Persuading The Decision Makers

The way in which you present your business case will really influence how your audience will react to your case.

he way in which you present your business case will really influence how your audience will react to your case.

If you are well prepared, with information and numbers to support your arguments, you will be more likely to present your idea with confidence and persuade the decision makers about the feasibility of your project.

To convince the decision makers about the feasibility of your project, do the following:

• be sure of your information
• use credible sources to support your arguments
• deliver your message with a clear strategy
• use numbers, graphs, and charts to support your arguments

The best preparation to argue your case successfully is to be sure of the information you present.

If you have done your research well, you will be able to produce facts and figures for which there is no debate. To add strength to your arguments, make sure you use credible sources - ones that are respected in your industry.

People can only process so much information at one time.

You should choose the most suitable strategy to fit the decision makers' style of listening and the message you are trying to deliver to them.

A basic rule of thumb is to give the general idea first and then back it up with facts.

The problem with using the reverse approach (giving the facts first and then following with your conclusion) is that the decision makers may understand the facts and reach an entirely different conclusion.

When you are sure of your facts, you should choose a strategy with a persuasive style that brings home the main ideas you want to present to your decision makers.

First, write out all the main ideas that you want to present. To ensure that you do not lose people along the way, keep in mind these guidelines:

• keep your examples and information as simple and timely as possible
• choose images that are familiar to your audience to support your ideas
• keep in mind the perspective of the decision makers

You can use a number of strategies to develop your logic and arguments for your business case. These strategies include

CHRONOLOGICAL

It is very helpful in walking the listeners through a series of events in the order they occurred.

It can also assist listeners in connecting events where you may wish to show a cause-and-effect relationship between the events. Finally, this strategy is helpful in situations where the audience needs to look at the past, present, and future.

TOPICAL

A topical strategy involves presenting a variety of topics. This is a very popular approach in technical areas, but it is not very persuasive in its orientation.

If you use this strategy, be very careful to establish the relationship between the topics. This transition between topics is critical to success.

PROBLEM - SOLUTION

A problem/solution strategy cycles back and forth between stating a problem and then solving that problem. If your audience analysis suggests that the audience will have a variety of questions about your topic, this is a good approach.

It will allow you to anticipate the questions and provide the answers. A variation of this strategy is the question/answer, in which you pose the questions and then answer them for the listener.

MOST CRITICAL TO LEAST CRITICAL

The most critical to least critical strategy is very useful where a series of variables have had an impact on the outcome of the proposed solution. Start with the most critical elements and move to those that are less critical or more common.

For example, if you were considering outsourcing work for a project, some qualities would be very critical in presenting the company you outsource to. You would want to highlight those critical factors first and then move progressively to those qualities that all the companies possessed.

In terms of delivering your message to decision makers, you may need to use more than one delivery strategy. Typical delivery approaches include

BIG PICTURE - SMALL PICTURE

The aim of this approach is to tie your ideas or solutions to the overall goals of the company, department, or client. You explain how your ideas will help the listeners achieve these goals.

This approach helps the decision makers to see how your project aligns with the larger goals of the department, division, or company.

PROCEDURAL

The procedural approach lays out a procedure in a step-by-step fashion. If there are a number of steps to the procedure, there is a danger that people will begin to tune out.

The best way around that is to break multiple steps into two, three, or four groups or categories.

COMPARE - CONTRAST

The compare/contrast approach advocates comparing and contrasting. For example, you might use this strategy to demonstrate how you are different from the competition.

This strategy allows you to stress the differentiation that is important to the decision makers.

MOTIVATED SEQUENCE

Using the motivated sequence approach, you establish with the decision makers that you have identified a problem or opportunity that is of concern to them, explain how your project can address the issue, and, then ask the decision makers to provide the resources you need to make the project a reality. This strategy is used to sell a business case to the decision makers.

SPATIAL

With the spatial strategy, you are trying to get the audience members to literally see something "in their mind's eye."

For example, if you wanted to describe what you saw on a trip abroad, you might use the spatial strategy to allow the audience to travel with you in their minds and "see" what you saw.

QUESTION 1

You can use a number of strategies when presenting a business case.

Match each delivery strategy with its description. Use each letter only once.

1. Big picture/small picture
2. Compare/contrast
3. Spatial
4. Motivated sequence

1. Describe how your project is different from other projects
2. Identify an issue that is of concern to the decision makers, explain how your project addresses the issue, and ask the decision makers to provide the resources required for the project
3. Show how the project goals tie in with the larger goals of the department or company
4. Get the decision makers to visualize the project and the benefits it will bring

The first option is a description of the compare/contrast approach.

This strategy allows you to stress the differences between proposed projects that are important to the decision makers.

The second option is a description of the motivated sequence approach.

The third option is used to sell a proposed project to the decision makers in an organization.

The fourth option is a description of the big picture/small picture approach.

The aim of this approach is to tie your ideas or solutions to the overall goals of the company, department, or client.

This is a description of the spatial strategy.

With the spatial strategy, you are trying to get the audience members to see the benefits your project can offer.

No matter how well you have conducted your research and presented your business case to suit the particular audience, the chances are that there will always be someone within your company who will have doubts about your idea.

One technique that can help persuade the decision makers about the feasibility of your business case is to use numbers.

You can use numbers in the following ways to persuade the decision makers:

• for impact
• to show projections - if possible, the projections should be for three to five years in the future
• to show historical performance data about similar products: this information should go back five years if possible
• to show how your product will be better than similar products
• to forecast industry trends

Numbers, whether they are in text or graphics, are highly persuasive and arguing against them is very difficult. Numbers can show history and project the future.

Combining numbers with great visuals such as charts and graphs is also a very effective means of supporting your arguments and convincing your audience about the feasibility of your idea.

QUESTION 2

Select the methods you should use to convince the decision makers about the feasibility of your project.

1. Be sure of your information
2. Use credible sources to support your arguments
3. Deliver your message with a clear strategy
4. Use numbers, graphs, and charts to support your arguments
5. Use the same level of analysis that is applied to every aspect of the business case

If you have done your research well, you will be able to produce facts and figures for which there is no argument.

Make sure you use credible sources, ones that are respected in your industry.

People can only process so much information at one time: choose the most suitable strategy to fit the decision makers' style of listening and the message you are trying to deliver to them.

Numbers, whether they are in text or graphics, are highly persuasive and arguing against them is very difficult.

The level of analysis for a particular aspect of a case should be tailored to the audience.

Correctly identifying the decision makers for a business case helps to identify the factors that will influence the decision makers with regards to a business case.

Ask these questions about a particular business case or project that has recently been completed in your organization.

POSSIBLE DECISION MAKERS

Who were the decision makers for the project?

• company owners and executives
• corporate directors
• stockholders
• research and development representatives
• sales and marketing representatives
• financial services and accounting representatives

DECISION CRITERIA

What criteria did the decision makers use to make the decision as to whether the business case had been made?

To make a decision to commit to a project, company owners and executives will want to satisfy themselves that the following questions about the product or service have been properly answered.

• How does the new product or service relate to the present business?
• What business value will the product or service achieve?
• How much will it cost to develop and market the new product or service?
• How will this cost affect company profits?
• How does the new product or service relate to our corporate strategy?

DECISION CRITERIA FOR CORPORATE DIRECTORS

Corporate directors and stockholders will want to know:

• How is stock going to be affected by introducing the new product/service?
• What will be the cost of the new product/service?
• How will the cost affect stock dividends?
• Are the financial projections healthy and realistic?
• How much will it cost to develop and market the new product/service?
• What are the financial risks associated with developing the product/service?

DECISION CRITERIA FOR SALES AND MARKETING FUNCTIONS

The sales and marketing functions may be interested in whether the project will satisfy consumer needs profitably.

• Is there a market for this product or service?
• Is the market ready for this product?
• What similar products/services are being offered by competitors?
• How will we price the product?
• What retailers would carry the product?
• How would we promote the product?

DECISION CRITERIA FOR THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUNCTION

The research and development department may ask the following questions:

• Do we have the expertise to produce the product or service?
• Will we need to modify this product for production?
• What would it cost to modify?
• Are there any possible production problems?
• Where will we get supplies/raw materials?
• How reliable and secure are these supplies?

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