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Subject: Welcome to Tom Sant's Messages that Matter Newsletter
In the past, you expressed an interest in communicating more persuasively. Maybe you'd like to speak or write with more impact because you're in sales, or a marketing communicator, or a proposal writer. Or maybe you just have plans to take over the world.
Anyway, we thought you might enjoy receiving an occasional e-mail newsletter with short tips on how to be more effective in persuading. No, no, you don't have to buy anything, and, no, we won't give your name to some Spam factory. Plus, I promise each message will be short, witty, and absolutely riveting. Okay, well, they'll be short.
But I'll try to make them interesting, too. For example, this time you'll learn why Eskimos hunt whales instead of easier game, like geese or rabbits. Now just think how useful that's going to be at the next party you attend! The strange thing is that it'll also give you some pretty cool insight into the way people make decisions and how you can influence that process.
Best of all, as part of our commitment to provide exceptional value and service to our customers, we will share our best practices and 26+ years of experience with you at no cost.
Good luck with your persuading! And with your parties.
Regards,
New Podcasts! Listen to an audio broadcast of this message and others.
Why Eskimos Hunt Whales and Other Secrets of Persuasion
For thousands of years, Eskimos have hunted whales as their primary source of food. They go out into the ocean in small boats, and pound on drums and the sides of their boats to drive the whales toward shore (whales have very sensitive hearing, you know). Then, when the whales are in shallow water, they attack and kill them. Now they use harpoon guns and more advanced weapons, but they used to do it with little more than spears.
Now why on earth would they do that? There are much simpler and less dangerous game they could hunt - geese, rabbits, seals, walruses even. Why go after the largest, most powerful mammal on earth?
For that matter, why did primitive humans hunt mastodons? We've all seen the "artists recreations" of a tribe of scantily clad Neanderthals surrounding a wooly mammoth the size of a beachfront condo, attacking it with little more than sharpened sticks.
Okay. So why? Why not pick on something your own size?
A team of cognitive psychologists based at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin and at the University of Chicago has come up with an answer. Their research indicates that human beings have an innate ability to calculate the "rate of return" for their efforts, particularly as they pertain to the group as a whole. In other words, hunting a whale or a wooly mammoth has a bigger ROI for the tribe than hunting a rabbit does.
These researchers even went so far as to calculate the calories required to kill a whale compared to the calories the community will get from that animal, then calculated the calories expended vs. the calories obtained for other prey. The result: the whale was by far the best investment of the tribe's energies.
Apparently, all of us have hard-wired into our brains the capability to make a quick but accurate estimate of the rate of return to be derived from one course of action vs. another. In evolutionary terms, it probably helped our ancestors survive.
What does this mean for us, as we attempt to sell ERP software systems or healthcare programs or broadband telecommunications services or executive jet leasing programs or whatever it is that we're selling? Simply this: if we don't help the decision makers figure out the rate of return from our recommended solution, they may go elsewhere.
People instinctively want to make the decision that gives them the best ROI for their effort. They'll even buy something more expensive and complex if they're convinced it's the best choice for their company.
How can we help them use that built-in capability to estimate to our advantage? By including calculations and graphic displays of ROI, total cost of ownership, payback period, productivity improvements, or other measures of advantage. By including case studies that show how other groups got big rewards from selecting our products or services. By stressing positive outcomes right up front in our proposal. By emphasizing our differentiators and how they add value for the customer.
We have a whale of a Web site that's just jammed full of tips on effective proposals, presentations, and other forms of persuasion. You can capture that insight by visiting us at www.santcorp.com, or send us an e-mail at info@santcorp.com.
About The Sant Corporation
The Sant Corporation is a provider of proven software and expertise that improves sales effectiveness. We help companies who provide value-based solutions win more business by accelerating the production of persuasive proposals, RFP responses, presentations, and related documents. Businesses choose Sant to improve productivity, increase sales, and develop accurate, consistent sales documents for their customers.
©2006 The Sant Corporation
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