The YouBlog

Something You’ll Never Forget

BOY, CAN SETH GODIN DRIVE A POINT HOME . . . The comment in the picture above was my reaction to the story he told in a recent post. It was a simple story, but it was definitely memorable [insert shudder here] and quite visceral — it was very easy to put yourself into that story.
        And that’s the point: stories and information that touch us on a deeper level than mere logic get the strongest reactions and are far more likely to prompt decisions. Seth was aiming at organizations and business leaders, but the lesson is incredibly relevant for presenters, sales executives, marketers, and anyone who wants to persuade or influence others.
        If you just rattle off statistics, or features, or bullet point after bullet point, you’re EASY to dismiss. And if you’re easy to dismiss, it’s time to rethink your approach. Here’s a starter list of ideas for how to jump past the level of logic:

 
FOR PRESENTATIONS

· Limit PowerPoint to only three slides (a goal slide, a positioning slide, and an action slide).

· Use a prop that expresses the key idea you’re trying to convey. (Maybe a nice, warm chicken . . . ?)

· Tell them a story about a client or customer who faced a situation similar to your prospect or audience (the more visceral the story, the better).
 

FOR SALES CONVERSATIONS

· DON’T start pitching your company — in fact, the longer you hold off on pitching your products or services (focusing instead on their needs, issues, and goals), the greater is the anticipation for how you can help them.

· Give them a metaphor that captures the breadth of how you can help them.

· Tell them a story (see above).

   
Or give them something — maybe a piece of paper with one number on it; only one number, but one which expresses some idea that is either critical for them, or would scare the hell out of them if they really understood what it was about (which of course you’ll tell them), or . . .
        Hey, use your imagination. Just don’t settle for the same dull, dry, recitation that everyone else seems to use. Find something that will touch them on a deeper level. You’ll spark really interesting conversations, based on big ideas and positive results. You’ll be much harder to forget — and much easier to select.

“Take a Breath!”

EVER FEEL TRAPPED? No, I’m not talking about relationships. I’m thinking about presentations and sales pitches and cold calls and meetings that never seem to end. That feeling also raises it’s nasty head with writing — writing that seems to go on and on and makes you fight to stay engaged. (Like most presentations, most sales pitches, et al.)
        Today’s riff is inspired by a couple of posts. Seth Godin, in The secret of writing to be read, gives us the quick answer: “. . . short, simple sentences not only sell more books, but spread ideas farther and faster.” His post riffs on a longer post by Steven Johnson, entitled Literary Style by the Numbers.
        The basic idea is that shorter sentences and, to a lesser degree, less complex words make communications easier to understand and absorb. That makes sense, don’t you think?
        But how often is that idea violated — trashed, in fact, by a freight train of features and jargon and self-aggrandizing filler? Too, too often. It’s sooooo easy to get caught up in all that we have to tell a prospect or customer or audience or colleague, that we become less sensitive to how well (if at all) the message is being received.
        And the effect? People may suffer through, but they usually check out mentally even if they’re still physically there. Is that the result you want for your writing or your press release or your cold call or your presentation?

How not to be a perpetrator

        Be concise.
        Make everything relevant to their situation.
        Include only what’s needed right now.

This reminds me of my favorite quote about writing, by the novelist Elmore Leonard: “I leave out the parts people skip over.”

Readers can put your book or proposal or report down and walk away, if they stop being engaged. But it’s not so simple for the people we reach through presentations or sales pitches or yet-another-meeting.
        So make it easy on them. Be clear, be concise, and be done. They’ll always ask if they want more. And they’ll appreciate how you treated them.

 
<NOTES>
Be sure to read point #4 in Steven Johnson’s post. He talks about changing the dynamic rhythm of a piece by inserting short sentences. Good idea! (Couldn’t resist :-) Your ideas will have added impact if you can distill them down to a few simple words — and then pause to say them at just the right moment.
        If you have time, check out some of the comments on Johnson’s post as well. It’s an interesting view on the writing process. Back when I was writing novels, I felt a constant battle to keep sentences tight, but it improved my writing dramatically.
        Finally, here’s a little logic behind the importance of brevity. Writing and speech are linear and sequential. One piece of information builds on the previous one. But when our sentences (written or spoken) go on too long, the reader/listener has to fight harder to keep the core idea sharp, as more and more shadings or tangents are layered on. If our speech or writing becomes bloated, especially if we use a lot of jargon or lists that demand to be read and processed, we make it really hard for our readers/audience to stay engaged. 
       

Party Time!

HEY, JOIN THE FUN! Yes, we’re celebrating the first anniversary of The YouBlog. We can’t send you any cake, but we thought you’d enjoy some of the hidden gems from the early months — either ones you haven’t read, or ones worth reading again.

· The Trouble with Questions

· Know When to Shut Up

· Body Language Bingo

· In Defense of Bullets

· So What DO You Practice?

 
FINALLY, you’ve got to look again at Kodak’s riff on presentations. It’s one of the best examples of the presenters art (and how to kill an audience). It’s screamingly funny. You’ll find it profiled in this post:

· “They’re not playing grab-ass anymore!”

 
Thanks for joining in the celebration. I’ll have a really cool present for you next week. Meanwhile, here’s to another year of fun in the blogosphere!

The Folly of “Features”

IT IS SOOOO EASY TO TALK ABOUT FEATURES. They’re what make up our products or services. They’re concrete. And very specific. If you’ve got a product marketing group, they’ll give you extensive lists of the features your product or service contains. All those features make it easy to put together a presentation — just talk about the features!
        And all those features make it really easy to KILL your audience’s spirit.
        Why? Because they don’t care about “features”, they care about what the features can do for them. Sure, some want to know about specific items, but it’s RARE that someone says, “Tell me about your features.”
        I’m not suggesting that features are irrelevant. They are important, in the right context. And that means that everything you describe should be tied to your audience’s needs, interests, or goals — everything should be explicitly relevant to what they’re looking to achieve.
        Even just the word “Features” can lead you down a slippery slope. So, instead of talking about “Features”, talk about the “capabilities” your prospect or audience can gain or apply. That allows you to still be very specific about particular applications of your product or service, but the framing is within their context, not yours.
        And keeping it focused on them is critical to consistent success.

For a related riff, check out The Trap of “Features & Benefits”.

The Emperor’s New Clothes

I WAS BORED. (There, I’ve said it.) I was watching one of Steve Jobs’s recent presentations, and I was bored.
        Not because I don’t like Steve, or Apple, or what he was talking about (new iMacs and upgraded software). I’m a solid fan of all the above.
        Not because his presentation looked like crap, because it didn’t. The slides were dramatic in their simplicity.
        No, it was because of his delivery. AND his focus. And without something so compelling as the iPhone to introduce, he and his presentation came across as just another feature-laden riff with beautifully-designed slides.
        His punchlines tended to alternate between “We’re very excited about this” and “You’re gonna love this.” — punchlines about things, not capabilities. Not excitement about how much better this or that will make the users’ experience, just excitement about the thing they made.
        The “Me. Me. Me.” rant got so bad, I finally had to shut it off. To make things worse, Steve didn’t even look that fired up. Who knows, maybe he’d had a rough night (happens to all of us). But he sure didn’t come across like the God of Presenters that many people would hold him up to be (or as he seemed in January with the iPhone preso). Sure, he’s better than Bill Gates — Garr Reynolds had a detailed post on that the other day — but even Steve could have been more compelling than he was.

What Steve could have done
What if, instead of just presenting feature after feature, he started with why each one was important and compelling? What if he presented the scenarios of a couple typical users, about their trials and tribulations in today’s ever more complex world (computing and otherwise), and THEN went into both the rationale for these new capabilities, and also the gains that can be achieved? What if he made the users the star, instead of the aluminum and glass case?
        HE would have been more animated, because he would’ve had a more compelling story to tell. And the viewers would have been more involved in the pitch because they would’ve been better able to see themselves in that story.
        Instead, this one wasn’t much different than Bill Gates with better slides . . .