3 tips for being positive & professional - but not trying to persuade

“Be positive and professional, but don’t try to persuade,” was the approach of a therapeutic community I ran in the early 1970s. Young people applied to join the community – frequently wanting to escape from detention centres, mental hospitals or troubled families. Our approach was to outline what we could offer – the ‘results’ – plus the ‘rules’ to follow and the potential ‘rewards’. It was then up to the young person whether or not they decided to join. We did not try to ‘persuade’. Why? We did everything possible to present the offering in a professional way, but it was important to respect the individual’s right make their own choice. The same approach applies in many others situations. Let’s explore how you can follow these steps in your own way.

1) You can be positive, professional and prepare properly.

Imagine you are being asked to pitch for a piece of business. Some sales-people see this as a competition. They want to ‘persuade’ the client to ‘love them’ and win the business. Other people see it as a positive opportunity. They can do their best and ‘control the controllables’ – but they cannot guarantee the outcome. They must aim to understand the customer, clarify their own offering and present in a professional way. The client can then decide what is right for them. Let’s explore how you can pursue this latter route when working to get business.

a) You can be crystal-clear on your own offering to the market.

Great performers are niche-suppliers. They focus on what they do best and do it brilliantly. They are crystal-clear on: ‘What’ they offer; ‘Why’ they offer it – the potential benefits to customers; ‘Who’ they offer it to – their specific target group; ‘How’ they offer it and ‘When’. So start by being clear on what you can offer to potential customers.

b) You can be crystal-clear on what the customer wants – their picture of success.

Clarify what the customer wants. You need to clarify who are the key sponsors – the decision-makers; the real results the customer wants to achieve; the challenges they face; the strengths they can build-on; the things they can and can’t control; the resources they have available; the ‘dos’ & ‘don’ts’ for working with them; the things they have tried before; the possible quick wins; the best way they receive information – such as through slides, stories, etc; and any other key information. Build-up a picture of what the customer wants.

c) You can clarify what you can offer to help the customer get what they want – plus the way you would with them – and prepare for the presentation.

Then make a decision. Ask yourself: “Bearing in mind what I/we offer and what the customer wants, do I/we want to work with them?” If so, continue with your preparation. If not, be prepared to walk away.

Assuming you want to go-ahead, do everything possible to set-up the session to succeed. Prepare your presentation and then double-check everything. Contact the client to confirm the time of the session; the people who will attend; the specific goals of the session; the guidelines – the topics people will and won’t want you to cover; the physical set-up; the dress-code. Rehearse everything – going into the building; meeting people; setting-up the presentation; giving the presentation; the questions people could ask and the potential answers; the things that could go wrong – and your back-up plan. Rehearse – then relax and look forward to the presentation.

How might you follow some of these steps in your own way? Start by thinking of a situation where you will be ‘presenting’ something to ‘the market’. For example, you may be making a business pitch or outlining what you offer to a potential client – a customer, mentee, student or another person. Identify the specific person – or target group – to whom you are presenting. Then, bearing in mind the stages mentioned above, try completing the following sentences.

The specific person – or target group –
to whom I will be presenting will be:

*
The specific things I can do to be positive,
professional and prepare properly are:

*

*

*

2) You can present positively and professionally – but not try to ‘persuade’.

Great performers know their chosen market. They master their specialism – as chefs, singers, business people or whatever – and present the benefits to the market. Certainly they are prepared to customise what they offer to get ‘win-wins’, but not to the point of diluting their offering. The ‘80%’ of what they offer stays the same – because that is what interests the potential buyer. The other ‘20%’ can be altered – within parameters – to make sure customers get what they want. Let’s imagine you have taken this approach and are ready to make the presentation.

Getting to the venue early, you will again mentally rehearse everything that is going to happen. Meeting people, you will be professional, polite and connect with them in your own way. Moving into the presentation, you will establish credibility, then focus on clarity, connection and concrete results. Let’s explore these points. Credibility: establish this by showing people that you understand the world from their point of view. Clarity: show you understand the results they want delivered - and how you can contribute to achieving this picture of success. Connection - connect by giving people examples from their world. Concrete results: again outline ‘What’ you would deliver; ‘How’ you would deliver it – including the guidelines for working together - and ‘When’. This latter part to include some early successes.

Move onto the question and answer session. This is your opportunity to really connect with people. Listen carefully and, if appropriate, ‘play back’ the question to make sure you heard it properly. Give your answer – complete with real-life examples. Move between the ‘concept’ and the ‘concrete’. You may start by answering on strategic level, but then outline specific examples that bring it to life. Dare to describe both the pluses and minuses of your answer or approach. Check that you have answered the question, then move onto the next. Conclude the session by thanking people for their time and finishing in a positive way.

“But shouldn’t you try to persuade people to adopt your point of view?” somebody may say. You can only do your best – and some things are beyond your control. The best ‘persuasion’ is showing you can help the customer to succeed. People have the right to make up their own minds. If it is the right ‘fit’, there will be the chance of long-lasting success. If not, then it won’t work anyway. Let’s return to the situation in which you would like to make a ‘presentation’. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to present in a positive &
professional way – without trying to persuade - are:

*

*

*

3) You can get positive results.

This approach obviously has both pluses and minuses. The pluses are: You stay true to yourself; you do your best; you get to know the customer and their picture of success; you offer what you believe will help them to succeed; you try to connect and show how to deliver concrete results; you increase the chances of getting business with customers with whom there is the right ‘fit’. The minuses are: there is lots of time and energy spent preparing and making the presentation; the customer may not want what you offer; you won’t get business with customers who don’t ‘get it’ – but you don’t want that anyway.

Bearing these factors in mind, what are the possibilities of success? Providing you have reached the right target group – and do the right preparation and presentation – the chances are pretty high. You won’t ‘win’ every piece of business but, in the long term, you will get enough to continue prospering.

Let’s return to the situation in which you will be presenting. Looking at all the steps we have covered so far, try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to do
my best to get positive results are:


*

*

*

“What happens if you get a piece of business, but then the client does not fulfil their part of the deal?” somebody may ask. “Isn’t that a situation where you should try to persuade them to adopt your approach?”

Let’s return to the ‘contracting’ process I described in the therapeutic community. Sometimes a young person would ‘sign-up’ for the programme, but then break the contract. They knew the goals and the guidelines – so it was not a matter of trying to ‘persuade’ them to behave differently. We acted immediately and they left the community. Certainly they could re-apply to re-join at a future date – normally around 2 months - but they must then be prepared to follow the rules. They had chosen to break the rules – and there were consequences.

“But you can’t behave that way with clients,” somebody may say. “They are paying the wages.”

Let’s assume you have made clear contracts with a client. Everybody has agreed on the ‘What’, ‘Why’, ‘How’, ‘Who’ and ‘When’. Three months into the work several things are happening. First, you are fulfilling your part of the contract. Second, you have produced some early successes. Third, the client is not fulfilling their part. They are failing to provide resources, failing to pay bills, failing to meet deadlines or whatever. You can be polite and professional – but outline the options. Start by revisiting the goals and saying something like:

“Let’s go back to the results we aiming to deliver. These are: 1) To _______ 2) To ________ 3) To _________ Bearing these goals in mind, there are several options as we go forward together. Option (A) is to follow the original contract. Option (B) is to follow some parts of the contract. Option (C) is not to follow the contract. There may be other options – and each has consequences. We would like to continue working and follow the original contract, but would like to hear your point of view. Which route do you want to follow?”

Sounds tough – but you are simply stating the agreed contract. It is up to the person, team or organisation if they want to continue working with you. If so, great. If not, you must be prepared to move on. Great performers are niche-suppliers – so this calls for continually reaching out to potential customers. The more opportunities they have, the more power they have to say ‘Yes,’ to some people and ‘No,’ to others. They can then continue to be positive and professional – but not try to persuade.