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Further examination of the concept of leverage, and the three variables available
to you as attempt to persuade your audience.
Season 2005
Volume III, Issue 2
The Latimer Group is solely focused on helping
executives and sales
professionals develop world-class communication, public speaking and
presentation skills.
Our programs are customized and specifically designed to create
authentic presentations delivered in the voice of the speaker.
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For more on the Latimer Group's concept of leverage, read the previous issue
of The Beacon, Understanding Leverage.
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Applying the Concept
of Leverage
I won a nickname, “The Great Communicator.” But I never thought
it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: It was the content. I wasn't a
great communicator, but I communicated great things.
- Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation,
January 11, 1989
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Sarah is training for the US Olympic Sailing Team. “Sarah” of course is
not her real name, but she is an aspiring athlete in her late 20's. And like every other
athlete who wants to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team, Sarah needs more than just great
athletic skill - she needs money. Each year, sailors in the quest for Olympic gold must
raise approximately $50,000 to $100,000 depending on their class of boat. And training
for the Sailing Team is not a one-year or two-year effort. In today's ultra-competitive
world, the minimum commitment is four to five years, and in some cases it takes much longer
to be ready to win the US Olympic Trials and effectively compete in the Olympic Games.
While Sarah is not a typical subject of The Beacon, her story offers a classic example
for us to examine. She needs to set and communicate her goals. She needs to sell herself
and her “product” to investors. And she needs to deliver her message effectively.
In this way, her story is entirely similar to every client of The Latimer Group.
In the last issue of The Beacon we introduced the concept of leverage and the three variables
available to persuade your audience:
- The fulcrum, which is your understanding of the audience. The closer
your fulcrum is to your audience, the easier they will be to lift;
- The lever, which is your message. With a valuable message, your metaphorical lever
gets longer and stronger; and
- The weight, represented by your delivery skills and credibility. The more authentic
and confident you are, the more weight you can apply and the higher you can lift your
audience.
Let's look at the three variables through the lens of Sarah's effort to raise money to
allow her to train for the US Olympic Sailing Team.
Sarah's Fulcrum
Three years ago, I sat down with Sarah to discuss her fundraising efforts. She was one
of the top-ranked sailors in the US in her class, but she was struggling to raise the necessary
funds to continue her journey. She was running a low-budget effort,taking on some personal
debt. Her progress and improvement would eventually flatten if she could not find the funds
to go to the next level. Sounds similar to a start-up or a company in a growth phase.
We discussed the people she was fundraising from, and her efforts to communicate with
them. It became immediately clear that Sarah was too focused on her inability to deliver “value” to
her donors. She was frustrated and felt guilty asking for sponsorship and donations. She
feared that because she had no financial return offer, there was little reason for someone
to give.
Sarah's view of her audience was fundamentally flawed. She believed that she needed to
create an equal financial return for the donations of family and friends.In a business
environment creating monetary value is critical for the person or people on the other side
of the table. But in Sarah's situation, there was no financial return that she could offer
beyond a tax deduction.
What Sarah did not understand is that there are different types of value. Sure,there
is financial value, but there is also emotional or altruistic value.
Sarah needed to understand that by pursuing a worthwhile goal and dream, and by pursuing
it with appropriate vigor and passion, she could allow many people to live vicariously
through her. When people see someone attempting something worthwhile and lofty, like qualifying
for the Olympic Team, they tend to want to help.
Once she recalibrated her understanding of her audience, Sarah's entire approach to her
fundraising changed. By understanding her audience better, Sarah moved the figurative fulcrum
of her lever closer to her audience, thereby giving herself far more power in her ability
to persuade. Everything about her fundraising efforts changed from that moment onward.
Sarah's Lever
Once Sarah's understanding of her audience changed, her entire message followed suit.
We were able to design a message that simply and clearly conveyed her multi-layered goals.
She was constantly communicating the ultimate goal - win an Olympic medal - while at the
same time communicating her progress towards that goal. As she broke down her overall message
into a series of smaller messages,this massive, multi-year effort to qualify for the Olympic
Team became more digestible to her audience. Suddenly they were able to understand where
she was,where she was going, and the steps she was taking to get there. In this way, Sarah
was also fulfilling her value proposition.
Was Sarah's goal to raise money? Sure. But ultimately what Sarah needed to do was allow
people to live vicariously through her. If she was successful in drawing people into her
dream and demonstrating she could succeed in her Olympic quest,the money would follow.
The money would be indicative of a larger success.
Sarah's message became about her journey, the challenges in front of her, and her delivery
on the goals she had previously communicated. The updates she sent to family, friends,
and supporters started to include more than competitive results. Her communication included
stories of her travels. Not long ones, but snippets of adventure, humorous stories of language
barriers or meals ordered incorrectly. She told the entire story of what it means to train
for the US Olympic Sailing Team.
With her fulcrum moved closer to her audience, her lever - her message - became longer
and stronger, further increasing her leverage.
Sarah's Weight
Once Sarah understood what really mattered to her audience and had developed the correct
message, her confidence went up dramatically. Suddenly she gave herself the license to
think positively about her own chances for success. She no longer felt guilty about telling
her story and asking for support. She began displaying the same confidence in her fundraising
efforts that she had when racing on the water.In a figurative sense, Sarah gained weight.
Her persuasive forces increased dramatically, and her newfound confidence manifested itself
in two ways: she became more authentic and more credible. She knew she could succeed in
competition. And once she realized that this would be interesting to her audience, she
developed the self-assurance and poise to ask for support.
Sarah had successfully applied the concept of leverage to improve her communication skills.
She maximized all three variables to give her the best possible positional advantage to
move her audience. The end result was a dramatic increase in the funds Sarah was able to
raise, which in turn led to a higher level of training, and in the end a successful campaign.
The
Business Lesson
At the most fundamental level, the communication challenge for Sarah is the same as it
is for any business executive. She must have a Goal,
understand her Audience and
have a Plan to change her audience's beliefs
from where they are today, to where she wants them to be tomorrow.
The primary difference in her story is that Sarah did not need to demonstrate financial
value to her investors. Sales professionals and entrepreneurs do. But there is still an
important lesson in this story for anyone looking to persuade. Regardless of your goal,
your role in your company, or the industry you work in, you always need to be conscious
of the various types of value and look for every possible way to strengthen your message
and lengthen your metaphorical lever.
In the end, Sarah's success was the result of embracing the concept of leverage and using
all three variables to her maximum advantage. Remember... the Power of Persuasion
is not telling people what to think. It is shaping what they think about.
Dean M. Brenner
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© 2005 The Latimer Group. All Rights Reserved.
Dean M. Brenner -
The Latimer Group: 203.265.4344.
Feedback or comments: dmbrenner@thelatimergroup.com.
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