Persuasion

With persuasion, we care very much about whether the reader is motivated to buy. Persuasion combines elements of information and evaluation. It should present facts accurately, and it should offer intelligent, informed opinions. But to be successful as persuasion, what we write or say should influence what the audience thinks, how they feel, or what they do.

Fortunately, the most effective pattern for persuasion, which I call the persuasive paradigm, is simple to understand and use. It consists of four steps.

First: The customer's needs. The initial step in persuading is to demonstrate you understand the customer's needs, issues, or problems. Your first job is to summarize the business situation briefly, focusing on the gap to be closed or the competency to be acquired.

The vice president of sales for a large HVAC firm once asked me, "Why should I tell the customer what their problem is? They already know that. If they didn't think they had a problem, they wouldn't have called us."

The answer, of course, is that we are not telling the customers something they don't already know. We're reducing their anxiety. They're worried that the solution we propose won't work because it's the right solution to the wrong problem. By showing customers that we "get" it, that we listened to them and understood what they told us, we raise their level of confidence. We help them feel confident that what we propose will be appropriate for them.

Second: Outcomes. Next, focus on the outcomes or results the customer wants to achieve. How will he or she measure success? What must the organization see in terms of results to make their investment in your products and services worthwhile?

This part of the persuasive paradigm is probably a bit counterintuitive. After all, wouldn't it be more logical to state the problem and then give the solution? The thing to remember is that our goal is motivation. If we don't create a sense of urgency in the decision maker to go forward with our recommendation, we have not been successful in our persuasion effort. However, motivation does not come from problems and needs. Most businesses are faced with dozens and dozens of problems or needs, most of which will never get solved. Why? Because in the mind of the decision maker, "it's just not worth it." In other words, the return to be gained from fixing the problem doesn't outweigh its cost.

You don't want your solution to fall into the category of "not worth it." You create a sense of motivation in your customer by showing that the problem you are addressing is one that really should be fixed. The potential outcome, the return on investment or improvement in productivity or whatever, is so big that the customer can't afford to wait.

Focus on customers' pain to get their attention; focus on their gain to get their commitment.

Third: Recommend a solution. Most proposals don't recommend anything. They lapse into informative writing and merely describe products or services in a flat, factual way. To be a solution, the products and services you are recommending must be linked to the customer's specific problem. "One of the problems you are facing is declining transaction value in your e-commerce transactions. The aspect of our recommendation that will help increase transaction value is ..."

Also, when you recommend a solution, sound like you believe in it. Say the words: "We recommend the immediate installation of LeadPoint asset management software." "We urge you ..." "We are confident ..." Don't be wishy-washy. Don't depend on telepathy to get your point across.

Fourth: Prove you can do it. The last step in persuasion is to provide the evidence necessary to prove you can do the job on time and on budget. Typical kinds of evidence that you might put in a proposal include references, testimonials, case studies, resumes of team members, project plans, guarantees, third-party validation such as awards, details about your management philosophy, your company history, and so on.

Note that I am not saying your proposal should contain every one of these types of substantiation. Include only what the decision maker needs to see to feel confident about choosing you. That will be determined largely by the criteria that matter to this decision maker and by the specific requirements of the RFP, if there is one. Also, in a situation where you're responding to an RFP, your actual answers will be part of the evidence you provide—basically, evidence of your ability to comply with the customer's requirements and meet their objectives.

The four steps to persuasion are summarized in the staircase diagram depicted in Figure 4-4.

Figure 4-4: The Persuasive Paradigm.

Lots of really bad proposals begin with a history of the vendor or with a technical description of the solution. These proposals don't work because they don't address the most important factor that will motivate the reader to decide to buy: a specific problem or need, the resolution of which offers a big payoff for the customer.

Let's take a look at what happens when we use the right structure to create a persuasive message. Normally I prefer not to teach from bad examples, but sometimes it's instructive to look at how somebody has mishandled a project in order to learn from his or her mistakes. In that spirit, I present here a couple of "proposals." The first is a memo written to an internal audience; the second is a letter proposal.

Sample Proposal 1

To:	Bill Henderson
From:	Woolie Crofft
Subject:	Data Base Software

Today Mike Hinger stopper to explain the software available from his company which could give our executives personal access to the corporate data base in a way that would provide information to facilitate the decision-making process.

There are all kinds of things wrong with this memo, so many that it's difficult to begin to enumerate them. There's the vague subject line, the typo that transforms the verb into something that sounds like a Swedish surname ("Hinger-stopper"), the incredible sentence length, the use of nonspecific language ("personal access," "decision-making process"), and the fact that its chief organizing principle seems to be a loosely chronological stream of consciousness. But the most glaring problem, I think, is that it has no clear purpose. If you were Woolie's manager, Bill Henderson, your reaction to this memo would probably be a hearty "So what?" This memo sounds like one of those worthless scraps headed "FYI," most of which end up being deleted from our e-mail inbox or tossed into the garbage. It certainly doesn't look or sound persuasive. It's not addressing a problem. It doesn't clearly recommend a solution.

Sadly, the author of this memo (yes, it's an example drawn from real life, as all of the samples in this book are; only the names have been changed to protect the guilty) told me how frustrated he was that "nothing had happened." "Management complains about these problems we have with the database," he said, "but then, you when you make a recommendation on how to fix it, they just ignore you." He honestly did not perceive that his memo hadn't recommended anything, that it failed to propose a solution. He was surprised when I suggested that it could be clearer and more persuasive.

Sample Proposal 2

August 3, 2002

Mr. Larry Barns
Director, Telecommunications Services
Information Systems Center
Challenger Automotive
P.O. Box 1476
Moreno Valley, California

Dear Larry:

It was a pleasure having dinner with you last week, and I appreciate the opportunity you gave me to present my telemarketing application.

Challenger Automotive is perceived as a leading component supplier to original equipment manufacturers of on/off highway heavy equipment, heavy duty trucks, and passenger cars and light trucks. The majority of your products are marketed to original equipment manufacturers. For this reason, Challenger product identity is usually lost to the vehicle purchaser. Advertising is aimed at equipment buyers so that when equipment purchases are made, Challenger components are specified.

In the text of its advertisement, Challenger encourages the consumer to write in for further information concerning the product. In some instances, a catalog which is published periodically listing the name, telephone number, and address of dealers and distributors who stock Challenger components is mailed to the consumer.

The risk inherent in this method of advertising involves consumers contacting distributors who no longer carry Challenger components or who are simply out of stock. On the low end of the risk scale, the distributor will refer the buyer to another distributor. This lengthens the buying cycle. On the high end, the distributor will sell the buyer a similar component supplied by a manufacturer other than Challenger.

The solution to this problem is telemarketing, specifically a product we refer to as "Dealer On-Line." Here is a brief description of how it works: The advertisement for the component will carry an 800 number. The consumer will call in on this number and reach a Challenger representative for the After-Market Sales Group. Using an electronic data base, the representative can direct the consumer to the nearest distributor of Challenger components.

Considering your initial response to my presentation of this concept, I know we have a solid application with "Dealer On-Line," and I am looking forward to presenting it to the Sales and Marketing group at the division with your support.

Sincerely,

Andr LeToille

This letter is truly awful. It starts with a hackneyed, clich opening that is both inappropriate and weak. It's inappropriate because it implies that the salesperson was allowed to deliver his ideas only because he bought the client dinner. And it's weak because the tone is not one of partnership, but rather of subservience: "Thank you for letting me present ..."

Then the letter wastes the client's time telling him what kind of business he's in. That's helpful. Is the client supposed to deduce from this information that the salesperson has done his homework and understands the client thoroughly?

It's not until the fourth paragraph that there is anything substantive—a hint of a business problem, namely that the advertising is probably not as effective as it could be. But the solution sounds so canned that the reader begins to suspect that perhaps the salesperson was somebody with a product in search of a need.

Finally, the ending is even weaker than the beginning. The writer completely abdicates responsibility for the selling process and doesn't really ask for anything. Certainly not for a sale.

Both of these sample proposals suffer from the same fundamental weakness. They're not organized in a way that clearly, effectively, persuasively communicates to the audience. In other words, they're not broadcasting their message in a way that it will penetrate the noise and clutter surrounding their customer.

So what happens if we restructure them using the persuasive paradigm? If we apply the persuasive paradigm to them, we see some dramatic changes:

Revised Sample 1

To:	Bill Henderson
From:	Woolie Crofft
Subject:	Improving Executive Access to the Database

Our executives need access to the corporate database. The information it contains will be invaluable in helping them develop strategies, make decisions, and respond quickly to changing market conditions. Unfortunately, they are currently blocked from obtaining that information by a number of system-related problems.

Software available from Hinger Associates will remedy the situation. It interfaces easily with our existing system, creating a user-friendly "shell" that allows even nontechnical people to select, format, and manipulate the data they need without affecting the database itself. I recommend we lease this software system for a six-month trial with an option to buy.

Mike Hinger, the developer of the system, indicated that installation will take about four days. He will provide all the necessary documentation and support. A six-month lease runs $2,500 a month, with the full amount credited toward the purchase price of $30,000. If this software offers even a modest increase in executive productivity—saving each member of the executive team just two hours a month, for example—it will pay for itself well before the trial period is completed.

Shall we proceed?

You can see the difference immediately in this first revision. Notice how it gets right to the point: executives need access to make good decisions. Anyone who looks at this memo will see immediately why it's important and what kind of problem it's trying to solve.

Also, the solution is now clearly stated in the form of a recommendation: "I recommend we lease this software system ..." No ambiguity there.

The final paragraph adds an extra fillip by providing a value proposition of sorts. It would be better if we had a bit more development in this area, perhaps, but at least the recipient's thinking has been turned toward impact.

Here's the other sample, revised using the persuasive paradigm:

Revised Sample 2

August 3, 2002

Mr. Larry Barns
Director, Telecommunications Services
Information Systems Center
Challenger Automotive
P.O. Box 1476
Moreno Valley, California

Dear Larry:

As you mentioned during our meeting on Tuesday, these are extremely competitive times for the automotive after-market parts industry. In such an environment, Challenger Automotive cannot afford to advertise in ways that benefit your competitors.

Unfortunately, that may be what's happening each time Challenger runs an ad aimed at the consumer segment of the parts market without also including a toll-free number that can connect consumers immediately with the nearest Challenger dealer.

Your current advertisement encourages consumers to write in for information about the product and for a catalog that lists the names, telephone numbers, and addresses of dealers who stock Challenger components. You also offer an option in the ad in the form of your Web site URL, although there is no obvious link from the home page to help a consumer find the nearest dealer.

Consumers want convenience. They don't want to wait. Most of your target customers are still reluctant to use the Internet to find information, and are not likely to go more than three clicks deep to find what they want. Even for those consumers who are willing to wait to receive a catalog or who have the persistence to use the Web site, there's no guarantee the information they get will be current. The nearest dealer might be out of stock or may no longer carry Challenger components. The net result? You have spent advertising dollars that ended up benefiting a competitor.

I recommend the installation of a toll-free number: 1-888-CHALLENGER. This number will automatically connect a potential customer to a Challenger representative in your After-Market Sales Group. Through an interface between the telephone switch and the representative's computer, he or she will see where the caller is located and will be able to identify the nearest distributor of Challenger components with parts in stock.

Challenger's advertising campaign is a winner. With the addition of a customer-focused tool like the CHALLENGER toll-free number, it can yield breakthrough results. Attached are brief descriptions of the results a similar system delivered for other companies and a pricing summary. We can install the system and have it fully functional within six weeks of your go-ahead. And sales can begin to soar immediately!

Sincerely,

Andr LeToille

Once again, I think the improvement is so dramatic that it hardly needs to be pointed out. The first paragraph immediately states a problem in clear terms, and from there develops a case for the recommendation. There's not much evidence or substantiation offered here, but it may not be necessary for a recommendation like this. After all, using a toll-free number isn't exactly a risky business proposition.