One Key to Persuasion

One Key to Persuasion

Some years ago I met with leaders of a financial services firm.  They wanted to hire me to improve the persuasive presentations that their client-facing team developed and delivered to prospects.

We sat across a polished mahogany table and had a conversation about what I could do for them and how I would do it.

He asked how much it would cost, and I told him.  “That’s too much,” he said.  Luckily, I was armed  with a response.

I said, “Look, if even one of your presenters persuades a new client to invest with you this year, you will have paid my fee ten, maybe one-hundred times over.”

He looked at me and said, “Well, I can’t argue with that!  When can we start?”

Obviously, this doesn’t happen all the time.  But it happened then because I had done my homework.  I knew who I was talking to.  They had  billions of assets under management, they were growing in leaps and bounds, and my fees would be considered a rounding error.

So, the first thing to know about persuasion is the oldest thing in the book.  If you’re going to give a persuasive presentation, start where they are, not where you are.

In order to start where an audience is, your persuasive presentations should demonstrate that you know something about them:  their familiarity with the subject, their current attitudes toward it, past views on similar subjects, what makes them anxious, what keeps them up at night, what are their values and beliefs, and their personal and corporate goals, what are their problems, and what pisses them off.

Call all of that their “position.”

So, the more precisely you demonstrate your grasp of their position, the more likely your success.

 

That’s one key to persuasion.  Contact Sims Wyeth & Co. to learn more about group workshops and one-on-one coaching.