Anne Miller | May 2010

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Persuasion Power

The Best Persuaders Do This

How versatile are you in persuasion strategies? If you are like most people, your default strategy is to convince through reason, a perfectly good strategy. However, if that is the only arrow in your influence quiver, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage. Here are five additional ways to get others to take action...

1. Paint possibility pictures: Imagine what this will be like when you can access the data in less than a minute! All it will take for you to get that is a two-hour training session. When can you attend?

2. Ask questions: What is it costing you in terms of time and money with the slower service? Would you like to see faster response times? Would you be willing to try X?

3. Praise: You are so good at organizing projects. The job you did last week was brilliant. So, I would like to put you this project as well.

4. Authority: The guidelines say these are the forms that have to be filled out. Can you get them back to us by next week?

5. Trade: If you can increase your commitment to six programs then, we can give you your first choice of dates for the programs. Can you do that?

These are not either/or strategies. They can be used separately or together, depending on the situation. Observe your kids. They are natural born persuasion strategists! They use these approaches all the time and usually in combination to get what they want: "Imagine how good you'll feel when I go to the party looking so pretty in my new dress!" "Do you want me to be the only one at the party in last year's style?" "You are so understanding. You always help me. So, I know you'll understand why I need that new dress for the party." "All my friends are wearing this." "If you get me this dress just this once, I will clean up my room every day and be in bed by 10:30 every night."

Have an upcoming meeting with colleagues, clients, children, or spouses? Don’t be a one-note persuader. Take a tip from your kids and come armed with more than one strategy to get what you want.

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Check out: www.snappywords.com It’s a visual online interactive English dictionary and thesaurus that helps you find the meanings of words and draw connections to associated words. It’s fun. It’s free. It can help you get ideas to write content for your blog, an article, or proposal.

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Time is limited. Make What You Say Pay!

Friday, May 14, 2010

The Anti-PowerPoint for Impact

In a recent posting, I advocated the power of spontaneous presentations using just pencil and paper and skipping the ever present PowerPoint. A recent seminar participant sent me a brilliant illustration of such a presentation and I’d like to pass it along...

Click here to view.. Notice Simon's passion. Notice how engaged you are with the visual as he creates it. Notice how the pad and marker are indeed "visual aids" and not replacements for him. Notice how impressed you are that he knows his content and doesn't use a visual as a script. This is dynamic presenting. Do it on a napkin over lunch with a client. Bring a meeting in someone's office alive with a yellow pad and pen. Jump up at a small group meeting and tell your story on a whiteboard. Or, as Simon did, hold a large audience on stage with a simple flip-chart or magnified screen and a pen.

Time is limited: Make What You Say Pay!

Sunday, May 09, 2010

What's the Story?

Oprah, Katie Couric, Mariska Hagarty, Lesley Stahl, among others, all introduced and celebrated women who have made a difference in the communications industry at the recent Matrix Awards luncheon, held at the Waldorf Astoria and sponsored by New York Women in Communication. For anyone who has to introduce an executive at a business conference, there was a common thread to all their speeches worth copyying.

Rather than simply begin by listing the accomplishments of the honoree, each celebrity opened with a personal story connected to the recipient of one of the Matrix awards. Some were touching, some were funny. Some were both. For example, in introducing Gayle King, the editor of O, Oprah highlighted how they had met in Baltimore and how King told her when she was first starting out,, “Yes, you can be Phil Donohue.”

The personalized story engaged the 1600 women at this event immediately in a way that a straight recitation of the honoree’s resume would not.

Lesson for all speakers:Take the time to craft a relevant story about the person you are introducing to pave the way for the serious information that you have to present.

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Announcement:: If you are in the online world, Sign up for my seminar, "Turn Information Into a Stoyr That Sells" sponsored fby the IAB, May 13. Details & Registration

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Time is limited: Make What You Say Pay!