Click on Picture to See How I Use Prezi.

When you want to sell your ideas and proposals to an audience, which Presentation software do you use? Microsoft Powerpoint? Apple Keynote?

If you use these applications already – then you are aware of their usefulness, and limtations!

While they can be great for demonstrating all YOU know about a topic, the effect on your audience can be quite snooze-inducing.

When I work with clients in presentation coaching and training – there is always an outcome required. My presenters need to get the audience to “buy” into a new idea, to sponsor a new proposal.

They are looking to Move their Audience to Yes!

But good persuasion relies on a good story. The presenter normally has a great story to tell.

A great result.

A great product.

BUT – their story is often dampened down by mundane overuse of Powerpoint and the like.

It’s hard to get your audience to come alive to your story – when you are imposing “death by Powerpoint”.

So … an alternative presentation software we often experiment with is a product called Prezi.

Prezi’s “Unique Selling Point” is it’s capacity to “Zoom” in and out. It is a great way to help your audience see the bigger picture – zoom in to some relevent detail – and then zoom out to the bigger picture again. I have included an example – just click on the picture shown and see how I use Prezi to “sell” my own services.

Your audience sees the bigger picture – your overall story – and then zooms into a particular piece of detailed evidence. It’s visual. It moves. It’s easy to use.

It’s memorable!

It may not be perfect – but it is a great alternative tool to Powerpoint. So – add Prezi to your “persuasive toolbox” and let me know how you get on!

Practical Karma

Some years back, I was working  with a sales director who would pop in and offer to make teas and coffees to all present. He then spent the next 15 minutes brewing up and making small talk. Other times, he would drop in on a warm day with ice cream for all! He was a likable fellow AND was an excellent salesman and relationship builder.

It was only some years later that I realised he was putting Robert Cialdini’s persuasion principle of “reciprocation” into action – and very effectively. Let me illustrate what reciprocation means with the results from one of Cialdini’s experiments.

Picture this “Candid Camera” type situation:

A researcher, Joe, and another individual are standing in a room doing some work together. They don’t really know each other.  Joe leaves the room and comes back with two bottles of Coke – and gives one to his temporary colleague. After about 30 minutes, Joe  asks his colleague to buy a substantial number of raffle tickets.

This is repeated a number of times – all with Joe – but with a different colleague/stranger each time.

EXCEPT – in some situations Joe gave out a bottle of Coke, and in some he did not.

The results? Joe sold, on average, TWICE as many raffle tickets to the person who was offered the Coke compared with the person who was offered no drink.

The Conclusion?
Cialdini found out, through this and similar experiments, that we humans have a very powerful obligation to reciprocate any favour given to us. We don’t like to feel indebted for any period of time (which is why Joe didn’t offer to buy a Coke – he just gave it unsolicited -  as many people would have declined).

The eye-opener here, however, is that the size of the original favour can be much, much smaller than what is requested later. Nobody is saying “well you got me a one euro bottle of Coke – so I’ll buy only one euro worth of raffle tickets”.

We often find ourselves in work situations where we ask ourselves “who can help me here – who can I persuade?” – but this might be a short-sighted approach to influencing others. Instead, ask yourself “whom can I help more often” -  knowing that the principle of reciprocation and the social obligation it confers on others will make future requests more effective.

And now – I make sure that all of my clients include an aspect of “reciprocation” in the Persuasive Presentations they design and deliver.

Practical Karma in action!

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at Persuasive Presentations

Like Me - Like My Product

Does flattery work on you – even when you know it’s happening? Are you easily persuaded by someone you fancy – someone you like the look of?

Most of us say no to the above questions – but research by Robert Cialdini suggests that, although we don’t agree consciously that we are that “gullible” – UNCONSCIOUSLY – these principles work on most of us, most of the time.

Let’s take an example of how to use the “Law of Liking”.

Cialdini found in his research that we are more likely to be persuaded, to say YES to people whom:

1. We consider attractive (think George Clooney, Uma Thurman – whichever works for you)
2. Are similar to us (look like us, mirror our behaviour, use our language)
3. Pay us compliments (flattery!)
4. Are already familiar to us.

Although plastic surgery is always an option, I find that one of the easiest ways to increase the effectiveness of your persuasion is to start using mirroring (number 2 above).

Here is the result of one of Cialdini’s experiments:

He set up a negotiation setting using a group of MBA students. In the first part of the experiment, the MBA students were instructed to subtly mirror their negotiation partner (e.g. lean back in the chair when the other person does, repeat some of their sentences etc.).

In the second part of the experiment, they were given no instructions to mirror the other person. The results? When one party was given instructions to mirror the other, the two parties reached a deal 67% of the time. And when they were not given instructions to mirror the other – deals were reached only 12.5% of the time.

The researchers concluded that matching the behaviours of others creates feelings of liking and strengthens the bonds between two people.

In my experience, doing the above in a persuasive setting initially feels “unnatural”– even false. However, the other person rarely seems to notice. And even if I point out what I am doing – they seem to forget about 4 minutes later!

Try This “Experiment”:

Over this week, you will probably have lots of encounters with other people. Some will be persuasive situations – selling, negotiation, getting a proposal accepted. In some of those situations you may have no relationship with the other party – OR one that is a little “strained”.

• When you get together with one of these people next – start some subtle mirroring. After the introductions and small-talk – start to match their gestures. Sit back when they do. Hold your chin when they do. Be subtle – delay your reaction a little. You will NOT BE FOUND OUT!
• Match their phrases and words. If they say “I’d like to order twenty units now and increase that to forty units in January” – don’t just write it down, repeat it back to them. That’s why this is called “mirroring”!
• Notice the rapport between the two of you as the encounter progresses. What do you notice? Most people report that they feel more at ease in making those all important persuasive requests.

Repeat many times – make mirroring part of your unconscious persuasive “arsenal”!

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at Persuasive Presentations

Set Your Expectations REALLY Low.

Warren Buffet – still one of the richest men in the world – was asked some years back about his expectations when it came to choosing an investment. His answer was along the following lines:

“When it comes to the secret for a long and lasting relationship – and I have been married for over 50 years now – I have found that there is one secret. One secret for ensuring a long and happy relationship – make sure that you start off, and continue with, low expectations”.

When I first heard this, I must admit that I was taken aback – “What – where’s the ambition in that! – not to mention that it sounds like a mealy-mouthed way to have a relationship. I wouldn’t want to be married to that guy!”

And, of course, I’m not.

But, over the last number of years – I have realised how right Warren Buffet is – except that I now believe that it is better to have no expectations at all.

No expectations – just agreements. Let me explain:

I was working with Denise on a Mastering Persausive Presentations workshop – and just as we  finished for the day – she asked for some help on “persuading” one of her team to “toe the line”.  She explained that since she had taken over her team of 10, she had come to know and develop a good relationship with them all.

Except, there was one little “fly in the ointment”.

One of the guys – John – who was an excellent worker, one of the best – was causing her grief. Almost every day, he came in late. Sometimes 5 minutes late – sometimes 15 minutes late. The area had a clock-in system, so this was there for her boss and Human Resources to see.

“John is driving me crazy. He doesn’t seem to be able to do what’s expected of him. I’ve spoken with him – but he just carries on doing the same.” Denise explained.

“Have you considered coming to an agreement with him?”

She gave me that “guy with two heads look” and said: “He knew what he was agreeing to when he signed up for the job!”

We go through our day with all sorts of expectations of other people. We expect them to be on time for meetings, happy with the great work we just put in, to be just as diligent as we are – and so on.

There’s nothing really wrong with that – except when our expectations are NOT being met.

Then, over time, we can go a little bit crazy – just like Denise.

Denise called John into the office. They talked for a little while. Denise talked about how it was important to her that he starts to show up on time. He talked about how there were certain things going on in his life at home. She asked if he would be open to coming to an agreement.

After a while herself and John AGREED that over the next month, he could clock in at up to 9.30am for two mornings each week. They would then meet and see how where to go next.

Over that month – John broke the agreement just once. Denise called him in – made sure all was ok with the agreement – and they carried on.

Denise’s mind was freed up for other things.

Drop Expectations – Make Agreements.

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at Persuasive Presentations

How do we sell something so ugly?

When the advertising firm of Doyle, Dane and Bernback was given the task of introducing the Volkswagen Beetle to the USA in 1959 – their campaign broke with conventional wisdom at the time. It concentrated on the fact that the Beetle was smaller and not as good-looking as American cars at that time.

The Ads featured lines like “Ugly is only skin deep”, “Think small” and “It will stay uglier longer”. This was a unique advertising concept at the time – imagine starting with the truth! As one commentator said “Beetle ownership allowed you to show off that you didn’t need to show off”.

The surge in Beetle sales that followed this contrary advertising campaign attracted a lot of attention and research. How did these advertisements succeed in selling so many cars – especially when they apparently “downed” the product so much?

One of the conclusions was that mentioning a small drawback of a product upfront creates the perception that the company who is advertising the product is honest and trustworthy.

This puts the company in a position to be MORE PERSUASIVE when promoting the products genuine strengths – which in the case of the Beetle were a lower price and fuel consumption (35mpg!) – as well as the chance to be different to everyone else.

I like to call this approach “inoculation”. In a negotiation setting, in a presentation setting, in any persuasive setting – you “inoculate” the other party(s) against bringing up bigger shortcomings by FIRST introducing a little bit of the truth upfront yourself.

Here’s a few examples of how you might apply “inocculation” in a number of business settings:

In every business setting this week (negotiations, business meetings, sales meetings, sales presentations etc.) – try mentioning a shortcoming of your knowledge, your product, your service. It could be:

• “Before we start, I’d like to point out that this is an area where I have limited knowledge, so it may appear that I am asking stupid questions from time to time”  OR

• “Before I start my presentation, I notice there are a lot of salespeople in the room. I’d like to point out that I am not, and have never been a salesman – however …” OR
• “Before I run through our product and how it could be used in your company – I’d like to let you know I just came off the phone with another customer and he had some problems with this same product. It’s interesting what happened next …”

This approach usually feels counter-intuitive at first, so try it out in low risk situations until you start to notice how effective it can be!

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at The Coaching Partnership.

Tune Into Easy Listening

Have you ever found yourself drifting – daydreaming? Sometimes it happens at the most inappropriate time!

During a presentation coaching session last month, John explained how he found himself wandering – daydreaming – often when meeting and presenting to important clients. Every now and again, he snapped out of it and hoped that his incessant nodding was enough to fool the client into thinking that he heard what was just said.

He decided he needed to do something about his listening skills.

“So, what do I do? Eyeball my customer, nod as they talk and ask interesting questions from time to time?” He asked.

“It sounds like that’s what you are doing already – how’s that working out for you?” I asked.

“Sigh”.

There is much information and technique available on “active listening” in different business and counselling settings. However, the following – literal listening – is the approach that I find one of the easiest listening skills to sustain.

Here’s how Literal Listening works:

Other Person: “That particular approach might be a big problem.”
You: “What different approach would make it a smaller problem?”

Other Person: “That’s a way too expensive for us at the moment.”
You: “How much would the price need to change to make it more acceptable at the moment?”

Other Person: “It’s not clear which steps I need to take next”.
You: “Which steps are clear to you at the moment?”

Other Person: “I’m feeling a bit punch-drunk in the current environment.”
You: “What specifically is it about the current environment that’s making you feel that way?”

See what’s happening?

When you listen – and use part of the sentence you just hear in your reply – you are demonstrating literal listening.

Literal Listening has the following advantages:

• This “game” means that you have to listen to what the person is actually saying. You must pay attention rather than just thinking about your next question.
• When you use the other persons exact words and phrases, they feel empathy – that you actually understand them and see the world from their perspective.
• For persuasion/negotiating/selling – you tune in very quickly to what the other person’s values and their view of the world.
• It is easy to do – and become skilled at – in a short period of time. No complicated techniques to remember in the heat of “battle”.
• It is a great device for starting and continuing “small-talk” – which generates good rapport.

As for John – he has taken literal listening to heart – and now uses it in all his conversations (except with his teenagers – that would be just too annoying!).

He has made listening more of a game – and is now getting serious results!

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at The Coaching Partnership.

Email works for me!

Ok – this is a blog about persuasive presentations – so what has email got to do with it? Well, you still have to get the invites out, follow-up on commitments – and how is that done?

By email, mostly.

If you must use email – how do you get a majority of people to a) open your mail and b) respond to your request?  Here are some incredibly useful from a client of mine:

I have always admired Declan – the owner of a services company employing 480 people – for the way that he communicates with email. He always seems to get my attention, make his request eloquently and remain personable in all his email communication.

One day, we were coming to the end of a coaching session and I asked him about his use of email – what sorts of “rules” does he follow for email.

“Well, I do follow some rules, but they’re MY rules, so I bend them and break them if I need to!” Declan started. “I have different rules for both receiving and sending emails. But the biggest thing is that I don’t EMAIL people, I communicate with people to get specific results. Email is only one of many communication platforms. I like to follow eight different rules:”

1. When I receive a mail that I don’t understand – I get on the phone straight away! No point in looking for more email when the sender is not the best communicator.
2. When I open an email – I reply to it – even just to acknowledge receipt. Communication is a two way thing.
3. When I send email – I always put the person’s name and a request in the subject line. There is a lot of competition in all of our inboxes, and I want my email to be noticed. So I might say “Mary, which of the following options do you prefer”. Oh yeah, that question also gets the receiver curious about what is in the email.
4. When I send an email – especially if it is longish – I will always start with a summary of what I need the receiver to do and why. So, I might say: “Mary, I have outlined 3 options for the service you requested. At this point I want to ensure that you have all the facts around each option – so I will call you tomorrow to run through. If this is inconvenient please call me back to arrange a more suitable time.” And then I give the detail in the rest of the email.
5. I never (well, hardly ever) give attachments. I put all the detail in the email.
6. I always use full and conversational English in my emails.
7. When I get a reply to one of my emails and I feel there is something left unsaid, a little email “hostility”, I pick up the phone and talk directly. The use of email has run it’s course in this situation and may lead to a lot of misunderstanding if we proceed.
8. When I send an email to a group of people – my rule here is to be realistic! This means I should expect a ten to twenty per cent response rate, and I’m going to have to work on the rest. This rule means that I think twice before using email exclusively for big groups.

“So, you can probably see that most of my rules have to do with email not getting in the way of human communication. I value the relationships I have with my customers and fellow workers. Email is a marvellous tool, but sometimes it can be a little like a loaded gun! It needs to be treated with care and responsibility.” Declan concluded.

My own favourite tip above is number 7 – although I never do it quite soon enough! What’s your favourite?

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at The Coaching Partnership.

Get a Questionable Reputation

Have you been at a presentation or meeting recently?

It’s easy(ish) to enhance your reputation while you’re delivering a great presentation – but what about when you are sitting in the audience?

3 months ago – I met with Jim, a Manager in a large organisation. He started:

“Every time I have a meeting involving Anne, she doesn’t get very involved. I would be great to hear what’s on her mind and see her contributing more to meetings and presentations.”

Later that week I met with Anne – just mentioned by Jim. Here is what she said:

“I can’t see the point of speaking up at meetings if I’ve nothing to say. Besides, all of the others there are so much more experienced!”

We spend quite a lot of our working lives at meetings with other people. The most obvious benefits of meetings are to set a focus on a problem, work through possible solutions, share approaches and techniques.

However, there are also more subtle things going on – establishing rapport and building better relationships with those around us, seeing others in action in public, letting others know just what kind of people we are – enhancing our reputations.

When I coached Anne – it turned out that she had the following “programming” in her mind:

[get lots of more experience around here THEN have the knowledge to contribute at meetings ONLY IF my area of expertise comes up]

So, we went about changing here “programming” to:

[contribute to meetings EVERY TIME and AS A RESULT enhance my reputation as a problem-solver AND gain more knowledge faster]

You see, Anne saw herself as a great problem-solver – but that skill was mostly hidden from Jim and some of the others. After all, she was only in the job for six months.

And now she was ready to enhance her reputation.

“But, how do I contribute to the meeting if I don’t know the answers – when I have nothing to add?” Anne asked.

“What you need are questions, not answers. You need to follow 3 rules to get you up and going.

1. Ask at least 3 questions in every meeting.
2. Ask your first question no more than 10 minutes into the meeting.
3. Make the questions open questions when possible – ones that listener to think.”

“Choose one or more of the following types of questions:

• Seek clarification: “Jim, when you say the widgets are overdue, what is the normal timeframe within which they are expected?”
• Start with a statement: “I have a question: Is this an approach that has been taken in the past – and if so, what were the results the last time around?”
• Inoculate: “This may be a stupid question (now nobody can call it a stupid question) – how does what we are discussing here relate to the bigger challenge of getting and keeping new customers?”

Anne started to make an immediate impact at meetings with her new-formed habit. I met Jim a month later and he mentioned: I never realised that Anne was so knowledgeable in so many areas!.

Experts are mostly the people with the best questions – not those with all the answers.

Become an expert at asking questions! Enhance your Reputation.

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at The Coaching Partnership.

Set No as the starting Point

About 3 months ago – Jim – a small-business client of mine went to his local friendly bank looking for an extension on his overdraft facility.

Cashflow was poor – but he saw things improving after 5 months. In the meantime, he needed some help from his bank.

“I went to the assistant manager. It was clear that she did not understand my business and honestly, I don’t think she was really listening. She had already made up her mind.” Jim told me.

“She called me back after a week and started off with the sentence “Jim, I’m afraid the news is bad. No – we won’t be able to provide you with a facility….”

And that’s what really got Jim started.

Jim didn’t take no for an answer – he took it for a question. He turned her “no” into the question: “Can you be more creative than that? Give me an argument I can say yes to.”

One of the greatest problems people in business, and people everywhere, face is in the meaning they give to someone else’s NO. Many people hear NO as a  final and personal rejection. But no can mean anything you want it to mean – it is, after all, a very small word.

Our first instinct is to take no to be the final answer. After all, that’s what they said it was – and we don’t want to go rocking the boat. But when Jim heard the word no – he decided to also hear: “Can’t you be more creative than that? Give me a better argument.”

So Jim kept the assistant manager on the phone – and made it clear from his tone that this conversation was only beginning. He asked a lot of questions and arranged a new meeting – this time also involving the branch manager. He started to think and plot his next move.

The reason they wouldn’t support him was because they could not understand the cycles of his consultancy business. When he asked them what they needed to support him, they smiled and said, “We need collateral. We need bookings and letters of intent from your customers.”

Then it hit Jim. Their real problem wasn’t his lack of business — it was their lack of knowledge. They didn’t know Jims’ business – and what makes it successful. So he set out to solve their problem for them.

After a week, Jim was back in – this time with the Bank Manager. He had the illustrations, he had the attitude – and he had the questions. Two weeks later, he received his facility.

When you ask for something in professional life and it is denied to you, imagine that the “no” you heard is really a question: “Can you be more creative than that?” Never accept no at face value.

Let rejection press your “game on” button – and motivate you to get more creative.

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at The Coaching Partnership.

Persuasive Authority

A couple of weeks back I visited my local doctor’s surgery. I was there to visit an alternative therapist who shared rooms with the doctor.

One particular thing intrigued me – she was not a qualified medical doctor – BUT she wore a white coat AND had a stethoscope around her neck!

On the surface, this seemed faintly ridiculous – but research around the science of persuasion suggests that we react in a predicable way to all sorts of irrational stimuli.

What we are touching on here is one of Robert Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Persuasion and influence: The principle of Authority. We are more likely to be persuaded by someone who looks like, sounds like, or talks like they are an expert on the subject at hand. Let’s take an example:

I was coaching Stephanie a few weeks back – she had to make a presentation to a group of local health nurses. Stephanie was an experienced practitioner in a therapy that offers relief to infants up to the age of 6 months.

Stephanie was both excited at the opportunity to reach such an influential audience (health nurses stay in close contact with new mums during the first 3 months after the birth) AND TERRIFIED at not being taken seriously!

So, we worked on her persuasion powers.

We specifically worked on using the persuasion principle of Authority. Here is what she did:

• She dressed in her clinician uniform for the presentation.
• She gave the host a written summary of her experience and qualifications. Her host then introduced her to the audience by reading from this summary.
• She contacted one of the health nurses before the presentation. She had worked successfully with this nurse before. She interviewed the nurse about the successes she saw with Stepanies’ therapy – and in what circumstances she would recommend it to others. She referred to this nurse during her presentation and called on her to share her experience.
• She gathered research on her therapy and quotes from advocates – she then presented this information as quotations in her presentation slides.
• Finally, shemade out a list of areas where this therapy was unsuitable and a list of contra-indications – and presented it in her slides and handouts.

With each of these tactics, Stephanie was increasing her projection of authority to her audience. According to Cialdini, she also increased the likelihood that members of the audience would “comply” with her requests for business.

She did not, however, wear a stethoscope!

Referrals from the Health nurses have started to roll in – AND – she has been asked to talk at the next regional meeting of health nurses.

If you are aiming to convince or persuade an audience or customers to try something new – establish your authority first. Only, don’t just TALK about it – LOOK like one!

Mike Collins is principle Coach and Trainer at The Coaching Partnership.