The Dna Selling Method: Winning Sales Presentations
Oratorical power does not arise from passionate dec¬lamation only. On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln demon¬strated the equal power of using simple, yet eloquent words, qui¬etly spoken, to convey a message. In the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July of 1863, Union and Confederate forces clashed in a battle that brought enormous casualties. In three days of hard fighting, the Union army suffered over 23,000 casualties, the Confederate army 28,000. However, there was no question that the Confederate army had suffered the greater blow. Later that year, a Gettysburg attorney conceived the idea of ded¬icating a portion of the battlefield to become a National Soldiers’ Cemetery. Although President Lincoln was invited to speak, the main address was delivered by the former President of Harvard, and noted orator, Edward Everett. Everett spoke to a crowd of close to 20,000 people for over two hours. At the conclusion of Everett’s address, Abraham Lincoln rose to deliver a few remarks.
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war test¬ing whether that nation, or any nation, so con¬ceived and dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final rest¬ing place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate—we can¬not consecrate—we can¬not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never for¬get what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remain¬ing before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of free¬dom—and that the gov¬ernment of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
Apart from the Sermon on the Mount, no speech has been so heavily analyzed by scholars. Abraham Lincoln spoke only 272 words in his Gettysburg address. Yet in his ten sentences, he deliv¬ered one of history’s most memo¬rable orations. What is it about his address that is so fascinating to histori¬ans? Why are these ten sentences so mesmerizing to politicians, and why have students of ora¬tory been studying this address since its inception? The reason? Its message. It is the message of the speech that is captivating. Abraham Lincoln was able to couch in a three-minute address a message of timeless importance. In simple, yet penetrating lan¬guage, he articulated the struggle for human freedom, hope, and responsibility. Although Lincoln himself considered his speech to be a fail¬ure, it turned out to be one of his¬tory’s most eloquent moments.
Compelling Sales Messages: Logic and Content
The Gettysburg Address contains all of the elements of a successful presentation and is a blueprint for sales and non-sales presentations alike. Like all successful presentations, it contains a strong introduc¬tion, powerful content, and memorable conclusion. In his farewell address on January 11th, 1989, President Ronald Reagan said, “I won a nickname: ‘The Great Communicator.’ But I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a differ¬ence. It was the content. I wasn’t a great communicator, but I did com¬municate great things.” Obviously, creating substantive content is an essential part of preparing and delivering a successful presentation. Consider the three characteristics of a successful presentation:
1. Ethos (Character and Credibility)
2. Pathos (Emotion and Delivery)
3. Logos (Logic and Content)
The body or message of a presentation deals with logos, the logic and content of a message. Logos has to do with the substance and rationale of a presentation. It is the overriding message and provides the details and reasons buyers should procure the presented product or service. The central message of a presentation provides supporting evidence and dem¬onstrates the qualities of the proposed good or service. Without pro¬viding clear and compelling reasons to acquire products or services, participants are left with little or no incentive to take action. Because most buyers make purchases based on emotions that are then justified with logic, providing logic is extremely important. Although the introduction and delivery of the presentation provide emotional validation, it is the body of the presentation that provides the rationale to support a buying decision. When people purchase a home, for example, they initially make a decision based on emotional attachment (pathos). “It looks beautiful.” “It feels like our home.” “I just love the Victorian look.” It’s only after buyers feel an emotional attachment that they begin to justify their decision with reason and logic (logos). “After all, this home will be an excellent investment.” “Property values are going up.” “Interest rates are at an all time low.” “The school district in this area is excellent.” By providing buyers with information to support the value of the product or service, presenters fulfill a buyer’s intellectual need to justify an emotional decision. Appeal to the reason of prospects with logical, content-rich messages.
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Pain and Problem Resolution: Your Central Sales Message
The most intense emotion buyers experience is pain. Pain is such an intense feeling that people will do almost anything to eliminate it. People take action to avoid, prevent, or overcome pain faster than any¬thing else they do in their lives. The primary reason people buy is to reduce or eliminate pain—physical, mental, emotional, financial, social, even spiritual. Eliminating pain and resolving problems is the primary motivating factor in any sale. Think of anything you recently purchased. Was it not to eliminate some dissatisfaction, displeasure, or frustration?
In business-to-business presentations, different members of an organization attend presentations for various reasons—in other words, because they experience diverse pains. A CEO’s ultimate pain might be declining stock price. The VP of Finance might attend because profits are down. The VP of Marketing might attend because of customer ero¬sion. The VP of Sales might attend because his sales staff is not meeting revenue expectations. The VP of Manufacturing might attend because manufacturing costs are up. Each member of a business organization experiences pains and problems that they would like to eliminate.
In our corporate trainings, I am occasionally challenged by partici¬pants who ask, “Not all purchases are driven by pain, are they? What about luxury items? For example, what pains are resolved with the pur¬chase of a yacht? People don’t buy yachts because they have to. They buy them because they want to.” While the premise of this challenge is correct, the conclusion is not. I typically respond to this question by asking, “Do people ever want something so much that not having it causes pain?” The answer is, “Of course.” Sometimes the “desire to acquire,” the yearning to possess, or the craving to experience some¬thing becomes the pain, i.e., the motivating factor that drives the sale. Most major purchases can be traced to eliminating pain. In fact, without pain, there is probably no basis for a purchase in the first place. A customer who feels totally satisfied doesn’t need a presenter’s product or service. Pain leads to needs. Needs lead to action. Put another way, No pain = No change. Potential buyers will not change unless the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.
Ultimately, products and services are evaluated in terms of pain and problem resolution. This is why addressing buyer pains and prob¬lems should be the central message of the presentation. Without a comprehensive under¬standing of the buyer’s needs, pains, and problems, sales professionals are left to create presentation messages without accurate, substantive, or compelling data.
Training participants frequently ask what the difference is between problems and pains. There is a critical, fundamental difference. Problems are described in logical, cognitive terms such as, “My com¬puter is broken.” Pains, on the other hand, are described in fervent, emotional terms such as, “It is extremely frustrating having to work late because of computer failures.” When buyers use emotional words such as frustrated, upset, disappointed, irritated, concerned, worried, etc, you know you have hit the “pain vein.” Pain is the consequence or outcome of the problem. The point is to make pain and problem resolution the central theme of your sales presentation.
Conviction Requires Proof: The Power of Demonstrations, Testimonials, and Logic
A pharmaceutical salesperson who sells sleeping pills once related a humorous experience that illustrates the power of “proof.” Midway through a
