Have you ever noticed the brightest colors, and the funniest scenes are the most memorable?

A little old granny with her red hat and red vinyl purse looking at a teensy weensy piece of meat on a big round bun saying, “Where’s the beef?” comes to mind when I think of funny commercials. Everybody for years walked around commenting “Where’s the beef?” It became the instant putdown on every date, the end all of party conversation, and the choice location to have a burger.

Splash yellow paint across the screen, zap it with a green jagged line, and add a pair of bright red lips talking from the depths of creation and you’ll get some attention. If the lips happen to have a quirk and say something funny, you’ll have people repeating your catchy brand slogan for months, or maybe years afterward.

When the world learned to sing in perfect harmony a few years back, it was to the tune of the Real Thing, Coke Classic in a shapely bottle. Nobody needed to ask what the wave was when Coca Cola brought back an old favorite.

For your new brand, strike up a funny pose, brightly colored, with a prime phrase, and keep the energy high. You’ll want everyone to remember your kick ass brand because it’s funny, its repeatable, and it captures attention. If it just happens to be a phrase that catches on and everyone uses for a variety of reasons, you’ll have a recognizable BRAND that presents your product every time it’s used.

How many years did we walk around singing “Please don’t squeeze my Charmin?”

Even my children, born twenty years after the fact, know that when I’m singing the ‘charmin’ song, I’m singing a jingle about toilet tissue. And, ya know what? I still sing it.

When you create a new brand for your business, think presentation and have some fun!

Please don’t squeeze my Charmin!

Don’t hold her so tight!

If Charmin needs Squeezin’…

After all, you shouldn’t have to say “Pleeze” just to get a little “Squeeze”, right Mr. Whipple?

A quality, superior, professional negotiator, doesn’t perceive of a negotiations, as being, adversarial, but, rather, realizes, the finest, most desirable results, come from using the win – win negotiating approach! While, one tries to articulate his position, in an inspiring, motivating manner, in order to attract, as many relevant concessions, as possible, and gain focused, LEVERAGE, which might beneficial, his group’s position, he does so, in an open, honest, integrity – based, manner, seeking a meeting – of – the – minds, where, all sides, come – away, satisfied, etc. With that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, using the mnemonic approach, what this means and represents, and how it should be used, and considered.

1. Listen; learn; leading: Leaders must demonstrate they are, truly, leading, in these efforts, by effectively, listening, and learning, gaining genuine empathy, and a mutually beneficial, meeting – of – the – minds. When this is done, both, the terms of the contract, and the final result, nearly always are enhanced!

2. Energy; empathy; emphasis: A quality negotiator makes a connection, based on the positive nature of his personal energy. He demonstrates his understanding of the needs of his negotiating adversary, and places his emphasis, on proceeding with genuine empathy, and a meeting – of – the – minds!

3. Value; values; vision; views: One achieves negotiating success, when the agreement combines both, value, and an alignment with his group’s values. He must have a vision of real, and perceived value, and, articulate his views, in an inspiring, motivating way!

4. Excellence; endurance: There are often obstacles, to the negotiating process, and the negotiator must possess genuine endurance, and persistence. He must avoid, settling, merely, for good – enough, or the same – old, same – old, and strive for the highest possible degree of excellence!

5. Realistic; responsive; reasonable; reasoning: It serves little purpose, to proceed with rose – colored glasses, so negotiate in a realistic way! You must be responsive to your group’s needs, and priorities, while proceeding with reasonable demands, so the other side, understands and appreciates, your priorities, and what you seek!

6. Attitude; attention; aptitude: You have to believe, you can create the meeting – of – the – minds, so proceed, with a positive, can – do, attitude! Pay attention to relevant, necessary details, and ensure, you have the aptitude, and skill – set, which will improve your end – results!

7. Guarantees; growth: When negotiating any contract, always, include some types of guarantees, to ensure, you receive, what you’ve been promised. The effectiveness, and growth, of your results, often, depend upon, paying keen attention to all relevant details, and necessities!

8. Experience; expertise: Experience and expertise are often, significantly different, and sometimes, unrelated, unless/ until, one effectively learns from his previous experiences, in a way, which improves his judgment, and, hopefully, provides him, with more wisdom!

Smart negotiators develop the degree of LEVERAGE, which makes their agreements, most relevant, meaningful, and effective. Will you be, up to the task?

Ted took to the front of the room at a recent presentation workshop. It was his turn to deliver his persuasive sales presentation. Standing at one end of the long oval table and making eye contact with his five sales colleagues he began to lay out the reasons why an imaginary prospect (us) should purchase his system.

“Finally” he said as neared the end of his talk “if you implement our system we will improve your process and as a result reduce your cost.”

“OK” I said “but prove it.”

“What do you mean?” Ted asked.

“You’ve made an assertion” I said “that you will improve my process and reduce my cost but an assertion will not persuade anyone. You need to prove it”

And this “prove it” approach, I believe, is at the heart of the persuasive sales presentation. Time and again I have seen sale representatives deliver a laundry list of assertions to their prospects. “You should buy our product because it has high quality ratings, a competitive price, we have a quick turn on delivery, great follow-up service” and on and on and on.

But the prospect will likely not find that kind of presentation the least bit persuasive because none of the assertions are supported by any evidence.

Let’s look at three methods we can use within our sales presentation to prove our assertions and persuade our prospects. These methods include the statistic, the story and the quote.

Statistics. Research shows (Armstrong 2008, Rossiter &Percy 1980, Kelly & Hoel 1991) that statistics and charts are excellent persuasive tools for a presentation. However, presenting statistics can be tricky. Prospects will often find data meaningless if it’s not put into context for them. Whenever using statistics to persuade your prospect I suggest explaining exactly why the data is relevant to them. So if we use Ted as an example he might begin to persuade his prospect that he can improve their process and reduce their cost, by saying something like this: “For every $1.00 you spend buying printed marketing materials you spend $6.00 managing that material.” You should provide the research source for your data on your power point slide and now put that data in context for them – “what this means Mr. Prospect is that the true cost of your printed marketing materials isn’t in the cost of your brochures and sell sheets but in the managing of the inventory, the processing of requisitions and the distribution to end users”

Now you’ve delivered data that the prospect will find compelling because if they are purchasing printed marketing materials you have shown them exactly how this data relates to them. That kind of data will get the attention of the prospect and so we have begun the process of persuading them that improving their process can, in fact, reduce their cost. The next step in the persuasion process would be to tell this prospect a story.

Stories, or if you prefer case studies or examples are, to the surprise of most, more persuasive than statistics (Pennington & Hastie 1991, Lee & Leets 2002, Green & Brock 2000). I realize that’s not logical but human nature being what it is people love stories. We love to tell them, we love to listen to them and as a result we find stories both interesting and persuasive.

But that same research also shows that the most persuasive presentations combine both stories and statistics. So Ted’s story could come right after delivering his statistic on cost savings and could look something like this: “At this time last year ABC company was in the same situation as you, they utilized a highly manual process that included physical inventory counts, product requests that came in via email or phone call and distribution that was handled by Marketing personnel who spent eight hours a week focused on managing print. Today ABC has transitioned to our automated system, now we manage their inventory and distribution, orders are placed within the system and reports are available in real-time 24/7. Today, the Marketing personnel spend just two hours a week focused on print.”

Now we’ve given our prospect a compelling statistic and a story (real life example) that supports that statistic. We’ve painted a picture for them of two worlds, the inefficient manual world that ABC company used to live in (and that the prospect currently lives in) and the efficient automated world that ABC company lives in today (and that awaits the prospect if they transition to Ted’s system). If you’ve done your homework and can accurately describe to the customer the pain points within their current situation you’ll notice their heads nodding in agreement as you verbally detail their current struggles. One more step and our persuasive case is complete.

A quote from an industry expert, a credible research company or a customer can have a tremendous impact on your prospect. When you quote an expert who supports the case you’re making it is as if you pull that person into the conversation to help you persuade the prospect. So once again, returning to our example, after giving the prospect the compelling statistic and then delivering the descriptive story Ted could show the prospect a power point slide that has ABC company’s logo and a quote from ABC’s CFO that reads “The savings in both time and money have far exceeded our expectations!”

Now, after Ted makes his initial assertion, that his system will improve process and reduce cost, he can prove it to the prospect. By combining a statistic with a story and a quote Ted builds a persuasive case that proves to the prospect that he can, and in fact has, delivered on the promise to improve process and reduce cost.

When designing your next sales presentation be sure to avoid simply making assertions. Instead, use the statistic, the story and the quote to build a persuasive case and prove it to your prospect.