In a world where style often counts as much as substance, having a strong idea is often not enough when you try to launch a company, drum up support for a cause or land a job. You also must present your project and yourself in an enchanting way. Your plan or product must be irresistible, not just reasonable. You must seem likable and trustworthy. You must delight.
Unfortunately, it’s easy for us to become so caught up in our own opinion of what we do that we fail to see how others perceive it—or us. Six things you can do to maximize the odds that you will enchant and succeed…
1. Knock down any “fences” that stand between the people you are trying to reach and the place you are trying to lead them. Common fences include the time it will take people to do what you would like them to do and the money it will cost them. Do everything in your power to completely remove any potential barriers, even those that seem inconsequential to you. Never underestimate how little it takes to convince people that something isn’t worth the time, trouble or expense, particularly when they have not yet fully committed to the product or cause.
Example: A Web site forces visitors to fill out a long registration form before it allows access. Many visitors leave without registering and never return.
If you’re not sure whether an inconvenience, fee or step will deter interest in your cause, ask mothers who have three or more young children if it would deter them. These women have so many competing demands on their time, attention and finances that they generally have an excellent sense of what is and is not worth the trouble.
2. Make your pitch short, simple and credible. The easier an idea is to deliver, believe and pass along, the more likely it is to find support. Among the ways to do this…
Use “tricolons” as slogans. These contain three sections of about equal length. Their cadence makes them catchy and powerful.
Examples: Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” economic plan…or “Location, location, location.” Caesar’s “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered) is widely remembered 2,000 years later. President Barrack Obama opened his inaugural address with “I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.”
Use similes and metaphors to link your cause to a strong mental image or familiar, trusted starting point.
Example: An effective Band-Aid ad stated, “Say hello to your child’s new bodyguard,” linking the company’s new product to the powerful, reassuring image of a bodyguard.
Stay positive. Scare tactics often backfire. People are warned about so many things these days that new warnings tend to be ignored—sometimes even mocked when a threat does not seem significant or credible.
Example: Anti-alcohol and anti-marijuana campaigns aimed at teens sometimes warn that those who indulge are more likely to engage in premarital sex. Not surprisingly, few teens seem to consider this a risk worth avoiding.
Be succinct. Keep your e-mails to no more than six sentences…PowerPoint presentations no more than 10 slides…and business plans no more than 20 pages.
Create a simple name for your cause or company. The simpler the name, the easier people will find it to consider your project and discuss it with others.
Example: Researchers at New York University’s Stern School of Business found that the stocks of companies with easy-to-pronounce names tend to outperform those of companies with hard-to-pronounce names.
3. Conduct a “premortem.” Postmortems are commonly conducted when ideas and projects fail, to determine what went wrong. It is better to conduct a premortem to catch problems before they undermine your efforts.
Before launching, ask team members or others with knowledge of the project to assume that it has failed and identify reasons why they think this imaginary failure occurred. Instructing people to assume failure frees them to point out potential trouble spots—otherwise, they might keep their mouths shut even if they do see potential problems, for fear of appearing negative or unsupportive.
Example: Faced with this premortem question, an employee says that he thinks delays from a particular parts supplier could ruin a crucial product rollout. The boss locates a backup supplier capable of stepping in on short notice if necessary.
4. Set specific goals. People with clear goals tend to seem centered, organized and driven to those they meet, increasing their personal appeal.
Detailing specific goals also greatly increases the odds that people will be viewed as trustworthy. It makes them seem as if they have their cards on the table and thus no hidden agenda.
5. Compose an enchanting story about yourself and your cause. The best stories often reveal people’s motivations rather than just describe what they’re offering. Four story formats that tend to enchant…
Great aspirations. Describe how the underlying goal of your efforts is to help make the world a better place in some specific way.
David vs. Goliath. Explain how you are taking on a big, powerful foe—and succeeding.
Profiles in courage. Recount how you have struggled to accomplish great things despite the injustices or obstacles that have been heaped upon you.
One person’s success. Hearing about one individual’s positive results is more likely to sway listeners than hearing statistics that summarize thousands of people’s positive results.
Example: “We gave a sample of our product to a 90-year-old bedridden grandmother in Hoboken, and she told us it changed her life” is more enchanting than “87% of people who try our product report favorable results.”
6. Create a checklist—with the first few steps already checked off. Checklists help people organize, analyze and later implement their plans. As a bonus, they increase the odds that others will see you as organized and action-oriented, traits people tend to find enchanting.
Don’t make your checklist just a list of the steps that remain to be tackled, however—include one or two that already have been accomplished. This instills in others a sense of momentum and investment in the cause, increasing the odds that they will join.
Example: A car wash replaced its buy-eight-get-one-free loyalty card with a buy-10-get-one-free card that had the first two washes already checked off. Customer retention nearly doubled, even though it was essentially the same deal.
