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Unravelling the secrets of success

7C's of Knowledge Ideas Persuasion and Negotiation Planning 

The top 5 tips for Influencing, selling and persuasion…?

Mark Kirwin

5 top tipsThe top 5 tips for Influencing, selling and persuasion…?

  1. Planning + Knowledge

  2. The Avatar

  3. PVA

  4. Your Aces

  5. The Close

My number one is definitely planning.

Planning:

Plan and PainPeople tell me all the time that they don’t have time to plan, but they are still successful, the only thing is that they spend too long in the pain zone which means the process costs them more than necessary and the time taken to influence someone is too long.

Planning falls into two parts – Planning and Pain.

If you don’t plan you spend too much time in the ‘Pain Zone’

The time spent in the ‘pain zone’ or on planning are both equal to t1

t1 is the same whether above the line or below the line. Your job is to force it from below the line ‘the pain zone’ to above the line ‘the planning zone’. No one will give you this time, you have to make it move above the line, the hardest part is the start of the process, you need to make the effort to put time aside to plan, then it becomes a virtuous circle rather than a vicious circle.

If you add ‘planning’ to your diary it tends to get overtaken by events, so try putting a meeting in your diary – call it something like ‘Meeting with Dave’ – you will tend to psychologically protect this time. But this is down to your attitude to meetings with Dave and planning and no-one controlles your attitude but YOU!

To plan you also need a very clear understanding of the 7C’s of knowledge [Link] – how well do you know your accounts and the world around you, can you make links and join the dots, Country in terms of PESTEL – what’s happening Politically, Environmentally, Socially, Technologically, Economically and Legally – Your company, The customer, The channels in which you operate, The categories within the channels, The consumer and the competition. The better and more wide your knowledge, the higher your credibility will be and the better your ability to make links between snippets of information which in turn drives happiness [Link]

The second point is the AVATAR

Avatars:[Link]

spy glassAn avatar is a storage vestibule for any information you have about a particular subject – try thinking about a ‘pilot’ for example – what age, sex, height, weight, education, voting habits, attitude, demeanor etc. – you will have a view based on information you have gathered during your life – when you meet a pilot, you will amend or refine your avatar based on what you see hear, feel.

Can you – when you are planning – define a clear picture of the avatar of the person or people you are going to try to persuade influence or sell to. Once you can you can start to work out what their needs might be, the things which you believe might motivate them.

This brings me to point 3 – PVA

PVA:

Purpose Value Agenda

purpose 1

What is the PURPOSE of the meeting you are about to have…?

value

What is the VALUE you will bring to the other person’s life? If you can’t add value – you are in fact an oxygen thief.

agendaHaving identified the value you hope to bring, then what is the AGENDA for the discussions. What are the questions you will ask to get the other person to tell you their needs?

Number 4 is ‘The ACES’

acesWhat is the value that your proposal, suggestion or proposition will bring to the other person’s life? Think about the narrative you will need to explore and explain how this value will be realised.

Finally, number 5 –

THE CLOSE:

There are in fact hundreds of different types of closes, there are 3 which work with all the different styles of people [Conceptuals, Socials, Analyticals and Directs]

Alternative – would you like red or white wine.

Assumptive – I have poured you a large wine.

Fear – If you don’t come now your dinner will be cold.

The most important point here is – when do you decide on the close? – at the planning stage when you quietly think about the avatar of the person you will be selling to, then decide which is the most appropriate for the situation and the person.

If you wait until the last moment, then 9 times out of 10 you will fluff the close because so much is going on. If you pre plan the close – execution is so much easier and more likely to succeed.

It is now up to you…

How good is your PLANNING?

Do you put the time in, do you spend time on improving your KNOWLEDGE?

Do you have a clear view of the AVATAR?

Do you know the ACES your proposition, proposal or idea delivers?

Do you plan your CLOSES and more importantly do you practice them?

And always remember…

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