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tive U.S. senators in American history,
Jesse Helms of North Carolina. Bono
was recruiting allies for his program to
forgive debts faced by African countries so
more resources could be directed at AIDS.
He faced an uphill battle with Helms, who
was skeptical not only of AIDS relief but
also of Bono. I had never heard of him,
Helms told a reporter. But the ladies in
my ofce told me all about him.
Bonos standard plea for African debt
relief involved a detailed, data-rich pitch.
But as Bono launched into his statistics,
he saw that Helms eyes were glazing
over. The meeting was coming to a rapid
end. So Bono adjusted, switching to a
completely diferent channel of com-
munication. Bono, himself a born-again
Christian and student of the Bible, had
heard that Helms was a religious man. So
he started speaking of Jesus concern for
the poor and the aficted.
I started talking about Scripture,
Bono later recounted. I talked about
AIDS as the leprosy of our age. As Bono
warmed to his subject, he noted that over
When it comes to
winning people over
to new ideas, forget
the fancy slide shows
and in-depth reports.
Turns out a little
honey can earn you
more money
By G. RichaRd Shell
and MaRio MouSSa
illuStRation By chRiS whetzel
The Art of Woo
With the near-universal spread of Power-
Point, modern executives and managers
face a daunting problem. How can they
get their audiences attention, make
their pitch and close the sale, when the
medium they have been taught to rely on
has lost its punch?
The answer in our book, The Art of
Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell
Your Ideas (Portfolio/Penguin), may
seem revolutionary: Shut down your
computer and speak directly to the
people you are trying to persuade. Win
them over by wooing them with the
ancient art of persuasion.
Bonos Breakthrough
Several years ago, U2 lead singer and
social entrepreneur Bono walked into
the ofce of one of the most conserva-
RemembeR YouR Audience
When you think about your audience, ask two key questions:
1. How can I efectively show these people who I really am and what I stand for?
2. What aspects of myself and my life experience will help me connect with them?
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32
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2,100 verses of scripture in the Bible
pertain to poverty, a number second only
to the number of verses about redemption.
Helms woke up. Helms listened,
James Traub later reported in The New
York Times Magazine, and his eyes began
to well up. Finally the finty old South-
erner rose to his feet, grabbed for his
cane, and said, I want to give you a bless-
ing! He embraced the singer, saying,
I want to do anything I can to help you.
A few years later, as part of a special
issue of Time magazine devoted to the
100 most infuential people of the gen-
eration, Helms wrote of Bono: After so
many years in Washington, I had met
enough people to quickly fgure out who
was genuine and who is there for show. I
knew as soon as I met Bono that he was
genuine [He touches] millions every
day with his music and his heart.
Make Your Case
Bono established in 20 minutes what it
can sometimes take a lifetime to develop
between people: trust. And he did it by
leaving his presentation software behind
and connecting directly with his audi-
ence. Here are the four things
Bono did to make his sale.
1. Be genuine. As actress
Judy Garland once said, Al-
ways be a frst-rate version of
yourself instead of a second-
rate version of somebody
else. At the core of every good
presentation is the person giv-
ing it. Aristotle called this the speakers
ethos, or character. If you try too hard to
be the person you imagine your audience
wants you to be instead of just being who
you are, you will lose the most precious
of all persuasion assetsyour authentic-
ity. So dont be tempted to put on an act,
as Jesse Helms said, just for show.
Instead, focus on your genuine belief in
the merits of the idea you are pitching.
But note something important
even after you have committed to
being authentic, you still have choices.
You are probably many things in life:
spouse, parent, professional, expert
and sports fan. Which of these should
you bring to the encounter with this
audience? Bono is a former chess cham-
pion who can speak like a computer
geek if he wants to, but he is also a real-
life, born-again Christian. When the
expert voice was not working with
Helms, Bono connected by speaking to
him as a fellow Christian.
2. Anchor your pitch to shared
interests. Every good idea pitch has an
anchora word, phrase or theme that
sums up why your idea matters from the
audiences point of view. Bono captured
Helms attention by anchoring AIDS to
the Bible. Similarly, when you pitch your
boss on the idea of telecommuting from
home, anchor her on enhanced produc-
tivity, rather than your own personal
convenience. And if you are trying to get
your kids excited about a new car, anchor
them on the TV in the back seatwhere
they will sitnot on the navigation
system in the front seat.
3. State the problem, then ofer the
solution. Bono used a simple structure
to make his pitch: Problem, Cause,
Answer, Net benefts. This template for
an idea pitchthe PCAN modelgets
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Every good idea pitch has
an anchora word, phrase
or theme that sums up why
your idea matters.
STEPHEN JAFFE/GETTY
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33
Go to arrivemagazine.com to
learn about the fve distinctive
persuasion styles people use to
sell ideas to clients and colleagues
to the heart of an issue quickly and efec-
tively without any need of fancy graphics.
Philosophers Aristotle and Cicero taught
their students to use this format when-
ever they were arguing over the question
What shall we do next? It has stood the
test of time.
Start with a short, clear statement
of the problem that you are concerned
about. Answer the frst question on every
audiences mind: Why should I care?
Then, provide context by briefy showing
how you and the audience got there: What
is the story that brings us here today?
Third, punch out your answer to the prob-
lem. What solution do I recommend? Fi-
nally, give one or two reasons your answer
is better than the status quo or obvious
alternatives. Answer the question: Why is
my solution the best alternative?
And make sure to fag the best argu-
ment against your idea as well as the
reasons that support it. Research shows
that two-sided arguments are usually
more persuasive than one-sided ones.
Make each step short and sweet. If you
have successfully linked your idea to one
of the audiences important interests or
beliefs, they will want to know more.
4. Make Your Idea Memorable. You
may need to ofer evidence for all or
some of the four PCAN issues. Do this
with care, as diferent audiences want
and need diferent kinds of evidence.
Experts usually demand hard facts, tight
logic and reliable numbers. Provide these
in summary form and reference an appen-
dix. But as the Bono story illustrates, non-
experts often need well-chosen analogies
and metaphors to make connections to
your idea. Find out something the audi-
ence already knowsthen build bridges
to your concept. Whatever audience
you face, a story or illustration will al-
most always make your point more vivid
and memorable.
Finally, understand that, no matter
how technical or rational an audience
may seem, the fnal decision to sup-
port your idea will likely be based on
intuitions and feelings rather than data.
As former Intel CEO Andy Grove once
described his decision-making process,
Drive deep into the data, then trust your
gut. Alfred Sloan, the legendary CEO
of General Motors in the 1920s, advised
executives review all the relevant facts
and then listen to their intuitions,
where, he said, the fnal act of business
judgment takes place.
Kick the Habit
Professional people have a problem
the standard ways for pitching new ideas
have grown too routine. Computerized
razzle-dazzle may wake people up, but
ideas can get lost when the medium
outshines the message.
Turn the computer of, be authentic
and ofer real solutions that have some
snap. In short, try woo instead of wow.
a professional corporation
attorneys at law
baltimore washington d.c.
Authors, The Law of Advertising
Published by
baltimore washington, d.c.
www.agtlawyers.com
410.783.3550
lawyers admitted in
maryland, washington, d.c.,& pennsylvania
Advertising
Complex Business
Copyright
Employment
Entertainment
Litigation
Trademark
Trade Secret
Vigilant
Legal Guardians
of Your Ideas
More than
70%
of executives report they
have fallen asleep during
a corporate presentation
souRce: infommeRsion inc.
The late U.S. Senator
Jesse Helms and U2
frontman Bono met on
Capitol Hill in 2001.
Reprinted with permission of McMurry Inc. 2008