The YouBlog

Gone Fishin'

GREAT QUOTE from Henry David Thoreau: "Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not the fish they are after."
        And what are you really after with your presentations or sales calls or press releases and such? Is it to hear yourself talk or see your words in print, or is it to affect and influence someone else?
        Start from that and work backwards, and you'll be far more effective than if you just hurl your line out there and hope someone takes your bait.

How Do You Close Your Presentation?

HOW YOU END YOUR PRESENTATION is almost as important as how you start it. It's your chance to put an exclamation point on your key message, or to set an emotional hook that cements your case in your audience's minds. It's a chance to leave them on a high note, or to cut the legs off an otherwise good presentation (which is what too many presenters do).
        A weak ending won't necessarily kill your chances, but why do that to yourself — or, more importantly, to your audience? Of course, if you started off with a limp, "Me"-focused presentation, they won't even notice a vapid ending.
        But let's suppose you have a strong message and the audience is with you. What happens if you end it with "Any questions?" If they really do have questions, they've probably already asked them long before your final slide. So to show them a slide with "Questions" or "Any questions?" or "Questions & Answers" is likely to fall flat. A deadly pall settles over the meeting, until someone either mercifully asks a question, or you say, "Okay, then. Thanks!" Kind of leaves a sour taste in their mouths, don't you think?
        Of course, some presenters say, "Please hold all questions until the end", but don't do that to your audience. That clearly announces that the audience is trapped, and it totally stifles the sense of the presentation as a conversation. It's not a winning strategy.
        And what if you've got a formal Question & Answer segment as part of the schedule? It happens regularly to one of my clients. Does that mean they need a specific slide to announce it? No. It's far more powerful to leave the previous slide up — the one with the killer recap of their message — and then just say, "Let's open this up now for further discussion." Then, while the formal Q&A goes on, that killer recap burns into their audience's brains. You couldn't ask for a better chance to build recall.
        Finally, once all the other bits are over, how do you wrap it up? While there are as many ways to do this as there are presenters, don't miss the chance to give them or remind them of the next steps in the process. You want them to walk out thinking, "Here's what we need to do."

For a related post, see Asking Better Questions.

Do Your Presentations Miss the Point?

"BUT THAT'S THE WAY WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT . . ." Boy, are those deadly words. And I've heard them, both directly and indirectly, from three separate sources this week. Ouch! Does anybody care about the audience any more?
        I hope that's a rhetorical question, but clearly there are a lot of people who miss the point of what a presentation is really about. It is NOT about your company or your products or services or features & benefits (which are typically all about yourself anyway). It is NOT about how much you know or how facile you are standing in front of an audience. NOR about your titles or your company's awards or even your view of art or technology or business or WHATEVER.
        What a presentation should be about — ANY type of presentation — is opening the eyes and the minds of your audience to things greater than they've seen or they currently know.
        That's it. And it really does apply to any type of presentation.
        And to do it right, you can't just throw your viewpoints or features or agenda out there and hope the audience gets what you're driving at. For anything you're going to share with your audience, you have to clearly establish why this is important for them — and then you need to lead with that.
        If it feels like I'm about to start pounding on the table, you're right. This is really basic stuff, but it's rarely taught and even more rarely grasped and applied. That's why there are millions of horrible presentations given every day — because presenters start with their viewpoint and work outwards, rather than starting with the audience's viewpoint and working inwards.
        So the next time you're preparing for a presentation, DON'T automatically follow your old format. Instead, put yourself in your audience's shoes and think about what their needs, interests, or goals might be. Think about what sequence of information would make most sense to them (chances are it's not the way you usually present this information). And then be totally clear about what they'll gain or what will affect them or what can change their life.
        Do that, and you'll never give a more powerful presentation.

Don't Waffle

BOY, IS THIS AN EASY WAY TO SCREW THINGS UP. Just pick up the phone to call someone about something important, and then ramble on — either live or in a voice mail — until you finally hit on what you were really calling about.
        I've done it, and you probably have, too. It's waaay too easy to do. Most times, we get through it, and the receivers get through it, and life goes on.
        But sometimes, particularly if you're trying to persuade or influence someone, that kind of waffling can weaken your position.
        This act of "winging it" also affects presentations, if you've done the barest of preparations and suddenly are faced with a live audience. And it rarely comes out the way you really want it.
        I'm not saying your calls should be precisely scripted, nor that your presentations should be delivered by rote. (see "Death by Memorization?")
        But you should take a few moments before you pick up the phone (and many moments if you're working on a presentation) to organize exactly what you want to say. Write down the one key idea you want to convey, or the critical question you want to ask, or the three major points that your team needs to address. Just the act of writing them down helps organize your thoughts, so that when you do call, you'll be that much more concise and clear.
        I've stopped myself while dialing more times than I can count and said, "Why am I calling?" or "What exactly do I want to ask?" Then I'd jot some notes and dial again — and the call or voice message has always been better for it.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall . . .

THERE WAS ONLY ONE LINE from a new piece in the New York Times that directly spoke to us business-types, but it was a doozy. Even the title of the article — "Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet" — is seductively sneaky. Why? Because we care about ourselves, and anything that is like ourself has to be good.
        Here's the killer line: "... human beings are unconsciously drawn to people and things that remind us of ourselves."
        If you've read Robert Cialdini's book "Influence", you'll recognize this as one of his six Principles of Persuasion. The principle in question is Consensus, and the hook is that, when faced with uncertainty about a decision, we look to the actions of others — particularly similar others — for guides about how to act.
        So what does this mean for you?
        Well, the more you can help people see themselves in the visions you paint or the stories you tell, the more likely they are to buy into what you're proposing. That's why testimonials and case studies can be so powerful, particularly if the person or situation is close to the ones you're currently trying to influence.
        And that's why using phrases like "... similar to your situation ..." or "... just like you're facing ..." are so important. You help them see that this will work for them, too.
        As an added benefit, when you're talking about someone else's situation and results, you're NOT talking about features of your product or service. You're letting the most critical element — what they'll achieve — shine through. And that's the most persuasive approach of all.

What If There Were No Speeches?

I HAVE TREMENDOUS RESPECT for people who get up in front of others to share ideas. I have tremendous respect for the people who help them get up there, and for organizations like Toastmasters, and bloggers like Garr Reynolds (whose post on The art of the teleprompter sparked my thoughts today).
        My greatest respect, however (and it should be yours, too), is for the people listening to others speak. They're giving the gift of their time, in exchange for the hope of finding something that will influence their lives. Notice I didn't say "hearing something", but rather "finding something." There's a significant difference. Hearing is a passive act. Taking what you've heard and connecting that with what you already know is active.
        And isn't that what every speaker really wants to do? Change minds, change behaviors, even change the course of history (since we're in the throes of a political campaign here in the U.S.). Some feel they need bold language, stirring rhetoric, and sound bites they hope will endure forever.
        But it isn't about sound bites, not if you really want to move people to action. Of the last nine U.S. presidents, there are only two sound bites that have stuck with me: John Kennedy's famous "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." and Bill Clinton's mantra in 1992 "It’s the economy, stupid." Kennedy's was certainly scripted, but it's memorable because it made a personal connection with the audience (which can't be said for the other seven passages cited in that Wikipedia link). Clinton's, on the other hand, grew out of a sign posted on his campaign headquarter's wall. It works because it's so conversational — and because it boiled the whole campaign down to four very human words.
        And it's that human connection that makes all the difference. This applies whether you're a presidential candidate, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or someone who is trying to rally support for a cause in your community.
        "Fair enough", you're probably thinking, "but why the provocative title and goofy lyrics above?"
        Because most "speeches" are dull exercises in turgid text. They're not conversations, they're boatloads of logic and grand language. Do they inform? Maybe. Do they motivate? Rarely. Do they bore? Frequently.
        Which takes me back to Garr's post today. Garr's writing and insights are excellent — that's not what set me off. It was looking at the unfortunate piece on John McCain AND (for me) the less-than-inspiring clip of Barack Obama (at least the first two minutes, which was as far as I got). While Obama is clearly far more at ease with the teleprompter than is McCain, they're both still reading.

WHAT IF either of them had instead stepped out from behind the podium, looked straight at the people in front of them, and said "Here are the three things I'd like to discuss with you today." And then they had a conversation. No scripts, no memorization, just really human interaction, where ideas get exchanged, we get to see the person underneath all the (former?) rhetoric, and we make a personal — individual — connection with that person. My God, you really could change the world.
        I am a realist, however, so I don't expect to see that in the U.S. political arena. But you can, and should, take any and every opportunity to throw the script away and just have an open, engaging conversation with your audience — whether you've got three people or three thousand. It's that connection that matters, not flowery language. If we can move people's hearts, we can move their heads.

[Note]
Doing away with "speeches" doesn't negate the value of Toastmasters or speech coaches. On the contrary, seizing opportunities to share ideas is fantastic — just make sure it's conversational and fresh and human, not stiff or formal. And everyone needs an editor and an extra, discerning eye.

How NOT to Write a Value Proposition

IT’S “READER BEWARE” OUT THERE ON THE WILD WILD WEB, particularly when it comes to advice on crafting a strong Value Proposition. I’m sure whoever wrote the Wikipedia entry on “Customer Value Proposition” meant well — but their advice is waaaaay off base. Yikes! If you follow their prescription, you could make it harder for someone to choose you, not easier. And you’ll certainly be a LOT less memorable with their formula.
        Don’t believe me? Check this out:

“A value-proposition should contain at least five elements:
1. current situation (including problems, causes, and effects)
2. target situation
3. when to reach the target situation
4. cost of reaching the target situation
5. the benefits of both the targeting and the achievement phases"

At least five elements?! Do you think your prospects or audience or readers are even going to remember one with all that stuff dumped on them? Not a chance.
        And all those detail points sound like parts of a proposal or a B-school treatise, not a concise description of what the buyer can achieve.
        Ultimately, a Value Proposition comes down to why your audience or prospects or readers should care about what you have to offer — and this Wikipedia entry (which is the first thing that shows up when someone Googles “value proposition”) doesn’t get anywhere near that concept.
        The “value” in Value Proposition needs to be what THEY (prospects, audience, readers) see as valuable, not what you want to achieve. So any statement that focuses on your agenda, or your products or services, is NOT a value proposition, no matter how loudly you proclaim it to be so — nor how resolutely a Wikipedia entry describes it. It’s not your value proposition, it’s theirs.

For more on this topic, check out “How Good Is Your Value Proposition?”

It’s Rough, But It Works

IT WASN’T A LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE, but I got a wonderful glimpse of the future this weekend, courtesy of my friend, Laura Fitton (in the picture at left), and the folks at Startup Weekend2 here in Boulder. The picture above is a screen grab from a session they ran, where Laura hosted various entrepreneurs-to-be making pitches to Guy Kawasaki (above, at right) and others.
        The intriguing thing was that the startup experts weren’t in Boulder, they were patched in via simple video feeds. And people could send comments or questions that were displayed below the video images. You can see these episodes here.
        There’s a great object lesson for all business communications in what you see in these clips. These aren’t polished, professionally-produced efforts — but they are immediate and authentic and very compelling. That’s what Laura was going for, and she nailed it.
        Authentic trumps Polished any day. This is true whether you’re working on a presentation for a large crowd or trying to make a pitch to your boss for more help. Getting to the point of what really matters is far more important, and more compelling, than having a perfectly choreographed speech.
        Keep your eye on Laura’s Mediacasters site. It’ll be fun to see what she comes up with.

Are You Predictable?

WOULDN’T YOU AGREE: “Predictable” = “Boring”? And to extend this: “Predictable” = “Invisible”. We certainly know it when we see it, and we tend to tune out quickly when encounter things that are predictable-boring-irrelevant-et al.
        Case in point: When you get a telemarketing call, how often do you listen to the whole message? And if you do listen to the whole thing, are you ever surprised? Probably not.
        Same thing happens with the majority of presentations, B2B cold calls, prospecting emails, PR releases, and so on. Most are so formulaic as to be invisible. And if you are following a formula, you’re definitely weakening your chances.
        Imagine this: A vendor comes to meet with you and they open up a laptop. What’s going to happen next? They’re probably going to open up a presentation. And then do. So what’s coming next? Right — a Title slide? And next? Yep, an Agenda slide. And at this point, you probably want to run out screaming, “Noooooo!” (because you know how deadly boring this is likely to be).
        Same thing happens with prospecting calls, voice mails, and emails, except that the receiver now has a delete key to quickly lessen their pain.

So . . .
Why do people persist in being Predictable? Because it’s easier. Because they’ve never tried a different approach. Or because someone above them has insisted that “This is the way we do it here.”
        The problem is that your rationale is irrelevant to those you want to influence.
        To break out of the trench of Predictability, you need to think about what really matters to the people you want to influence, then think about how to most effectively show them that you have an answer for their needs.
        Chances are you don’t need PowerPoint to do this. You can probably create an incredibly potent picture just with words. Same goes for cold calls and emails.
        And if you really do need slideware, you certainly don’t need a title slide. Instead, start off with an image that captures what you really want to express, and you’ll definitely break out of the mold of “Predictable”.

For another view on this same idea, check out Seth Godin’s latest post: “Why bother having a resume?” He makes a really good case for not following the norm.

Related posts:
  · Typecasting
  · Are You Easy to Ignore?

Puncturing Persuasion

SETH GODIN TAKES ON CIALDINI and all scientific marketers in a thought-provoking post: “How do I persuade you?” He effectively questions whether there’s anything a marketer or sales executive can do to consistently influence others. And without directly calling out Robert Cialdini and his six Principles of Persuasion, Seth makes a case for not relying on any one set of tactics for all your customers, clients, or prospects.
        Okay.
        Now what?

The punchline is that we need to listen to those we hope to influence, and then adapt our approach accordingly. We can still use Cialdini’s six principles, but only as appropriate to a given situation (and never all six at once).
        I realize this is a lot easier in 1:1 or small group situations. Ask questions and follow the path their answers reveal. This does takes extra effort, and you have to be comfortable with sharing control, but it’s tremendously more effective than how most people communicate (which is just to talk all about “Me”)
        And the effort is even more complex when you’re trying to reach masses, which is why so many marketers fall back on tricks or “sure-fire” tactics. (I still shudder at the money my old company spent trying to decide which had a better response rate, blue ink or green ink.)
        But even this starts at the same place: ask what matters and listen to what they say. Don’t try to validate your biases or expectations, be open to what’s in their heads and in their hearts. Then respond appropriately.
        And if you think this won’t work in marketing to the masses, maybe you shouldn’t be marketing to the masses . . .