Practical Eloquence Blog |

The Frame Is As Important as the Picture

By Jack Malcolm / 12.4.2012 / No Comment

Start here and then fill in

I’m not an art expert, but I think it’s safe to say that painters paint the picture first and then worry about the frame. In persuasive communications, you need to do the opposite: choose the frame first and then paint your word picture. If you manage the frame, you manage the message.

A frame is simply a point of view, or a perspective to take on a particular situation. People have long known, and psychologists have recently confirmed, that changing perspective can change conclusions drawn and the choices made. In one disturbing example, even physicians were more apt to recommend a procedure with a 90% survival rate than one with a 10% mortality rate. You probably would not consider it fair if a store told you that you had to pay a surcharge for using a credit card, how we look at the decision has a significant—often decisive—effect on the final decision. Expert persuaders pay as much attention to the frame as they do to the objective facts.

Frames are so powerful because your mind doesn’t process all the millions of bits of information that simultaneously bombard your senses; it simply can’t. And, even if it could, it would not be the most efficient use of brainpower and time: our ancestors survived long enough to pass on their genes to us because in emergencies they were able to focus on a limited—but correct—set of the incoming information. When we “choose” what to attend to, we exclude a vastly larger set of information. We each see the world through a limited “window”, whether or not we’re aware of why we choose that particular point of view at the time. That’s why several people can view a scenario and come away with very different perceptions and interpretations of what happened.

So many different frames to choose from

Let’s visit the frame shop and see what a rich array of choices we have for framing our arguments for maximum persuasive effect:

Positive/negative framing: In a nutshell, people are more likely to take risks and incur costs than to achieve gains. In an example I’ve written about before, about ¾ of respondents choose one decision when it is framed one way, and ¾ choose the exact opposite decision when it is framed another way. The effect is so strong that even when I use the example in my classes, many of the participants reverse their preferences even when they know there is no objective difference! If you were mulling over an investment that could make your company more competitive, do you suppose it might make a difference if you focused on the possibility that your competitor might implement it before you do?

This doesn’t mean all your messaging should be framed in a negative way. If the other person has already decided to do something, but not necessarily what, frame the what positively—they’re much more likely to buy the 90% lean beef than the 10% fat.

Identity framing: This is one of the strongest frames because it draws on intrinsic motivation. Everyone sees themselves in a certain way, and seeks to act consistently with that picture. In his book, Primer on Decision Making: How Decisions Happen, James March tells us that when confronted with a decision, people make a rapid unconscious calculation that answers these questions: What kind of situation is this? Who am I? What does a person such as I do in this type of situation? It also works at the organizational level. Last year, when I had a billing dispute with the local hospital authority, I quoted from their values statement on their web site in my letter to the CEO, and got immediate and complete satisfaction.

Fairness framing: The need for fairness is so ingrained in our psyches that we will often hurt ourselves just to punish someone we perceive as acting unfairly. But what is perceived as “fair” is extremely subjective, as this scenario illustrates. You’re thirsty while sitting on the beach on a hot day. Your friend offers to pick up a beer for you at the swank beach-side hotel bar a block away. How much would you be willing to pay for the beer? What if he was going to buy the beer at a run-down grocery store? Would that change how much you’re willing to pay? Most people would pay $5 or more in the first instance, but not above $2 in the second. Keep in mind that it’s the same beer, and they are going to drink it in the same place, but for some reason the higher price seems fair in one scenario but not the other.

Goal framing: There’s an old saying that where you stand on an issue depends on where you sit. The people you are trying to persuade will evaluate your message in relation to the goals they are trying to accomplish. Suppose you are selling an idea that will reduce your customer’s cost of goods by 5%. How would you position it? Most people in my classes tell me they would stress the impact of cost savings on the bottom line. But if the company’s stated business strategy is to increase market share, the more effective frame might call for applying the cost savings to price reductions, and this would change the entire focus of your sales strategy, including who you approach.

In the interest of brevity, I’ll cover several other excellent frames in a future article, including analogies, narratives, and contrast effects, so for now, let’s consider what this means to you as salespeople and/or general persuaders.

With so many different frames to choose from, how do you figure out the best approach? First, you have to know your audience so well that you can figure out how they’re currently framing the decision and which frame will most resonate. If they match, great—express your idea within that frame, if possible. If they don’t, figure out how to change their frame. Once you’ve selected your frame, that’s when you paint your word picture: just make sure everything you say is relevant and consistent within that frame.

Sales

Are Your Measurements Driving Dishonest Sales Practices?

By Jack Malcolm / 12.3.2012 / No Comment

It’s a truism in business that what gets measured gets done. That’s usually a good thing, except when a relentless focus on the What overshadows a valid concern for the How, as illustrated by two stories I came across in Sunday’s news media.

The first story was by David Segal in the New York Times business section, in which he elaborated on an earlier story, detailing how Staples emphasizes the selling of warranties and accessories on computers and other equipment. Sales reps are expected to sell an average of $200 of add-ons per machine, or risk termination. The result? Sales reps often refuse to sell computers to customers who won’t purchase the plans, or they will lie about the manufacturer’s warranty to push redundant and unnecessarily expensive plans. In one example, Epson has a floor sticker that touts their warranty as the best in the business, and reps are supposedly told to stand on the sticker!

Since the original story came out in September, Staples management sent out an email telling its reps that they could be subject to disciplinary action if caught using these practices, but has not changed its $200 expectation.

On Sunday evening, 60 minutes ran a story on Health Management Associates, a hospital chain that allegedly pressured its emergency room doctors to admit 20% of patients into the hospital, regardless of medical need. According to the story, doctors were told (by administrators with no medical training), or goaded by a software package, to admit patients with no compelling medical reason to do, in order to fill empty beds. As in the Staples story, threats of termination for non-compliance were implied or overtly discussed. The hospital spokesperson interviewed on camera denied the practice, which interviewer Steve Kroft said had been corroborated by approximately 100 people they interviewed.

You can’t conclude from the limited detail presented that management meant to drive its employees to use questionable practices. Maybe problems like this arise because managers down the line find it easier to bark orders and threats than to provide their employees with the training and resources to help them meet tough goals. Or maybe the people at the top are so out of touch with conditions on the front line that they pull unrealistic goals out of their arse to satisfy investors. Or maybe it’s hard to find honest people to hire for the workforce.

Actually, that last reason is by far the least likely explanation of all. I believe that the vast majority of people in business are honest, and want to do the right thing for their employers and their customers. But, as Deming said, “a bad system will beat a good person every time”.

There’s nothing wrong with aggressive measurements, and providing incentives to drive increasing productivity from your salespeople—all employees, in fact. But executives and managers have a professional and ethical obligation not to place employees into a quandary whereby they daily have to choose between a paycheck and ethical behavior.

Mythbusters - Success

Follow Your Passion, BUT…

By Jack Malcolm / 11.30.2012 / 1 Comment

“And they said you’d never make it…”

That’s a comment my daughter’s new co-worker told her when she told him she had majored in art history. Mackenzie has just begun a terrific new job in marketing for a prestigious firm, having been selected out of a large pool of applicants after an intensive interview process, and her choice of college major has been a source of comment and bemusement from some of those she has met.

Her first week on the job, a VP learned about her major, and said, “tell me about that…” Mackenzie told her how her course of study required her to absorb large amounts of ambiguous detail, grasp its meaning and think, speak and write cogently and convincingly about it. She also explained how artists were the original marketers. Before the modern era, very few people could read or write, so the ruling powers used art as their way of communicating with the masses to polish their image, express their values, etc.

After she finished explaining, the VP smiled and said, “It’s all in the way you spin it.”

Here’s the point for young adults choosing their path in life: Following your passion is a wonderful thing—as long as you can convince someone to pay you for that passion. Mackenzie got to spend her college years studying a topic that is fascinating to her and that will enrich her experiences for the rest of her life. But she also had the ability to analyze her skill set and express it in terms that a potential employer would find valuable.

As I’ve stressed repeatedly in this blog, if you can think, communicate and sell, there is no limit to what you can do.

Uncategorized

BLUF Your Way to Persuasive Speaking

By Jack Malcolm / 11.27.2012 / 1 Comment

Persuasive communicators know the power of stating their Bottom Line Up Front. They state their main point immediately and then back it up with the necessary evidence. Develop the habit and you are more likely to be heard, understood and believed.

You are more likely to be heard because listeners’ gnat-like attention spans are likely to be hijacked at any time. Take too long to get to your point and you will find that impatient listeners have already started thinking about something else. If they believe what you say, it doesn’t matter so much if they tune out after they’ve heard your point. If they don’t believe, it, they may at least pay close attention to the rest, if only to refute your point. It’s like a newspaper article—even if you don’t read the whole story, you get the gist of it from the headline.

You can’t convince others unless they understand you, and putting the bottom line up front helps here as well. First, it makes you think clearly about what you want to say; in order to give your bottom line up front, you have to know what your bottom line is. Although this may sound obvious, too many speakers ignore this rule. They launch their half-baked thoughts into a monologue and think through what they are saying as it comes out. That’s where the ums and ahs, the irrelevancies and even the occasional contradiction come in, further confusing the listeners and taxing their patience. Sometimes more is actually less, because the added verbiage makes it harder for people to follow your thinking.

Second, stating your main point up front gives the listener the big picture which they can then use to better organize the additional information that follows. For example, slides which use a headline containing the main point instead of a meaningless or ambiguous title, are shown to improve user comprehension and learning of the material.

Finally, putting the bottom line up front makes you more credible. You will sound more crisp and confident, and that sends a powerful signal that you know your stuff.

By the way, if you still want to put the bottom line where it usually goes, there’s no reason you can’t also put it at the end. Repetition doesn’t hurt—as long as they already have heard the bottom line up front.