TITLE: 25 things you need to know about presenting persuasively
(from Michelle Bowden’s keynote/workshop for Bayer Opthalmology in July 2022)
- We present (persuade and influence) our family members, friends, clients, patients, colleagues and managers every day of our life. Our days and filled with negotiating, finding compromise, updating, advising, selling, influencing and persuading.
- Most people forget that we are actually influencing people all the time, so they treat their communication scenarios like informal conversations and don’t analyse their stakeholder, prepare their message, and they definitely don’t take the time to rehearse. They are likely to ‘wing it’!
- Wise owls have an innate drive to persuade through message credibility. Commanding Eagles have an innate drive to persuade by establishing personal authority. Friendly Budgies have an innate drive to persuade by building goodwill. Captivating Peacocks have an innate drive to persuade by arousing enthusiasm and passion.
- Remember you’re not trying to persuade yourself.
- What does your stakeholder need? Give it to them! Flex, flex flex your approach.
- Expert communicators get into their stakeholder’s shoes and build strong rapport so they can present meaningful, needs based solutions.
- Expert communicators know how to design, persuasive, powerful, memorable messages and as a result, expert communicators hear the word ‘yes’ more often in their life.
- Remember you cannot NOT influence.
- 4Mat is the model for crafting a message so it sticks in your stakeholder’s mind and they are compelled to take the action you require. 4Mat addresses the 4 x virtual questions in your stakeholder’s mind: Why? What? How? What if?/What else?
- The Persuasion Blueprint by Michelle Bowden is the formula for structuring your message, so you are undeniable. It includes steps 0-13.
- An icebreaker is one way to hook the attention of your audience. There are 3 steps to a great icebreaker: hook; intro/welcome; link to your content.
- Pacing and leading is the linguistic pattern for convincing someone to say ‘yes’ to you. Remember the key is to get right into their shoes and use the truisms that best show empathy before you lead with your leading statement.
- Some people are motivated to move away from pain, other move toward reward. When you motivate your audience try telling them what they will reduce, maintain and improve.
- There are three main types of objections: content, personal and logistics. It’s best to manage most objections BEFORE they are raised. We manage objections with the POO technique. POO stands for: Pacing Out Objections.
- There are 5 steps to the POO technique: state the objection; say ‘and’, ‘so’ or pause and say nothing, then say ‘actually’ or ‘in fact’, lead to a solution, and finally use the clever word ‘because’ with a meaningful reason.
- Be careful of saying ‘But’, ‘However’, ‘Alternatively’, ‘Although’ because they all negate what you have just said and activate the fight/flight response in the stakeholder and incite them to fight you! Choose to say “and”, “so”, or just pause and say nothing.
- Framing is used to control and relax your audience and you do it at step 5 of the Persuasion Blueprint.
- The credibility frame goes like this: ‘in the x years I have worked as an x, in the x, what I have learnt is x (reflect stakeholder pain), and what this means for you is x”
- A call to action is clear, direct and explicit. Remember, make your meeting count and always ask for something, even it’s just for further support.
- The Q&A never goes at the very end (law of primacy and recency). The method to elicit meaningful questions is as follows: ‘I’m interested in your questions, for example you may have a question ab out x, or y, or maybe even z. Who would like to start? What questions do you have?’
- Stories are the way people hook on to our message and remember what we’ve said. Remember incident, point, benefit. What stories can you tell today?
- Use rhetorical questions. What is a rhetorical question? It’s a question that you ask and then answer straight away!
- Use direct connected eye contact – the eye is the window to the soul!
- Remember your emotional objective. What do I want my stakeholder to feel? Make sure I feel it too!
- Today is the day to make a serious decision to take your communication seriously. Go forth and persuade!
I know you know this, it’s not rocket science, so take the time to plan your meetings in advance, analyse your performance at the conclusion of every meeting and continuously strive to be an power persuader who hears the word ‘yes’ more often!
Ezine: For more tips on persuading, presenting, and communicating at work go to www.michellebowden.com.au and subscribe to my FREE ezine called How to Present.
Please connect to me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellebowdenenterprises/
© Michelle Bowden 2022. Michelle Bowden is an authority on presentation & persuasion in business. Michelle is a CSP (the highest designation for speakers in the world), best-selling internationally published author (Wiley), and a regular commentator in print, radio and online media. www.michellebowden.com.au