Ultimate Selling Power

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Why is it that some salespeople excel regardless of whether the economy is robust or in recession? And more specifically, what do sales income millionaires–those who generate more than $1 million per year in personal remuneration–do better than the rest?

Simply put, the highest paid salespeople apply the key principles, strategies and techniques of selling better than the average salesperson. They also cultivate a mindset of success that underpins everything they do. And, importantly, sales millionaires understand how to maintain that optimum attitude, even in the face of some extraordinary problems.

What the World’s Most Successful Salespeople Do Differently From Average Salespeople

1. Develop the mindset of sales success

2. Deal with objections productively

3. Prepare good scripts which build momentum

4. Put in place systems which consistently generate leads

5. Develop and project a strong USP (unique sales proposition)

6. Make good use of pre-sale warm-up opportunities

7. Let the media help sell your products and services

8. Harness the power of seminar selling opportunities

9. Learn how deal effectively with challenging people

10. Capitalize on CRM (customer relationship marketing)

11. Take advantage of the right sales coach

Sales Millionaires Should Master 11 Basics Well

1 Develop the mindset of sales success

The high achievers or superstars of the sales profession– who commonly generate more than $1 million in sales commissions year in and year our–have a unique mindset. They literally see the world differently, especially the benefits their products or services have to offer. They motivate others to take action on the strength of their own personal convictions.

To develop a similar mindset:

Be proud of being a salesperson: and let people know you are.

Study the techniques of persuasion systematically: so you know how to use them to add value by genuinely solving people’s problems.

Have a healthy attitude: and keep learning more so you can sell with energy, commitment and real enthusiasm.

Have integrity: by first convincing yourself that what you have to offer is available at a fair price. If you cannot convince yourself of that, get a job with a company where you will have that conviction. That way, you can give 100-percent effort.

Believe in the value you bring to the negotiating table: and acknowledge that everyone needs help with finding the right finance options, delivery scheduling and quality guarantees. This is where you add value to the transaction.

Always keep refining and improving your presentation skills: since this will be a career-long process rather than a one-time event. Write down what you’ll say to prospective customers. Look for ways to improve it. Focus on enhancing the impact of everything you say. Find more persuasive ways to illustrate the benefits your products or services offer. Keep on the lookout for new tweaks and ideas.

2 Deal with objections productively

All prospective customers have concerns and objections. That’s unremarkable. Great salespeople prepare intelligently to handle those objections in two ways:

Try to deal with objections before they are raised

Develop persuasive scripts that handle objections smoothly

The words you use when face to face with a prospective customer are important. If you use the right words, you’ll persuade them to move forward with the purchase. With this in mind, highly productive salespeople leave nothing to chance. They develop written scripts so they can practice people’s objections persuasively.

To start building your own sales scripts:

Identify and write down all the objections you commonly encounter: and keep adding to your list until you cover everything that gets raised in your meetings.

Organize your list: by writing each objection at the top of a blank page in your notebook.

Start by writing down your best response to each objection: then go through and write out your second best response to each, your third best response and so on.

Whenever you get another idea, keep adding to your list of responses for each objection.

Start organizing your responses by personality type: so you can adjust what you say to meet the precise needs of each individual person you come into contact with.

Work with your friends and associates to brainstorm new responses: and keep progressively adding to your lists over time. Remember to write down these new ideas as they come to you rather than trying to rely on your memory.

Interview successful salespeople in your industry: and get their ideas and input into your sales scripts. Ask them how they address the most difficult objections you come across. Take what they do and adapt it to your own requirements, circumstances and personality.

Keep editing and polishing your scripts: gradually getting rid of all the deadwood and embedding more powerful words. The more unnecessary material you can cut out and the more persuasive the material you work in, the better your scripts will work.

3 Prepare good scripts that build momentum

Once you start developing a script book for handling objections, you should next start gathering a collection of words, metaphors, examples and explanations that can be used in your presentations. This is your sales script book, and it can literally earn you millions of dollars in extra income. The catch is that nobody else can develop one for your. Every sales superstar has to develop their own sales script book.

To refine and enhance your basic sales scripts:

Whenever someone becomes one of your customers, ask them why: and document their answer. Look for common themes that come up again and again. Your challenge then becomes to embed more of whatever works into your presentations in the future rather than taking a stab in the dark.

If you hear a new objection, start a new page in your sales script book.

Look forward to having someone raise an objection with you: because you’ve taken the time and effort to prepare comprehensively. Since you’ll have in mind more than a few ways to handle each objection, you have nothing to fear.

Collaborate with other salespeople: especially your own sales manager and company salespeople. Ask them how they handle the common questions and write down what they say. Take their best ideas adapt them to your personality traits.

Start bringing up objections before the prospect thinks of them: which positions you more effectively to deal with these objections. By preempting these objections, you can turn them into reasons to move forward rather than roadblocks. There are many ways to bring out the more predictable objections:

1. “I can take a guess at what you are probably thinking about now. You are probably concerned that…”
2. “I can take a guess at what you are probably thinking about now. You are probably concerned that…”
3. “Right a about now, you’re most likely thinking you’ll need more time to consider your options. That’s natural. However, there are some things you should know…”

By raising these questions before the prospect brings them up themselves, you show empathy for them and trustworthiness. It also demonstrates your self-confidence in your product or service. Doing this also establishes your professionalism and thoroughness. Bringing out common objections yourself allows you to lay the groundwork for answering those objections in an advantageous manner, meaning the prospect will have less reason to need more time to make a decision.

Prepare for each interview by reviewing the material in your script book: as five or ten minutes in preparation can have a dramatic impact on how effective you are. Consider what the three or four most likely objections will be. Rehearse how to respond to these objections. That way, when you get face to face in your sales interview, you can deliver these responses naturally and persuasively.

Aim to get to the stage where you have at least 20 responses for every major objection: Assembling 20 great responses for every major objection may sound difficult, but keep working at it. You will need vastly different responses for people with markedly different backgrounds, experience levels, needs and interests.

Tape-record yourself making a sales presentation: and listen to how you can across. Note your strengths and your weaknesses. That way, you can correct any irritating habits you may be introducing without realizing it.

4 Put in place systems that will consistently generate leads

Highly successful salespeople work from leads and referrals. These are the lifeblood of sales success. In practice, salespeople who achieve great success generate more leads than the average salesperson does. Plus, they have good systems in place for using those leads.

With that in mind, some places to look for leads and referrals are:

Your present customer

Your network of friends and associates

Industry gatherings or trade shows

Conventions and workshops

Internet websites which are industry-specific to your field

Most highly successful salespeople are looking for referrals in everything they do. They turn this into an art form and their main area of specialization, rather than a random activity that is carried out whenever they think of it. They also have a system for capturing and recording information about each prospect that will enhance their chances of success.

While generating leads and referrals is important, what you do with the leads once you have them is of equal significance. Unless you have a good system in follow through on leads in a timely manner, it won’t really matter how effective you are at generating them in the first place. A thorough follow-up system is essential.

Some ideas on following up on leads are:

Whenever you meet someone and get their business card, rank them as a potential client: with “1″ meaning they are long shots and “10″ meaning they are ready to go. Write this ranking on the back of the card, along with any additional information. Then start with the 10s and work through the list.

Spend as much of your time as possible concentrating on the people who re most likely to want to do business with you: Don’t waste your time socializing with people you know will never do business with you.

5 Develop a strong USP (Unique Sales Proposition)

You USP should answer the question of why anyone would want to buy anything from you. It should specify the one way in which you distinguish yourself from everyone else in your field of business. It is the foundation for why people should do more business with you in the future.

A Good USP:

Is short and concise: For example, “The Sales Speaker” or a “Sales and Marketing Psychologist.

Specifies what makes you stand out from everyone else: For example, “The Organizational Behavior Consultant” is fairly descriptive and memorable.

Is not static: but changes and evolves over time to reflect the new skills you acquire.

Describes what you do in a unique and memorable way: even if the products and services you offer are not that unique. Perhaps your USP can incorporate an appealing business name or some elements of your educational or experience background that are distinctive or unusual.

Sums up all your personal accomplishments and areas of specialization: For example, a “Financial Solutions Specialist” will be better equipped to help you handle your personal finances than an accountant.Suggests all the benefits you can deliver to clients: For example, an estate planner developed his USP as an “Immortality Planner.”

Must be used everywhere consistently: in all your sales literature, on your business card, in the domain name of your website, in your screen name and so forth.

Has a minimum of fluff and irrelevant material: Instead, a good USP should articulate why people can and should buy from you.

Focuses in on a specific area of specialization like a laser: For example, Charles Givens built his multimillion dollar business selling financial advice around the USP of “Wealth Without Risk.”

Avoids cliches and worn out expressions: like “strength,” “trustworthiness,” “integrity,” “loyal” or “You’ve tried the rest, now try the best.” All of these concepts are so overused that it is difficult to see anyone rushing to do business with you on the strength of a USP such as that.

Once you develop your USP, you can then use it to come up with an effective “elevator speech”–a brief talk you can share with anyone, which is about the length of the average elevator ride.

6 Make good use of pre-sale warm-up opportunities

Sales millionaires never leave things to chance. They plan their sales presentations before they get to the client’s office. That way, they avoid inadvertently doing anything that will affect the likelihood of a sale.

What can and should be done before the sales presentation?

You can get yourself in the right frame of mind: by going over your material and thinking positively. That way, you’ll have positive expectations of a favorable outcome, which will increase your enthusiasm and optimism when you meet with the prospect.

You can do some research about the company: and try to anticipate what their needs will be. For example, you can check out their website or read their annual report. Things like mission statements may provide many good clues in this area. In this step, you try to anticipate what the challenges they are currently facing are and look for indicators of potential problems.

Find out more about the people you’ll be meeting with: what their areas of responsibility are, their work history and education.

Try to develop a good one-liner: something which will epitomize the benefits of your product or service in a catchy, memorable way.

Think of some hard questions the prospect is likely to ask: and consider the best way to respond.

Develop a ritual of success: where you take mental and physical steps to ensure you’re at your best when face-to-face with the prospect.

7 Let the media help sell your products and services

Sales millionaires work smart, using PR to generate a profile for themselves. The real key in harnessing the power of the media is to position yourself as the expert in your field. Do that successfully and prospective customers will be anxious to meet with you rather than having to be begged to give you some time. A media profile also has a cascade effect. Once you get some articles published in trade magazines, it becomes easier to get published in the major daily newspapers or get invited to appear on national television shows.

To get started on using the power of the media:

Start by selecting the right media vehicle: which will be somewhere in the thousands of newspapers, industry magazines, journals and newsletters.

Pick a topic for your article: something you feel confident they will be interested in. Remember, this can’t be a blatant advertisement for your product or service, but must contain useful information and ideas.

Try to pre-sell your article: by sending the editor a query letter that outlines your idea for an article and asks whether they would be interested. Solicit his or her suggestions.

Put together your article: Make sure that whatever you do is of a professional standard. Keep it crisp, clear, and to the point. Ensure there are no spelling errors or other obvious problems.

Leverage whatever is published: If you are fortunate enough to get an article published, send copies to your existing customers and prospects. Also, send copies to other media outlets–the national newspapers, radio and television. With any luck, your article may get picked up by them and repackaged for their markets.

Put together your own publicity kit: This will include some information about yourself and your business, copies of previous artikit or interviews, product samples, etc. By preparing a publicity kit beforehand, when some newsworthy event comes along, you can contact newspapers or electronic medias with an approach that will combine your area of expertise with the topics already being discussed in the media. This can be an exceptionally powerful way to generate huge awareness of what you have to offer.

Turn your articles into an e-book: Websites are always looking for good content. You may be able to tap into this by taking the articles you have previously had published and turning them into an e-book. You can also advertise this e-book on your own website. You can then give this away to gather the names of prospects for the products and services you have to offer.

8 Harness the power of seminar selling opportunities

With just as much time and effort as it taker you to sell one person, you could actually be selling a large number of people in a seminar. The key is not just to focus on getting in front of as many people as possible but to make a first-rate presentation. Seminars are booming at present, but this isn’t an area where you are likely to be met with instant success if you don’t do it right. To succeed at generating sales this way, you need to put some good basics in place first.

Don’t define “seminars” too narrowly: You should realize that seminars come in many shapes and formats. You may find small workshops or presentations at conventions to be just as effective as bigger and more expensive seminars.

Learn from the best: by attending the seminars others put on. Look at what they do right and figure out ways to do the same. Look for mistakes to avoid. Some of the very highest paid salespeople in the world use seminars as their only marketing tool, so use them as good role models.

Keep your expenses low: by avoiding speakers who demand high fees, full-color brochures and purchase of exclusive mailing lists. If you have the right subject, people will come along irrespective of whether or not you have a nice brochure.

Concentrate on the educational value of your seminars: and don’t just run seminars as a blatant attempt to sell your own product or service. Instead, teach people the things they need to know and then offer educational programs, books, tapes and more advanced follow-up seminars.

Find others to share the costs with: other people or organizations who target the same audience you do. By working together, you’ll also be able to offer a seminar that has broader appeal.

As usual, your own mind-set will have a significant impact on how effective seminar selling ends up becoming for you. If you convince yourself that seminar selling can be highly cost effective, you’ll find ways to put everything together. And conversely, if you assign seminar selling to the “too hard” or “too expensive” categories, its highly unlikely that you’ll be able to find ways of making it work.

Many salespeople have convinced themselves that seminars don’t work for their specific industry. This is great, because it enhances the effectiveness of your seminars by reducing the competition. People like attending seminars where they can learn new things. The opportunity to associate with others, combined with the chance to hear someone interesting, can produce an incredible sales opportunity for you. A number of salespeople have built multi-million-dollar businesses offering public seminars on topics like stock picking, investment strategies and tax reduction.

9 Learn how to deal effectively with challenging people

Sales millionaires are very good at dealing with customers who are different or even difficult. They respect the individual preferences people have and find a way to make the deal come together in spite of those differences.

Specifically, sales millionaires deal well with:

Procrastinating prospects: by matching the client and slowing down the train of events. Usually, the most effective approach here is to get the prospect making some small decisions (like ordering a sample or agreeing to a free trial period) and then keep the momentum building. Good salespeople also use guidelines and deadlines to try and move things along at a better pace.

Silent or introverted prospects: by being a little more quiet in their presentation. Usually, quiet prospects will need time to reflect before making a decision. An experienced salesperson will anticipate that and compliment the prospect for being judicious. They will also point out that the benefits will be so overwhelming that the more time the person thinks, the greater the likelihood they will come to a decision to purchase.

Fast-talking prospects: by upping the pace and giving them the information quickly and directly. Fast talkers respond well to passion and like to be acknowledged. Therefore, experienced sales professionals cut to the chase and get down to the details quickly with these people.

Dominant prospects: by showing respect. A good salesperson will also demonstrate deep prosduct knowledge. Once the prospect realizes the salesperson is an expert in their field, there is often a mutual bond of respect established.

Inaccessible prospects: by combining some creativity with polite persistence. For example, sales millionaires might send a quick note to someone they cannot reach by phone offering a compelling bonus if they contact them. Or they may even go where there is the chance they will meet them in person. They do whatever it takes.

Complaining prospects: by listening with empathy, re-framing their objection as an observation or concern, and then doing everything possible to address the real issues. In so doing, sales professionals show respect for the customer’s needs without losing focus on actually achieving something useful to keep moving forward in the sales process.

10 Capitalize on CRM (Customer Relationship Marketing)

In essence, CRM uses information technology to better manage sales force management, marketing automation and customer service. With a CRM system in place, whoever deals with a customer will have accurate and up-to-data information available about that customer’s actual needs and prior purchase history. That way, each time the customer comes into contact with your firm, they are treated appropriately rather than always having to start from scratch.

The benefits of an integrated CRM system that includes information about sales, products, service, order status and more are overwhelming:

The sales force can be automated: allowing them to spend more time creating personalized proposals that will appeal to specific customers and less time doing paperwork.

The customer service people can do their jobs better: because they will have all the information that’s available about each person while speaking to them.

Marketing can be better managed: allowing compelling offers to be developed based on the actual needs, interests and requests each customer has indicated in the past.

Customer feedback can be stored and evaluated: allowing the company to become progressively better at making offers the customer is more likely to accept in the future.

By storing and making available details of all prior contacts: you demonstrate rewpect for the customer and your intention to serve them better than anyone else can.

CRM enhances your general efficiency: you spend less time trying to track down information and more time developing better customer insights. That results in coming up with better proposals that are more likely to be successful in the future.

Due to the fact that you incorporate feedback with other information to focus on the customer’s needs, the likelihood you’ll meet their needs better than someone without that information increase.

11 Take advantage of the right sales coach

In the minds of most salespeople, sales coaching is little more than a grizzled veteran sharing his or her wisdom with the new kid on the block. However, sales millionaires take a different approach:

They use sales coaches to improve whatever is holding them back.

They use coaches to reduce any random factors which dilute their effectiveness as salespeople.

They use sales coaches to become better at what they do.

The advantage of using a sales coach is coaching helps change behavior. Coaches can hear and see what you’re doing and provide immediate corrective feedback. In addition, many sales trainers don’t publish their most effective sales techniques in their articles or books. By personally working with the coach, you may have access to the highly specialized or proprietary techniques and sales strategies they have.

To decide whether or not working with a sales coach is for you, find the answers to a few simple questions:

Is there a sales coach available who knows my line of business?

Will there be a good personality fit?

Is this the right time for me to do some coaching?

>Have I already made full use of all the advice and guidance my company has available?

Am I truly motivated enough to put my career on fast-forward?

Many sales millionaires have made good use of sales coaches. Paradoxically, the more successful the salesperson, the more likely they are to seek out the services of an even better sales coach. To achieve comparable success, it makes good sense to emulate this behavior and find a good sales coach who will boost your career.

Selling at a Glance

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As sales is the final stage of all forms of business, and is where profits are realized, it represents a major challenge for both businesses and individuals. If this stage isn’t handled properly, all the effort spent on product development and marketing planning will have been in vain. How does one guarantee success in this vital area? The key lies in the 11 basic principles of sales of sales success, as well as the ability to make judgments and respond to customers in real time.

What separates sales superstars from average salespeople is not merely high sales figures and commissions, but also the development of a successful sales attitude, which includes pride in one’s profession and a sense of mission. By starting with right attitude and then undergoing professional training and preparation, becoming a sales superstar is an attainable goal.

After developing the right attitude, the sales superstar must make choices about professional training and preparation. Fundamental skills include assessing what decision-making category customers belong to, as well as what strategies to use in handling each category. Only when armed with these skills can deals be closed and sales targets achieved.

After learning how to assess a prospect, next on the agenda is honing one’s presentation skills. Whether in meetings or seminars, sales personnel must rely on their speaking skills to convince customers to buy. Presentation isn’t necessarily a laborious task—with the right approach, mutual trust can be established with a minimum of time and effort. And becoming a good storyteller will make you a better presenter. When face to face with a customer, what better way to attract their interest than by telling a good story. Stories are the best bridge between salespeople and customers.

With the right attitude, well-honed skills and quality products, even mediocre sales personnel can greatly improve their ability.

Sell Your Ideas or WOO (Win Others Over)

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Keeping in mind the four steps of the Woo process as a whole, there are ten questions you should be able to answer before you try to launch a new idea:

1. What is the five-minute summary of my idea?
Before you go into any meeting where your idea will be discussed, pause and review and review the PCAN model:

What precisely is the problem?

What are the direct causes of that problem?

How does my idea answer the problem?

How is my idea superior to all other alternatives?

Then decide on an image or metaphor you can use that will convey your idea and position it favorably.

2. What role does the person I am meeting with potentially play in the decision-making process?
Before any meeting, pause and consider how meeting fits in the stepping stone sequence. Consider how this meeting will help you advance your idea.

3. What is my goal for this encounter?
Decide whether you want to :

Gather feedback on your idea so you can improve it.

Gain access to another key decision maker.

Persuade this person to back your efforts.

Obtain authorization to use resources.

Get hands-on help with implementation.

Write down your goal, refer to it during your meeting and then evaluate whether you achieved that.

4. Why will this person find me credible?
Decide in advance what relationships, credentials, past achievements or competencies you want to mention. Figure out what you need to provide in order for you to come across as solid and credible.

5. What specific persuasion channels will this person most likely be tuned to?
Be prepared to adjust your pitch so it can come across on his or her wavelength.

If they think rationally, have analysis and statistical evidence available to support what you’re saying.

If the other person is more conceptual, emphasize the big picture issues.

Have a Plan B ready to roll as well should you need to orient the discussion more towards:

1. What’s in it for them.
2. How it will play to a larger audience.
3. How this idea will strengthen relationships.
4. How your idea will harness and respect authority.

6. What persuasion style will be most appropriate?
Is this person a Driver, Commander, Advocate, Chess Player or Promoter? Decide whether you need to turn the volume up or down to appeal, and whether you need to orient everything towards their own priorities or those of a larger group.

7. Is it likely my idea will conflict with any of this person’s beliefs?
If they are likely to be skeptical, consider in advance how you can address their concerns. If there are obvious conflicts, try to think of ways you can minimize those concerns. You might obtain the endorsement of someone who will be influential before your meeting or something similar to address these concerns.

8. Is it possible my idea will conflict with this person’s interests in some way?
If your idea is going to impact on their future control, resources, career, jurisdiction or opportunities, then you’d better be able to explain to them why the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. Try to come up with ways you can help bridge any conflicting agendas.

9. What specific commitments can I ask for?
Decide in advance what actions you’d like the other person to take as a result of meeting with you. Get down to the real nitty-gritty details here. What do you want?

Access to someone they have a relationship with?

Their endorsement?

A decision to commit resources?

10. How can I make this relationship stronger as a result of our meeting?
The Art of Woo begins and ends with positive and constructive relationships. Going into your discussions, think clearly about how you can conclude your dealings with your relationship intact. Find practical ways you can demonstrate good faith and reliability.

You must strike a balance when you attempt to make your ideas memorable. Too little attention to this part of your presentation, and you may lose your audience by putting it to sleep. On the other hand, too much effort to make your presentation entertaining will detract from your message. People will remember the bells and whistles in your presentation but forget what you said.

In a world where standardized presentation software dulls people’s thinking and reduces their expectations, surprise your audience.

It is all very well to have great relationships, credibility, plans, and proposals, but if you cannot close the sale and push your initiative through your organization, then you have failed.

Politics is not an optional activity for idea sellers–it is an essential aspect of the Art of Woo.

So what is Woo? It is relationship-based persuasion, a strategic process for getting people’s attention, pitching your ideas, and obtaining approval for your plans and projects. It is, in short, one of the most important skills in the repertoire pf any entrepreneur, employee, or professional manager whose work requires them to influence and persuasion rather than coercion and force.

Woo. Simple to say. Hard to do. The art comes in the balance you strike, each time you persuade, between what we call the self-oriented perspective emphasizing your own credibility, point of view, and level of commitment, and the other-oriented perspective that focuses on your audience’s needs, perceptions and feelings. How should you balance your own need for authenticity with your audience’s need for a tailor-made message? With Woo, you come prepared with a plan, then improvise and adjust as you go along. That takes art.

–G. Richard Shell & Mario Moussa

Woo: Secure Commitments

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Getting people to agree is helpful, but getting them to then make concrete commitments is vital to your success. To achieve this in practice, you’ll need to address internal political opposition, people who lose influence if this moves forward and other potential derailers of your initiative. In some ways, you might even find the real work begins once your boss says yes, so it’s your job to turn agreement in principle into action.

The last step is often the most complex stage of the entire idea-selling process. Here, you’re trying to obtain the actions that mean going forward with your idea. There will be organizational obstacles and momentum to overcome. There will be turf wars, misalignment of incentives, strong personalities at work behind the scenes and the issue of who controls what to contend with.

The problem with selling ideas is that you’re always trying to disturb the status quo. There will be a natural inertia for the tried and true. There’s also the possibility that priorities will shift in the period between when everyone agrees to something and when it’s time to implement it. Programs that were Job #1 one week might only be Job #5 a few weeks later as unexpected events make their presence felt. All of these are challenges for idea sellers.

4. Secure commits:
Deal with politics

At individual level

Organizational level

To deal with the politics that can impede implementation at the level of the decision maker, you can:

Reaffirm your shared interests: and reinforce those ideas as often as possible, especially when external circumstances are changing.

Rely on your relationships: to keep your idea in the frame even if others have to be axed as a result of a shift in priorities.

Make certain an important audience of influential people are following progress on implementation: especially people everyone wants to impress. The presence of an influential audience can encourage concrete actions.

Build in accountability monitoring systems: performance benchmarks, deadlines and other systems. If there is a perception that everyone relies on them coming through, they won’t readily dismiss their prior commitments.

If people are assigned specific, unique and important roles in the implementation of your ideas, they will feel responsible and accountable. By adding specific deadlines, you make it much harder of them to move to other projects. If they recognize that they will be noticed, they will do what they agreed.

To get anything meaningful done, you’re also going to have to deal with the internal politics of your organization. How much your new idea upsets the existing balance of power, resources and status quo will be a leading indicator of the amount of resistance you’ll need to overcome. To deal effectively and productively with these internal politics:

Try to come up with a simple theme that encapsulates your idea something along the lines of Southwest’s focus on providing low-cost air travel. Your theme will become a rallying call everyone uses if you do a good job of this.

Create a sense of urgency for your idea: perhaps by linking it to an external event. The American space program could never attract funding until the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. Sometimes other events can create an incredible window of opportunity you need to seize upon.

Try to score some early small wins: and then broadcast them near and far. Use this to build momentum for change.

Form as many key alliances as you can: so you broaden your base of believers. Look to tie in with whoever has the power to decide, the power to fund or the power to implement.

Try to create your own snowball effect: where you keep increasing organizational support and commitment until the momentum to move forward becomes unstoppable. The more people you can get on the bandwagon, the more your opponents will come to be viewed as extremists.

Retain your flexibility and keep on responding and adjusting your plans: rather than presenting an attitude of “I’ve been right from the beginning and everyone else was wrong.” For your idea and your own career to survive, you’ve got to stress that every corporate initiative that succeeds in the marketplace is a team win. Stay flexible to survive.

Lock your idea in: through the use of budgets, job descriptions, incentives and other standard operating procedures. Once your new initiative becomes an integral part of other people’s careers, it will have the sustaining force required to grow and flourish.

Secure the credit you do deserve though: so your own career doesn’t stall. Hit a good balance. Remind people that you started the ball rolling at the same as you stress that keeping things moving forward is a joint effort.

Woo: Make Your Pitch

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If you can frame your ideas in the most effective way possible, you logically enhance your chances of success. Most decision makers load up on as much data as possible and then after reflection go with their gut feelings. You can enhance this by making your presentation as engaging as possible for your intended audience.

More likely than not, you’re only going to have a few minutes available to sell your idea. Therefore, it’s vital that you cut to the chase by doing three things:

1. Make the most powerful argument you can in the shortest amount of time.

2. Support what you’re suggesting with the most relevant and convincing evidence you have available.

3. Incorporate some presentation devices that make your audience sit up and take notice.

Make your pitch:

Present evidence

Make solid arguments

Inject personal touch

Presentation Hint #1–Make your pitch quickly

The best way to do this is to use PCAN template:

P Problem
State concisely what problem your idea solves or which need it addresses.
“Our company is in deep financial trouble.”

C Cause
Explain in direct terms how this problem or need arose
“We’ve invested millions in too many R&D projects that get nowhere.”

A Answer
State your solution to the problem.
“We’re going to run with just two new products and we’re going to advertise to reconnect with our customer base and prepare them to buy these products.”

N Net Benefits
Summarize why your solution or answer is the best available.
If we can turn these two new products into blockbuster success stories, not only will we save the company but we will also seed the market for other enticing and compelling products we’d like to develop in the future. We generate profits this year and lay a very solid foundation for the future at the same time.”

To make the PCAN template work:

Always lead off with your best arguments and evidence. Don’t keep them for a strong ending. Aim to impress right away.

Make all your conclusions explicit. Don’t ask people to guess or speculate.

Keep it simple. Boil your ideas down to their most concise, practical forms. Make recommendations in one or two phrases, not one or two pages.

Presentation Hint #2–Provide evidence

To be persuasive, provide evidence for each of the four factors in the PCAN template. Use whatever form of evidence your audience will consider to be most persuasive. You options:

Provide solid data-based statistics: Even a quick, unscientific survey of people’s opinions can weight there is little time available for a decision to be made.

Give specific examples of comparable situations from history: similar events that have had clear-cut and decisive implications.

Provide something that will give decision-makers hands-on experience: perhaps in the form of a “show-and-tell” style demonstration, or get them to use a rough or mock-up. Make them see, touch and feel what you’re talking about.

Bring in people who have used what you’re pitching: and them to talk about their first-hand experiences and impressions. These people can be ordinary consumers or trustworthy experts depending on the specifics of the idea under discussion.

Provide some kind of consensus: something in the form of “everyone knows….”

In considering or planning what type of evidence you will provide, tune in to your audience’s preferred persuasion channel. Select evidence that is well suited to that specific channel, even if you personally would find something else more persuasive.

Presentation Hint #3–Inject a personal touch

What you’re trying to do here is to make your presentation memorable. The way you do this is by injecting some personal touch that will lift your presentation above all the background noise. One way to achieve this is to show some emotion above all the background noise. One way to achieve this is to show some emotion about your most important point. Reveal your true feelings candidly and openly and people can’t help but take note.

Presentation Hint #4–Tell a great story

Stories are devices to use in this context because they engage your audience’s imagination. The right story will engage your audience, fire their imaginations and sweep them along to the point of taking action. Stories can enhance your credibility and provide background to your idea and the process that led you to it.

Presentation Hint #5–Personalize it

There are loads of different ways you can personalize a presentation to make it memorable. For example:

Start by giving a first-hand perspective of some key historical event.

Allude to specific, real people who were facing concrete problems and what they did about them.

Talk about very specific customer problems you have solved.

Share an example of your hands-on experience with the problem you’re trying to solve.

Presentation Hint #6–Make it a puzzle the listener solves

Another technique for enhancing the effectiveness of your presentation is to structure it as something of a mental challenge, with the first one to figure everything out winning a prize. If you start by asking a provocative question, the audience can become caught up in trying to solve it. You might say: “How can our company make more money by doing less work and selling fewer products?” This could lead into a healthy debate about offering more value-added services rather than going down the commoditization route and so forth. To pitch an idea memorably, look for puzzles embedded within the problems you’re trying to solve.

Presentation Hint #7–Use analogies and metaphors

Analogies and metaphors build excellent conceptual bridges. They allow you to start by talking about familiar subjects and build from there towards understanding new topics altogether. The right analogy can take the discussion in entirely new directions and get everyone focused. For example, when America Online was considering entering into discussions with Microsoft to be acquired early in its history, one of the company’s board members derailed the threat by asking:” Do we want to be a footnote on Bill Gate’s resume or do we want to be the king of the online industry?”

Presentation Hint #8–Force your audience to think

Sometimes, it’s helpful to jar your audience and make them think about unknown or unfamiliar subjects. To do this :

Question the obvious; for example, ask: “Is the real purpose of business to serve its shareholders or keep its suppliers in business?”

Try a reversal: you might ask: “How can we increase sales by raising our prices?”

Play “let’s pretend” :make a radical assumption and ask what your business would look like if that were, in fact. You might say: “Assume gasoline is twenty-dollars a gallon. How would our business work under these conditions?”

Reconceptualize: rethink your mission to go down a different route. Disney did this by calling its theme park workers “cast members” rather than “employees.” Electric utilities now describe themselves as “energy” companies, which allows them to offer more services and activities than they could as “electricity generators.”

Step 3 of the Woo process is showtime. Moreover, every time you sell an idea, you need to make your pitch at two levels: the rational and the intuitive.

–G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa

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