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Persuasion & Selling Ideas
Find the value
Reduce mental steps to increase persuasion
How clear are your chunks?
Find the value
Persuasive communication is based on your ability to do two things (in order):
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Clarify a clear and memorable message
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Deliver the message in a compelling way
A common mistake is to focus on the second step too early. People focus their attention on the delivery before they have tested the message for relevance and impact. Unfortunately, most people fail to get the value out of their head and communicate it effectively to others.
Take the time needed to clarify your central message in a compelling way and then test it out loud. By isolating the message from the clutter of details in your mind you can observe it more objectively.
If there is one secret to persuasive communication, it's the ability to separate yourself from a subject and clarify your message from the perspective of the listener.
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Reduce mental steps to increase persuasion
In this era of (so called) labour-saving technology, mental tiredness rather than physical exhaustion wears us out. Managers are learning that humans deal with complexity by avoiding tasks with a lot of mental steps.
Strategies/ideas/proposals with too many mental steps will be avoided or resisted.
How does this relate to you and your presentations? Well, if you're not getting the response you want from colleagues or management, you may be unwittingly making it too hard for people to support you, by putting too many mental steps between them and understanding.
For example, vague messages like "Be more strategic" or "Improve your productivity" require the listener to work out all the details. Maybe they will, but you'll consistently get better results if your communication makes the actions or benefits specific.
Another example is long-winded communication or a presenter who rambles. If you can't prioritise your information, don't expect your listeners take the mental effort to sort it for you. The number of mental steps your audience has to take to process your communication corresponds directly to its potential for success.
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How clear are your chunks?
Why do paragraphs have sentences? Why do books have chapters? Why do chapters have paragraphs? Because they are methods for chunking information.
Put simply, the human mind accepts and retains information more easily when it is broken into chunks. Random or uncategorised data is not easily accepted and the mind can become overwhelmed. When the mind feels overwhelmed it shuts down, rejects the information or treats it at a superficial level, ensuring it doesn't enter long-term memory.
Think about how your brain skips a beat when people change the chunks of your phone number. Imagine you're talking to somebody and you give them your phone number: 0412 123 156. The person repeats it back to you as: 041 212 3156. Does it sound correct? Did you take an extra second to think about it? Has this happened to you?
Chunk Theory suggests that you group your information into fewer, broader headings so that it looks simpler to the audience. By clearly defining chunks, you make the message more memorable by helping your audience to digest one part of your information before they hear the next part.
Chunks make information seem simpler. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How can you understand a complex idea? One chunk at a time.
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