Do you need it for internal communications as well as your Marketing programs?
Then start with the answer to: SO WHAT?
Do you have a major reason to “Get to Yes” with a client or prospect? Something like make the sale, or authorize an agreement?
What would it mean to you to have the “ok” from an investor or banker to fund your project? Could it put you on the road to success?
How would it make you feel if you could gather 100% support for your plan from your team?
The answer to these and other questions is apparent when we begin our communication by addressing the audience’s question…”SO WHAT”. What is in it for them? This is where we appeal to their emotions vs. trying to convince them with logic, facts or charts.
From the book, “So What?” by Mark Magnacca we are reminded that “the people you are trying to communicate with, sell to, or reach don’t really care about you, or what you have to offer, until they know how what you have can benefit them.” “If you help enough people get what they want, by showing or explaining how what you have can benefit them, you can have anything you want.”
Most of us believe that “I” have to communicate “my” message because it is “important.” It’s all about us. When, in fact, it’s all about them.
We are told it’s all about what we say, how we look, the quality of our collateral materials, how smart we are……
So, we tell people about “my product, my service, my idea…..” And that worked well for a long time. Now, we can ask Mr. Google anything we want to know about your product, who else sells it, where I can get it on-line, and more. We have to give people the SO WHAT answer first.
Learn to identify the emotion that will move your audience. We have to get away from what we think our words, facts, logic and pictures should say or show someone.
We have to ask ourselves “what is the purpose of my presentation or message?”
“Why should they care?”
“What benefits will they receive?”
We may have to grind down and down and down to be sure we are answering the WHY at the most basic and desired level of our audience.
Focus on what your audience needs to hear vs. what you want to say. “People don’t go to the hardware store to buy a quarter-inch drill. They go because they want to make quarter-inch holes.” (Harvard professor, Ted Levitt) Deliver the end result.
The ability to communicate what we need and want is critical to our business survival …and survival in our other forms of existence. Understanding the So What factor for all of our messages Gets Us to Yes. Then we complete the cycle of What We Want to What We Get.
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