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“Your Prospects’ Brains Need to Know WIIFM’!”

March 17, 2010 by Lizabeth Phelps

As I said yesterday, several attention-getting biological
mechanisms are built into the brain–one is motion (we
immediately attend to anything that moves.) The one I wrote
about yesterday was “novelty.” The brain automatically pays
attention to what’s new. Today, we’re addressing the third: relevancy.

The brain cares about one thing: survival. Survival of the
species, and survival of the body it inhabits. It’s incredibly
self-centered and wants to know–especially when learning
something new–what’s in it for me. If it doesn’t get an answer,
it tunes out and starts looking for something that’s relevant.
This is the #1 cause of boredom in classrooms and boardrooms
and presentations: listeners don’t know how the information
relates to them!

So, when you are talking about your business–don’t talk about
you. Your prospects’ brains are trolling for “what’s in it for them.”
Their brains are literally scanning for that information. If it
isn’t there instantly, that brain is going to attend to something else
in a nanosecond. Talk about them and the issues in their life.

As I said, this is the biggest mistake that presenters make.
They begin their presentations with a story, for instance, rather
than with something that either suggests the relevancy, or asks a
question that supports the relevancy. For instance, I once saw
Seth Godin begin a talk by saying, “I think I know what you
want.” And proceeded to tell us. He was right, of course, because
he knew his audience. We all settled in comfortably after that,
knowing what we were there for and that it’s what we wanted.

I teach the participants of my 2-day public speaking training
to ask a question that will enroll the audience, get nearly
100% of the room raising their hands right away. From the very
start. After all, their brains are sitting there with their arms folded
across their chests, waiting to find out why the heck they should
be sitting there when they have so much else to do.

If you want “raving-fan” clients, you’d better tell them why being
in the room with you is the most valuable use of their time.
Be sure the “relevancy” is very clear. And then, don’t stop! Through-
out the entire presentation, ask questions such as, “How can you use
what I just said?” to keep them constantly aware of how this benefits
them. Or ask consistently, “Is this helpful?” The mere answering of
that question keeps their brains alert.

So today’s challenge: Do you make it clear how you are relevant
to your listeners’ brains during your 30-second elevator pitch?
The video on your homepage? The text on your website? When
you’re giving a live presentation? Or are you slipping into your
own brain’s natural tendency toward self-absorption?

I’m giving a talk at a great university here in New Jersey tonight,
Seton Hall. I can’t wait to bring the new generation into a bold,
new style of “audience leadership”! The talk is nearly identical to
the free teleclass I’m giving this Thursday at noon. Check it out here.
It’s a paradigm-shifter.