October 2009 Newsletter
How to Make it Easy
for People to Work with You and Embrace Your Ideas
If you were able to achieve a goal
through an easy and straightforward
approach or through a difficult process, which way would you choose?
You'd pick the easy way, right? So would the people you try to
influence. Here are practical techniques to improve your results by
making it easy for your listener to adopt your point of view.
In
This Issue
Make it Easy to Embrace
Your Ideas
Make it Easy for
Customers to Do More Business
The Easy Way to Become
a Better Speaker
Improve
Your Results
the Easy Way: 10
Simple Tips to Make it Easy for Others to Embrace Your Ideas
No matter what your job title is, you must influence others every day
in your personal and professional interactions. There are many
techniques to improve your powers of persuasion, but one of the most
effective is also most overlooked: make it easy for your
listeners to
adopt your point of view, buy your services or take a favorable action.
Here are ten simple tips to make it easy for your listeners, clients
and employees to accept your influence:
-
Prepare.
Before you make the next call, write the next piece of marketing
material or send that email, take a moment to prepare. Remind yourself
of your objective and ask yourself, "What is the easiest way to achieve
my desired outcome?" and "How can I make this process easier for my
listener?"
-
Address
their self-interest first. If you don't communicate how your
idea, product or service benefits your listener, they won't do the work
for you. Mention how your idea saves time, prevents pain or provides
value before you make secondary points.
-
Paint
a picture of the benefits you offer. Don't stop at addressing
self-interest. Use colorful sensory language to help the listener see
and feel what it would be like to adopt your point of view. Practice
beginning a sentence with the word "imagine" to generate ideas on
creating powerful images.
-
Adapt
your style to theirs. You have a preferred way of communicating
and so does your listener. Be sure to adapt. If you prefer email, but
your listener prefers face to face meetings, or vice versa, give their
needs priority.
-
Make
recommendations early. Don't bore your listener with details of
all the possible options and permutations they could consider if you
already know what you think is best. Start with your recommendation and
explain why it's superior to other options. If asked, you can always
provide more details later.
-
Simplify
next steps. If you want the listener to take action, make the
process easier by decreasing the number of steps. Can you do some of
the preliminary work first or combine a multi-step process so that it
appears simpler? Perception is reality here. If it seems too time
consuming, your listener will delay or ignore your recommendations.
Read the full article
In
the News: How
Businesses Can Make it
Easy for Customers to Do More Business
The
Wall Street Journal recently
featured trends in banking technology that attract customers by making
it easier to handle financial needs.
Even if you're in a different
industry, it's worth reading
this short
article for ideas that you may be able to use. Read the article here
or email me
and I'll send you a copy.
Become
a Better
Public Speaker the Easy
Way: Increase Your Influence by Making it Easy for Your Audience to
Listen, Learn and Act
One easy way to become a better
presenter and improve your
effectiveness as a speaker is to make it easy for your listener to
follow your points, understand your arguments and take action.
Here are six techniques to make your next presentation easier for your
audience:
-
Use
a clear structure to foreshadow the content of your speech.
After you give a compelling introduction that grabs the audience's
attention, you can preview what's ahead. Then proceed to address the
points in order. Sample lines include:
-- "In the next 15 minutes
you will learn the five best practices
that will set you apart from the competition, which are X, Y and Z."
-- "The three keys to
success are X, Y and Z."
-- Enumerate your techniques
by noting
"first",second" and "third" points.
-
Use
smooth transitions to segue from point to point. Make sure that
your listener knows that you are moving to a new point so that they can
move with you. Some simple phrases you can use are:
-- In fact ...
-- That's why...
-- Despite those facts...
-
Use
repetition each time you make your central point. If there is a
central theme for your presentation, repeat it each time you finish an
example or before you transition to the next point. This is especially
effective if you have a catch-phrase that you want the audience to
remember and repeat.
-
Anchor
your key points with gestures. Examine your speech to see if
there is a gesture that you can repeat that helps the audience to
visualize your point. In a presentation about avoiding simple mistakes,
I mention an experience in the Amazon pulling on vines. Then, each time
I reference making a mistake, I mime pulling the vine and the audience
intuitively understands my point even before I verbally express it.
-
Anchor
your key points with staging. You can use different parts of the
stage (if you have one) to represent different points in time or
different parts of your story. That way, when you move with purpose,
the audience automatically understands "where" you are in your speech.
-
Give
a call to action. Every time you speak to an individual or a
group, you have a purpose. End your presentation by asking your
listener to do something. Whether you want them to change a behavior,
adopt a new point of view or buy your product, don't end without giving
a clear call to action.
Read the full article
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