Make what you say pay!
“How well you communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but by how well we are understood.” Andy Grove, former Chairman and CEO, Intel
In a world drowning in information, no one should lead, sell, or influence others without a command of metaphors – images created with words. Metaphors work because we humans are wired to respond instantly to images more than we are to information, no matter how logically presented. Not only are metaphors (and analogies) instantly grasped, they are also highly evocative, and memorable and they move others to action quickly. For example,
-When challenged as to his expertise in computer sciences, one seller reassured his prospect, “Like Eskimos know snow, I know computers.” Experience, knowledge of nuances, and wisdom—captured in a single image.
-When asked by an interviewer why he should be hired to sell, Cliff C., now Senior Account Executive at a leading recruitment firm, replied, “I‘m just like Rocky. You knock me over and I come right back for more.” Determination, persistence and energy--everything a sales manager wants in a new hire, expressed metaphorically to win a job.
-When presenting the features of her magazine’s audience to a media planner, one sales rep gets her publication’s readership remembered every time when she says, “Our publication reaches one million buyers for your product – that’s ten Super Bowls full of potential customers for you.” –a familiar image used to illustrate the significant buying power of her audience.
In Make What You Say Pay!, there are more than fifty stories of savvy business people who have used metaphors and analogies to win results worth up to millions of dollars.
If Sales 2.0 is the technical tool that puts a salesperson in front of the right person at the right time with the right information, then Metaphor is the personal communication tool that will help close the deal. Today’s sales person needs both to succeed.
What are Metaphors?
Metaphors (and analogies and stories used metaphorically) are simply images in words. They compare one thing to another. Most important, they paint pictures in listeners’ minds which makes it easy to change the way a buyer perceives what you are saying or to feel comfortable with what you are selling. Metaphor is a rhetorical tool as old as Aristotle (“To be master of metaphor is everything”) and as modern as the Internet (think desktop, trash bins, spam). As a presentation and sales specialist who has trained and coached thousands of business people over the last twenty-five years, I have seen even the most mundane topics transformed into magical messages with thoughtfully crafted metaphors.
Why Do Metaphors Work?
Metaphors are effective because we humans are wired to respond to images. Metaphors engage the right brain, which responds instantly not only to images, but also to feelings, experiences, and associations. The left brain responds to logic, data, and information. The left brain “hears” the information and rationally processes it. The right brain “sees” the information and responds to it at the emotional level. They work together to decide either for you or against you. Think of them as an interior C-Suite decision-making committee. The wise sales person “sells” to both.
We make left-brain/right-brain decisions all the time. When you took your present job, your left brain weighed the pros and cons of salary, location, type of work, and opportunity for career advancement. Your right brain got a feeling about the people and the culture and told you the job “felt right” and so you took it. When you selected your accountant, your broker, your neighborhood, or your partner, your left brain weighed the facts and your right brain sealed the deal – or broke it, if, despite the logical facts on paper, your “gut” said no. It is often argued that the right brain trumps the left in making decisions (which also contributes to bad marital decisions, but that is a different story).
When you satisfy the right brain, it is much easier to persuade the left.
When Do You Use a Metaphor?
Happily, there is no limit to the way you can use metaphors to your advantage. Here are seven examples:
1. Clients confused by how your solution fits their situation? Un-confuse them with a metaphor. .
2. Need to inspire a group to gain support for your ideas? Win them over with a metaphor.
3. Facing a tough objection? Neutralize it with a metaphor.
4. Selling technically complex services or products? Simplify them with a metaphor.
5. Need to close a client who is wavering on a decision? Move him to take action with a metaphor.
6. Caught in a sensitive situation with a client? Calm him down with a metaphor.
7. Need to distinguish yourself or your firm from the competition? Paint a unique and unforgettable picture of yourself and your firm in the mind of your client with a metaphor.
Metaphor is the invaluable tool of the new hire, the sales rain-maker, the senior sales executive, and the CEO. Metaphor can be deployed effectively in large companies, small entrepreneurial ventures, and non-profits, across a table, behind a lectern, or in the Boardroom, not to mention at the neighborhood bar or on the private golf course.
Become a Metaphor Player
The amount of time clients have to weigh what you are saying is shrinking as the volume of information coming at them every day grows exponentially. Twenty-first century selling demands fresh ways to command attention, engage clients, present solutions, allay concerns, and accelerate commitments to buy. More left-brain information, more data, more spread sheets are not the answer. More right brain metaphors strategically used are the answer. To borrow a saying from Mark Twain: “The difference between the right words and just words is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Let metaphors be your “sales lightning.”
c. Anne Miller 2010
| Anne Miller - |
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Internationally respected author, speaker and seminar leader, Anne Miller teaches sales people how to increase their business; coaches CEOs and senior management to communicate successfully to key constituencies; and enables technical people to transform complex information into simpler, meaningful messages. Author of Metaphorically Selling, you can contact Anne and sign up for her free newletter at www.annemiller.com
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