Is That What You Really Think?

Nov 11

Nov 11 Is That What You Really Think?

Careers, Communications, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes, Sales, Teams

Presentations and pitches are tricky things.

By definition, the goal is to sell something to someone. It could be to get a business idea funded, to get approval to move forward on a project or, to make a sale. In all cases, we’re trying to convince someone to part with something valuable (usually, but not always, money) in return for whatever it is we have to offer.

So it makes sense that we want to put our best foot forward. We want head nods and receptive body language. We want consensus and alignment on the way forward. We want a “yes”.

So we plan for that. We assess who’s going to be in the room and we detail their requirements. We work to position our message in as positive a light as possible so that ideally, we’ll get a ringing endorsement - or, at minimum, not object to the path forward.

But sometimes, in doing so, we sugarcoat the message. We accentuate the positives and gloss over the negatives. We try and find the path of least resistance.

And sometimes, it’s worse than that. Sometimes, we dilute the pointedness of our message in a desire to keep everyone on-side. Especially if we see the body language shift or, worse, someone disagrees with what we’re saying.

So we rush to get them back in alignment - which, in and of itself, isn’t a bad thing. But how we do it is.

It’s not OK to diffuse the basis of our argument - the underlying facts. It’s not OK to claim there are exceptions when there aren’t. It’s not OK to suggest harmony with the status quo when there can’t or shouldn’t be.

Because making real change requires a level of disruption that will make some folks squirm. By design, everyone will not cheer you on. There will be dissenters in the ranks. That’s what real and meaningful change does.

In fact, I was at an Industry gathering last week, when a fellow industry veteran (Amanda Prochaska) made the comment that “50% of the room should be uncomfortable with what you say and 50% should be supporting you”. In other words, it’s OK to create, in the words of Seth Godin, a ruckus.

Of course, the only way to do that is get ourselves in order before we make the pitch, which means a number of things:

It’s important that we have a clear point of view.

It important that we back up that point of view with real facts and data.

It’s important that we craft a logic and flow to our message - we have to tell a clear and meaningful story.

It’s important that, in delivering our message, we’re empathetic and that we don’t talk down to the audience.

And most important of all, it’s important that we have conviction that our point of view will prevail.

That’s no small amount of work, but it’s essential work. It helps us in the first place and that’s the critical first step before we can help anyone else. It also allows us to stand our ground - respectfully - when those dissenting voices arise (and they will).

I’ll admit that I’ve struggled with this over the years. We’re so eager to make the sale that we’ll say what we think it needed in order to make it happen.

But at some point, you come to the realization that what you offer isn’t for everyone. Some folks won’t buy into it and so, it’s just not for them. And as a result, I’ve gotten better at it, because it isn’t always for everyone.

So take the risk. Make your point and stand your ground. It’s absolutely OK if half the folks in the room are uncomfortable.

(A quick note: if you like podcasts, I’ve relaunched mine and you can check out the latest episode on the Voice tab of this website or directly on Apple Podcasts by going here. I’d love your feedback. Thanks for giving it a listen.)