ask somebody who knows the way?" was the unbelieveable comeback!! "Is he going there?" she asked, pointing to a bemused cabby about to park up for a smoke.
"I know the way! Just go back out of this road into this traffic and follow the ring road round"
"How do I get out of here?" I think the cabby must have seen the look of disbelief on my face!!! I showed her how to reverse into a space, and then carefully explained how she would be driving "in front of that lamp post and getting in behind these cars that are passing us!!!!!"
As it happened I knew the cabby from way back. So as the lady drove off we inevitably got into stereotypical bloke mode....talking about women and their navigation instincts. But as I continued walking into town I thought more about the conversation with the lost driver. Why didn't she have confidence in my ability to help her? Why did she seem incapable of listening? Of course the answer was she couldn't trust the advice of somebody who didn't seem to appreciate her predicament. She had a real problem. She was lost and late. And there was himself saying "no problem!" There was no empathy...and no rapport.
The joke on me was we that we talk about this all the time in training. We call it Pacing and Leading. The need to empathise with a person's state. In this case to share concern for being lost...for being late. Not just talk about it, but show it as well....matching state and feelings. Then when state and feelings are in rapport to offer credible advice on how to get out of the situation we are in. I'll remember next time.
So when somebody is really worked up over something, be they a lost motorist or an angry customer. Let them see from voice, body language and remarks that there is empathy for their agitated state....then they will believe that you want to help them and can help them.

For more tips and advice on how to communicate and influence others visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Why we should think before we present!

2009-12-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

"I went shopping for things they didn't have!" was the wonderful bit of Irishness uttered by my partner's mother after a visit to the supermarket. "Well that was a waste of time wasn't it!" I ironically and perhaps unkindly observed.

Of course we all grasped what she meant and we were teasing. But it is another reminder of how the meaning of words is so easily misinterpreted. And another opportunity for me to have a quick rant about the importance of preparation when it comes to presenting.

It is the case though that the meaning of what others hear often differs from the meaning of what we say. As well as that. How many times have you made a presentation only to think afterwards..."I wish now that I had said it this way!"

We spend a lot of time putting together written documents such as a business proposal. We wouldn't dream of submitting it without reading it through and making those inevitable tweaks. Yet we're so often happy to "busk" a presentation.

And yes, you are probably guessing where I'm heading with this? Rehearsal! There really isn't a good enough excuse for not properly rehearsing those important presentations. There are several options to go with:

From the old favourite and the simplest...standing in front of the bathroom mirror.
To the "High tech" options of voice recording software. Free downloads are out there and the additional benefit of this method is that you can listen to your presentation and see how it synchronises with your speaker support slides.
Or as a 3rd option, why not ask a colleague to present to you. You will see things with greater objectivity because somebody else is delivering the message. It is also especially useful if you can sit and listen with the assumed mindset of the prospective audience and feel how the message impacts on you.

Whatever method you choose. It has got to be worth listening to yourself before you speak, we don't want to go shopping for things they haven't got, do we!

Bob Howard-Spink is a Partner in Persuadability. For more tips and advice on improving the presentation of your business messages visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

What I really meant to say was!

2009-12-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

Stopping to ask somebody for directions this morning I was reminded how often we find this simple request so difficult. Most of us probably think afterwards "No, what I should have said was.......!" My all time favourite example of comic-direction came from a chap who said "go down this road and turn right where the old cinema used to be!!!!!!"
Of course he understood perfectly what he meant. "Where the cinema used to be" made complete sense in his world.
It's surprising how often we sit in conferences and listen to presenters who seem to suffer that same problem. To them, the meaning of what they say is quite clear. Unfortunately they haven't heard what they are saying to realise that it is not that clear at all. Just one of the numerous consequences of inadequate presentation planning!
Let's be honest. We presenters hate the planning part of presenting. Sometimes it is genuine lack of time. Sometimes we just want to avoid it, prefering to "keep it fresh and spontaneous???"

I saw it in a conference that I attended recently. The audience were left unclear about key messages as presenters fell into the familiar traps: - too much time on too many of the issues and nothing on the actions, or not enough time on the issues and too much on unjustified actions.
If any of this has a familiar ring to it why not make a start on the first good habit...clarifying your presentation objectives.
After all you only have about 15 minutes of good attention and 20 minutes maximum, so ask these questions:
What broadly speaking would I like to achieve with the audience?
1. Do I want them to simply appreciate and understand a wide range of issues or opportunities and therefore I should plan for that?
2. Or, do I want them to understand the more important issues/opportunities and recognise the actions/solutions that could be taken, and prepare for that?
3. Or, do I want them to really understand the key issues and commit to agreed actions? Is this what I should plan for?

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For more tips and advice on improving the persuasiveness of your business messages visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

How to really listen and influence people.

2009-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

"Males have more personality than females!" Well that's a "fighting talk" headline if ever I read one! But it's how an article on recent research by The University of Exeter on male and female behaviour was introduced. Further reading of the article did reveal however that it wasn't an ego boost for blokes! What they were actually saying is that males, be they birds, animals or humans, display a consistent set of behaviours that have evolved in connection with sexual selection. Apparently we chaps are just naturally disposed to be assertive, protective or eager to display resourcefulness because that's how a potential mate will select us. Females, it is suggested, have no such pre-occupations and display varied behaviours.
I did see some connection here with a view that I have formed over the years, that women find it easier than men to adapt their behavioural style, and are thus more able to establish rapport with others and become effective listeners. A controversial view to express in male dominant workshops!! .... but worth saying to pursue the debate that rapport is an essential precursor to persuasion and agreement.
Pretty much everyone objects to being sold to! On the other hand when we feel that somebody sees things our way...has the same sort of values as we do...then we instinctly trust their opinions. We find it easy to open up and express our thoughts and feelings with somebody who seems to share those same thoughts and feelings.

That is what rapport achieves and there are many habits and skills we can develop that enable us to create rapport. Without doubt, the best one to start working on is your ability to adapt your behaviour when you listen. Remember, the aim is to be an encouraging listener: Look like you're listening. Don't interrupt. Nod and smile. Mirror their body language and emotional state, but do this subtly!! Match their conversational pace and pitch. Get into the habit of saying "Do you know..you're right...that's a good point!" Make less statements and ask more questions. Show an interest in why people say what they do and why things are important to them. Avoid overtly disagreeing.

Adapting your behaviour to be in tune with somebody is the most subtle and elegant way to show likemindedness. When you achieve that you are three-quarters of the way to achieving consensus and agreement.

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For more about influence and persuasion and for general tips and advice on improving your business messages visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

how to really get the best from speaker support... "AKA" Powerpoint!

2009-11-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

It's worth asking the question "why do I use speaker-support when I present?" Most people will instantly think of Powerpoint and say "it helps the audience to see what I'm saying... It helps me to remember what to say...It's an easy way to map out my presentation."
And to be fair, that’s largely what Powerpoint has been asked to do by so many people, to help get them through a nerve wracking situation. So we can’t complain when we see presentations with far too many slides, each heavy with small text, being read by the audience with the presenter 30 seconds off the pace!
A better question to ask is “what do I want to achieve from this presentation and how can speaker-support assist this?” Then the answers you should come up with are:
"To engage attention... sustain interest... add visual interpretation to the meaning...
"To anchor messages with images and sounds... and just as importantly, to make me look good and be remembered!

And then when we think more about speaker support from the audience's perspective we discover that:
Many people actually need pictures to see meaning, so for them graphics and pictures are essential to compliment and synchronise with your spoken words.
Others need to experience the message to feel its meaning, so stories and examples using video or 3d animations will create this effect for them.
Attention is best sustained with change of medium, and by introducing props and changing screen media you will achieve that.
Perceptions and emotional interpretation of meaning is known to be influenced at a subconscious level, and subtle visual and auditory stimuli will contribute to that.
The majority of people commit to a decision after a presentation, using visual metaphors and theme images will anchor messages and increase levels of recall.
So maybe we should stop calling it Speaker Support and think of it solely from the audience's perspective. Then by incorporating some of these preceding ideas you can get up on your feet knowing you've got a really stand out, memorable and winning presentation.

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on how to improve the presentation of your business message visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Communication and the sweet smell of persuasion!

2009-10-30T05:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to my friends at e science news (Fri October 23rd 2009) for reporting another fascinating piece of research. This work by Brigham Young University looked at the link between behaviour and scented air. They observed two control groups in exercises that indicated levels of trust, fairness, and generosity. They found clear evidence that the group in the room with "clean" lemon scented air were significantly more virtuous in their response to the exercises.
Wow! The implications of this are immense! Is this the cure for the problems of Saturday night binge drinking in town centres ...will stewards at football grounds subdue feuding fans with air fresheners?
What about the opportunities for those of us in communication and persuasion? Lemon scented newsletters? Incense sticks during appraisals? Kew Gardens could become the conference venue of the year!!

This latest research corresponds well with our growing understanding of the "science" of communication, in particular the powerful impact of external stimuli on sub-conscious interpretation and reasoning. Interestingly, the participants in this research didn't notice the "clean lemon" smell.
But it certainly is another reminder that there is a lot more to getting your ideas across and winning hearts and minds than just getting up on your feet with a powerpoint presentation.

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on getting your message across more persuasively visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

The Power of Perception

2009-10-21T04:20:00.000-07:00

I love hearing about the latest scientific research on how we think, behave and communicate. And a quick thanks to http://www.esciencenews.com/ for their daily dose of eureka! This week's favourite came from the U.S. and Purdue University's study of perceptions and performance. In one experiment they looked at goal kickers...the Rugby or US Football variety. It seemed that successful goal kickers perceived the goal uprights to be wider apart and the crossbar to be lower than was the case for unsuccessful goal kickers.
The conclusion being that performance will influence perceptions. I guess this could explain why that worst ever presentation we made was due to a really tough audience!!
The goal size experiment also struck a chord with me. As a "llttle nipper" my dad would play football with me and I would be goalkeeper. The goal posts were towering oaks...driving distance apart. The "goal net" was the perimeter wall of Wormwood Scrubs.....pretty high! The goal mouth surface was bone hard clay and gnarled tree roots....totally uninviting. The ball was a sodden cannonball...to be avoided at all cost!
These perceptions persuaded me that nothing that I might try to do would stop my dad from belting that ball "into the net!" And that my role was to retrieve the ball from the below the prison wall.
So performance may influence perception but perception most certainly influences performance. Which is why we have always found that the surest preparation for a great presentation or sales pitch is to picture success and see yourself winning.

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on improving your persuadability visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Ensuring that your point is understood!

2009-10-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest... I'm not a Manchester United fan, my loyalties are more blue and southerly. And I'm definitely not a great fan of Sir Alex Ferguson! But I have to say that his record puts him amongst the all time greats of football management. And so I think it's a non-partisan view that I offer on his persuasion style.

It's difficult to see any underlying classical influences like Cicero or Aristotle. Maybe some reference to Socrates? Although his questioning technique is rather more inclined to presupposition than the rhetorical. He kind of dares you to disagree more than invite consideration of the posssible.

Which is probably why he has the Football Referees Association going for him over his post-match comments following United's 2-2 home draw with Sunderland. Suggesting that the referee cost them precious playing time by taking rest breaks, he blasted Alan Wiley as "not fit to do his job!"

With punishment from the FA a real possibility, Sir Alex has since reframed his empassioned touchline "presentation" to the 4th Official... and anyone else who happened to be watching. In his statement on United’s website, he said: “My only intention in speaking publicly was to highlight what I believe to be a serious issue in the game, namely that the fitness levels of referees must match the ever-increasing demands of the modern game, which I hope will now be properly addressed through the appropriate formal channels.”

So that's what he meant!!!
A good reminder then. If you think you overdid the impact in your opening, and maybe lost the body of your message with too much passion and excitement, you can still always make your point and achieve your goal with a good summary and close!

Bob Howard-Spink is a Partner in "Persuadability." For more tips and advice on improving the impact of your business messages visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Talking with the audience

2009-09-23T04:16:00.000-07:00

I've been watching the Lib-Dem Conference this week. Not with any political interest but because I love the conference scene (even Party conferences) and I like to watch the presenters do their stuff. It's clear that some effective preparatory work has gone into the headlining speakers. TV doesn't show the speaker's full view of things, but eye movement patterns certainly suggested the deployment of autocue moniters at centre "circle seats" level, and probably to left and right too. As a result we saw the main presenters talking naturally with all of the audience. Much more effective than the "tennis umpire" look we see when glass projection screens are sited either side of the lectern.
And good to see the attention given to the "non-verbals." Chris Huhne and Tim Farron both comfortable to step away from the lectern and walk the stage to alter emphasis.
It's not so easy though when you're a "rank and file member." No stage rehearsal time for you....and reciting to the bathroom mirror in your hotel room is never the same. You've just got to get up there with speech in hand. Anchor yourself to the lectern and find a space to spread the pages. And hope that you remembered to write it in phrases that allow you to look up occasionally.
Of course that isn't how it has to be. Yes Tim Farron gave an excellent presentation with autocue as support. But he knew his speech. Because of that he was able to tell his story with feeling and animation, and enjoy it knowing that the prompt of autocue was there if needed. I reckon that one or two of the "unrehearsed" presenters knew their speech and could have done the same. Except that once you've got that blessed script in your hand it's hard to relax and go for it. Leave the script on your seat comrades....write out some cue cards..or a mind map. Then get up there and tell your story as it is!

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

Internal Communications - Solid foundations or wet cement?

2009-09-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

I was recently reminded of a very successful retailer I'd met some years ago. He used to say “run a shop and you make a living....run several shops and you make money!” In practice what he did was to find a successful model and then replicate it, with every individual outlet copying that successful model, whilst at the same time feeling ownership of it.
What he created was a successful organisation of individuals, who were clear about the things they have to do.....who believed that doing those things would make everyone successful....and who understood that their energy and efforts made the difference. ......A situation that any business would prize!
That retailer also had a pretty basic way to sum up performance levels within an organisation. He called it "the law of self-levelling cement"… which argues that performance finds its own natural lowest level when left unattended. His management philosophy may have lacked present day finesse and phraseology but it’s pretty unarguable. It is the organisations who consistently reinforce what matters and why it matters who perform best. They stand on solid foundations….not on wet cement!!

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on how we can improve your persuadability visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

The power of subconscious persuasion

2009-09-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

I came across a fascinating article published in the New York Times in July 2007 which delves into the question of sub-conscious communication. The author discusses several well authenticated experiments where groups of people behaved differently because of some subtle stimuli. For example, a "clean" aroma in the room encouraged tidy behaviour. Iced coffee and hot coffee given on arrival to two separate groups corresponded with the "cold" and "warm" feelings each group had when subsequently discussing the same person. Experiments with reducing light and changing temparature similarly produced changing behaviour. Other research co-relates with these findings. One experiment indicated that we have an unconscious memory thousands of times larger than our conscious one, and that our minds are accessed by a channel of unconscious thought that is exceptionally responsive to sensory stimuli. Psychologists do accept that there is still much to be discovered about the workings of the brain, but it's clear that sub-conscious communication works. Not the infamous and subsequently confessed fake claims of the "subliminal Coke Ad," but an evident form where as we concentrate our attention on the "centre stage" action, it is the un-noticed surrounding stimuli that is simultaneously influencing our ultimate response.
And the key to this is Un-noticed. Unskilled attempts at mirroring the buyer in a one to one presentation won't do it. Blasting out "Simply the best!" as the Sales Director walks on stage won't do it!
But do it skillfully ...subtly....naturally...and all importantly, with congruence....and that will do it!

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For more tips and advice on how we can help improve your persuadability visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

The "Theo-ology of Social Media

2009-09-02T03:52:00.000-07:00

I read a great article by Theo Paphitis of Dragon's Den fame in Mail Online where he argues for a ban in the workplace on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, because of their time-wasting impact on business.
I love some of the phrases he uses to describe the content on such sites - "an orgy of self-indulgence and exhibitionism," and "meaningless babble and egomaniacal drivel!"
He cites the example of Portsmouth City Council who have banned staff from using Facebook after discovering that log-ins had reached 270,000 in one month. And generally he presents a compelling argument for such a ban. He struck a particular chord with me when he went on to discuss our over-reliance on emails, mobile telephones and text messaging, suggesting that "Technological progress has brought linguistic regressions." I was appalled to realise the other day that I was now habitually typing "there" for "their" and "they're" in emails.
And the other bee in my bonnet is how we mis-communicate through electronic communication because of its total dependance on words alone. A colleague in sales endured constant confusion and harrassment because of her boss's reliance on text messages to direct and control the sales team. Unfortunately we haven't all learnt that 90% of the interpretation of meaning comes through accompanying body language and voice tones!
But the fact remains that businesses will want to communicate with employees and customers, and the internet and mobile technology is a fantastic way to do that once the audience is engaged. Mobile technology, the internet and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Digg are arguably the perfect delivery channel to achieve this. The "opting in...community" format creates a sense of ownership with the audience, and because of this they instinctively trust content and choose to engage with messages. The huge opportunity for business is in recognising where social media is appropriate within the communication mix, and learning how to work with it to get messages across.

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on how we can assist you to get your message across persuasively please visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/

First edition

2009-07-09T03:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not normally given to self-promotion but since this is my inaugural post following this week's launch of the new website I don't think I'll have a better excuse or opportunity. My aim with this blog is to give you regular food for thought and hopefully action too about persuasion. Whether your interest is in improving your public speaking skills or being more successful when pitching your ideas to colleagues or clients, my hope is that your interest is met here. We'll be sharing with you news, tips and advice based on the proven, the current, the speculative, and maybe even the fanciful or irreverant!

And yes.... I have to mention the "credit crunch" or recession, however you are describing it, because like the man said (or woman) - "nothing happens until somebody sells something"

And in tough times when business is there but competition is fiercer there is no better time to raise your game to win - To refresh and refocus your business message and materials. To sharpen your presentation and persuasion skills and your all round influencing fitness levels.

To find out more about the kind of help that we and others can provide, visit us at www.persuadability.co.uk