The 4 elements to getting your audience sitting up and listening to what you have to say
All is not equal in the world of communication and influence.
Intelligent, capable people are not always making the best impression and are not always listened to in the way that they should be.
And it is such a shame to see that frustration when you know the right answer, but no one is really listening.
Recently, in a covid influenced stupor I watched Don’t Look Up – the film about the meteor coming to earth to kill us all (I know, I probably could have chosen better).
The super-intelligent scientist (AKA Leonardo DiCaprio) and his even more intelligent side-kick (Jennifer Lawrence) were trying to get the President of the United States to listen and do something to save the earth.
But she was not interested. ☹
They had 20 minutes to get their point across, but after 2 they had bored the teeth off them, and they were yawning and off in a new direction.
It was, admittedly, a comedic parody of the president who was less than interested in the world due to her massive interest in herself and her own career.
So, what did they do wrong?
Well, they forgot the most important part of any communication.
They won’t eat if they are not hungry!
We have got to get them interested in listening to you before you start giving them everything you got.
But, often what happens is that we start opening the floodgates of ALL the information we have to give, which is making them even less likely to hear what you have to say.
You are effectively over-feeding them when they haven’t even seen the menu. They haven’t bought into what you have to offer and have no concept of how they are going to benefit from this platter of offerings.
So what do you have to do?
Well there are just 4 things that need to be covered before you start and they can be done easily and quickly for every time you need to really get your point across.
Why this subject?
Why now?
Why me?
Why you
Why this subject?
If you don’t cover this point, then you are launching into something that they can’t see what’s the point. They may not even be interested in it and don’t know why it is important at all.
So, you haven’t caught their attention to see what the purpose of it is. They can’t buy in to it because they are too down in the weeds of hearing your thoughts on the matter before they see the need for the matter at all.
Why now?
Now that’s an interesting one.
Because we can know something is important but we are not going to do anything about it right now. Priorities take over, and the next most important thing is higher than what you are talking about so we do nothing.
We don’t think it matters NOW.
It’s a bit like when you say you want to clear up the clutter in your house. It’s the sort of thing that can get put off for years, with kids toys and papers and all sorts. But then the mother-in-law or the who family are coming to visit and suddenly you know that this needs to be sorted now.
And everything goes.
You are on a mission to make things happen. It’s because there was a reason to do it now. And you need to confer this to your audience otherwise it just sounds like a nice to have instead of an urgent matter to deal with now.
Why me?
Imagine you are going to get your well-person check and they tell you that you have polyps that need to be removed. You know, from inside there……right inside…..
And you are offered the student for a discounted price or the world-renowned consultant with a ton of experience.
So, what do we do?
When something is important to us, then we are going to choose the right person for the job. We are very likely to pay more to make sure we have things done correctly.
When we have belief in the person doing the job.
So, when you are trying to convince someone to say yes to your project, your idea or you product, then you need to make sure that even if they believe in the product, they believe in you as the person to deliver it!
Why them?
So, this is one that is often missed, and it means that they don’t necessarily see WIIFM – what’s in it for me.
So, they agree with the cause, they understand why it’s important and why now. They think you are great, but they don’t think it applies to them.
If they are disconnected personally from the point then they are not going to do anything. It’s like watching that homeless person in the street, or refugees trying to get to another country whilst fleeing a war.
Unless you are connected personally, it is all to easy to ignore, or to let things slide off into the distance because we can’t see why WE should care. And that means they are not listening.
So, we have to ensure that your audience understands the big link to themselves.
OK, so once you have done those 4 things, and only then can you start to tell them what you have inside.
I did a short live training on this on Thursday which you can catch here.
And if you would like some help in implementing these techniques then message me for details of how you can work with me.
Give me a shout!
Julie.
Julie "Chief Impact Engineer" Hutchison
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