persuasion?

I am reading an interesting book named "Split Second Persuasion". It is slightly edgy but has some really interesting concepts, especially in the world of brevity. Walking people down the decision path with a truck load of information can actually educate them beyond a level of making an accurate timely decision. In many cases we give people too much information and often they become numb and unfortunately paralyzed.

There is a difference in persuasion and split second persuasion. I heard a funny story about the famous boxer Muhammad Ali. In 1975 on a flight in 1st class, a flight attendant kindly asked him to fasten his seat belt. He firmly said " Do you who I am, I am Muhammad Ali, I am Superman and Superman does not need a seat belt". Standing over the top of Muhammad Ali hearing his response she quickly said "really, I believe Superman doesn't need an airplane, put your seat belt on, please". End of discussion.

The concept of persuasion depends on four key factors: simplicity "hum? brevity", self interest, confidence and empathy. All of these have to be executed swiftly and if done correctly it can be very effective. 

The simplicity component makes sense. The self interest element does not mean it is selfish or self serving it is just a better understanding from your point of view. Clearly knowing what you "want" and how to navigate the decision process would be a good strategy for us to work on. We do know leaving the entire process up to others leads to dysfunction.

Confidence is easier said than done. You must know your stuff. Be clear with "your" agenda during a meeting. Know you audience and have empathy for each person in the room and really listen. There is a reason why we have two ears and one only mouth.

I learned this lesson the hard way. Several years ago I was meeting with a client. The CFO was important to the equation but unfortunately I focused the entire meeting on him. I was proud of my attention to the numbers and my financial discipline. In his mind I was accurate and on target. I was right. I was dead right and got fired. I completely overwhelmed the others with my proliferation of information and isolated a complete team of people. I didn't mean to come off as arrogant but they are not a customer any more and I learned a lethal lesson.

Split second persuasion is simply a clear consolidation of our technology, ideas, culture and passion for what we do. Once that is strong in our message we must tightly manage this into the discussion. Just like the flight attendant, her answer was simple. It was self serving for him and her role. She was confident. She had to be confident, it was Muhammad Ali. And lastly she had empathy. His safety was important to her, her company and to the other passengers. She didn't need a binder or a brochure to move things.

Simplicity, self interest, confidence and empathy; all of those things add up to solid preparation. It doesn't matter if you're in sales or not. We all want people to do things whether it's important to us or them. As our roles change so should our discipline to navigate the decision process. It is clear and I mean very clear that it is not our stuff that people buy, it is our knowledge. It will be much easier for them to see through our language "words" and not counting on a brochure or a binder to move people.

Chose to move through the "headwinds" with a new discipline. If we do this right there is a "tailwind" on the other side!

Stay Smart

Scott