The Art of Woo

State Your Case

In the end, the two most reliable ways to persuade peo- ple are the most traditional: offer them solid reasons to say “yes,” and back up those reasons with evidence.

The soundness of reasons required and the depth of evidence, however, vary with circumstances.

When people don’t care much about the issue, are unqualified to evaluate it or are already inclined to agree based on their own beliefs and interests, arguments need not be rigorous.

Often, the simplest statements, such as “I think this is a good idea because … ” may be enough to make a sale if you say it with conviction and credibility.

The PCAN Model

One template for making a tight idea-selling case to an involved audience is the PCAN model (Problem, Cause, Answer and Net Benefits).

This model concentrates people’s attention, producing sharp, practical recommendations.

Define the problem. By providing a crisp answer to the question “What is the problem?” you establish the context in which your idea will be evaluated.

Explain the cause of the problem. An investigation into causes usually points toward solutions. You may sometimes need to do this in a way that avoids assigning blame, especially if your audience helped to create the situation.

What is my answer to the problem? Here you outline your proposal, show how it will solve the problem and demonstrate that it could work in the real world.

Does my answer provide net benefits compared with alternatives? You must prove that your idea is better than the current situation and alternative solutions. Solid evidence may be hard to come by. Proposals for pilot projects and market tests are popular methods for concluding a good policy-based idea pitch.

Using the PCAN Model With Maximum Credibility

You must balance two important credibility factors:

(1) your need to come across as a committed advocate and

(2) your objectivity as an expert who has considered all sides. If you come to an argument with an obvious con- flict of interest, address this conflict up front.

You gain credibility by acknowledging the possible weaknesses in your own arguments before presenting them, whereas you lose credibility if you present a weak argument and your audience punches holes in it.

If you are assuming that the audience shares your belief about the nature of a problem, say so. If they do, you get credit as someone who advances his case only with his audience’s permission.

Make it Memorable

In every persuasion event, there are two parts to the audience: its rational calculator and its intuitive decision maker.

You must present arguments and evidence to the former, but unless you also make your ideas easily accessible to and actionable by the latter, you will lose the sale.

There are eight specific pathways that lead to the intuitive decision maker — techniques for grabbing your audience’s attention and keeping it firmly focused on your idea.

Pathway No. 1: Make it vivid. Vividness can trigger belief even when no proof is available. Before grabbing just any visual image, make sure it is an image your audi- ence will respond to in the way you intend.

Pathway No. 2: Use demonstrations and symbolic actions. Nothing is more vivid than an object your audi- ence can see and touch, or an experience they can feel.

Pathway No. 3: Put your heart into it. People will be more inclined to believe your arguments if you show that you believe in them yourself.What convinces is conviction, especially if that conviction is backed by genuine feeling.

Pathway No. 4: Tell a story. When you tell a good story, the audience starts wondering what plot twists lie ahead. If you have integrated your idea pitch into the story in a compelling way, the intuitive decision maker will be listening.

Pathway No. 5: Personalize it. Talk about specific things a customer or employee shared with you about the problem your idea addresses. Give people names, and place the story in a specific location.

Pathway No. 6: Make it a puzzle. Look for puzzles embedded within the problems you are trying to help solve.The puzzle device works best when the solution is exactly what you want the audience to remember about the idea you are selling.

Pathway No. 7: Build bridges with analogies and metaphors. When you are talking about something the audience does not know much about, you need to start with something it does know.The simpler and more widely understood the image, the greater its hold on the imagination.

Pathway No. 8: Force your audience to think.

You can get people thinking about old issues in new ways when you question the obvious.

Ask your audience to consider what an upside-down world might look like.

Make a radical assumption and get the audience to explore what the world might look like if it were true. Ask the audience to rethink the purpose or mission as part of your idea sale. 

Close the Sale

Your first job in closing a sale is often the hardest: over- coming the natural inertia that keeps people locked into the tried and true. Scientists have a name for this phenom- enon: the “status quo” bias. Change requires effort, so people maintain the status quo, provided it works “well enough” to satisfy their interests.

Gaining Individual Commitment

Unless you can take an individual’s word to the bank, you need to close your sale by asking for performance- based rather than promise-based commitments.

Psychologists claim that to engage the commitment process, you need the other party to take concrete action that requires effort, is freely chosen, and is observed by or known to people other than you.

The action the other party takes can be as simple as sending an e-mail to a group list endorsing your idea or as complex as allocating millions of dollars and hundreds of staff to your initiative. Either way, you can count that person as an ally.

Organizational Commitment: Managing Politics

Organizational momentum can carry your idea a fair distance once you get decision makers to take concrete action. Unfortunately, there are also many countervailing forces that can slow or stop this momentum. If you want your idea to succeed, you must remain an active and energetic advocate.

Selling ideas sometimes sparks largescale disputes between organizational units. When this happens, serious issues of corporate strategy, resources, careers and turf can stop an initiative.

Of course, you can expect people who disagree in good faith over the merits of a proposal to do battle over it.

The solution to such disputes lies in your making the best possible case to the most influential people: essentially using the four steps of Woo.

But often battles are less about the merits of an idea and more about the effects your idea will have on the existing distribution of power, resources and status.When this happens, political strategies become paramount.

Best Practices for Managing Politics

Winning political battles within organizations is not all that different from winning traditional political fights. Here are some time-tested tactics that can help you win.

1. Find a simple theme that captures your idea.

The bigger the group you need to communicate with, the larger the payoff from having a theme that captures the essence of what you want to get done.To succeed in politics, you need a slogan.

2. Get your idea on the agenda — create a sense of urgency.

Deadlines, external threats and mandates from higher authority can be useful ways to make your idea a priority.

3. Score small wins early and broadcast them widely.

When people see positive results from their actions, their commitment deepens.

4. Form key alliances to broaden your base.

Form alliances with the people who have three key powers: to decide, to fund and to implement.

5. Create a snowball effect.

As the number of people who back the idea increases, the pressures build on opponents to get out of the way.

6. Be flexible — respond and adjust. Y

our ideas will take on a life of their own as more people become involved. When this happens, you need to show flexibility if you and your idea are to survive politically.

7. Lock it in.

Once you have generated momentum, you need to lock the idea into the organizational matrix through budget lines, job descriptions, incentives and other procedures.

8. Secure appropriate credit.

The secret of gaining appropriate kudos centers on relationships. If you cannot blow your own horn, you will need others to blow it for you.And the people who will sing your praises are generally the ones who know you, like you, owe you or trust you. 

Woo With Integrity

Like any powerful force, persuasion skills can serve many purposes — some good and some not so good. With these tools now in your hands, you confront the ethical problem of how you will use them.

If you could not defend your actions on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, then you should rethink your strategy.

You need persuasion skills no matter what kind of organization you work for. And the higher you go, the more these skills matter. The typical organization may have many traffic lights and stop signs. Learning the Art of Woo will provide a road map for working your way through these dangerous intersections to safety and success.