Pitch Your Ideas and Succeed - Part II!

In part I, we discussed three strategies to increase your chances of success in selling your ideas:

• Think about your audience first
• Think benefits – identify the major appeals of your idea
• Focus on getting the attention of your audience

You will notice, I'm sure, that these strategies are preparing you for the actual presentation, whether it's to 1 or a 1,000!

Now comes the time to put your actual thoughts and ideas into a compelling and persuasive argument.

Fortunately, there is a magic formula that has been used for years by marketing gurus to propose products, services, and ideas. The formula is called AIDA and it should be at the basis of every marketing pitch that you make. You want to patch this formula into your subconscious so that it becomes second nature to you. You want to "burn" this powerful persuasive habit into your brain. It will dramatically improve your ability to influence others and get positive results.

AIDA is an acronym that stands for ATTENTION – INTEREST – DESIRE – ACTION

This formula "pulls" a person to accept a proposition rather that "pushing" them to accept a proposition.

Your message should have these ingredients:

• It should grab attention
• It should arouse interest
• It should build desire
• It should generate action

This is the effect that it should have on your audience:

• Attention – Your audience – "I want to read on or listen on!"
• Interest – Your audience – "This is relevant to me or us!"
• Desire – Your audience – "This is really beneficial and believable!"
• Action – Your audience – "I want to pursue this and take action!"

Let's look at each facet of the formula along with some strategies for developing your proposition.

ATTENTION

In Part I we shared various ways to use headline language and break the preoccupation barrier of your audience.

When you are using a headline to gain attention, keep these things in mind:

• Make it simple
• Make your audience think
• Focus on one major thought

Here are three ideas that will show you the importance of headline language:

• In written ads and sales letters the headline is estimated to be about 80% of the success of the pitch. If they don’t read the headline, they won't read the pitch!
• Many copywriters will write anywhere between 10 – 25 headlines before they choose one. Some will write 50!
• A single word change to a headline can increase the response by as much as 20%!

Well, if this is true for print advertising, then it is also vital for you in verbal communications. Ask yourself, "What statement will have the biggest impact on the attention of my audience?"

INTEREST

A good way to build interest is to focus on two audience emotions – FEAR and DESIRE.

Fear = "What pain does the audience want to avoid?"
Desire = "What unfulfilled gain does the audience want?"

The audience's fear and or desire are both a problem to your audience. Your compelling message will show how to solve that problem for them.

Here's how you do this in 3 steps:

1. State the problem(fear/desire) that your proposition is solving
2. Then stimulate or agitate the problem by elaborating or expanding on it. In this step, you paint the picture of joy that will occur if the desire is fulfilled. Or, you paint a picture of the hardship that will be endured if the problem is not solved. You essentially try to give them a headache...and then you’ll provide the aspirin later. As marketing guru Michael Masterson suggests, "It’s difficult to sell fire extinguishers to people if they don’t see the fire!"

3. Build emotion in the problem by using persuasive action verbs. Words like accelerate... breakthrough... crush... dismal... energizing... flourish... gripping... hard-hitting... inspire... jab... launch... massive... nittygritty... outrageous... propel... quivering... robust... shatter... thriving... uplifting... vast... whopping. Review your message and see where you can insert a emotion-packed word or where you can substitute an emotion-packed word for a conventional word in your message. For instance, substituting "multiply" your results for "grow" your results.

DESIRE

This step really is the credibility step. Here's where you show your solution and the proof of your solution. Here are some ways to provide proof:

• Show the emotional benefits
• Show the logical benefits
• Provide testimonials
• Show evidence and data
• Provide details
• Provide background
• Provide experiences

ACTION

This step answers the question, "What do you want the audience to do?" To be effective as a persuader, you must encourage the audience to take some action.

Here are some potential action steps:

• Make a decision
• Take a first step
• Form an ad-hoc committee
• Develop a pilot project
• Develop a feasibility study
• Go to a web page
• Get an analysis

These 4 crucial ingredients of a compelling message provide a model for you to present your next persuasive message. It increases your chances of success because it creates a "motivating sequence" in other people.

 

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