Convince Me

You approach your boss for a promotion. 
 
You need your team to shift gears. 
 
You present your product to a potential customer.
 
In all cases, you’re making an argument. 
 
An argument for your advancement.  An argument for a strategy shift.  An argument in favor of your product over the competition.
 
Arguments are an everyday occurrence in business.
 
To be successful, arguments shouldn’t be combative, but they must be convincing.
 
Here are five tips to constructing and communicating a convincing argument.
 
1. Independent Rationale
 
The strongest arguments are bolstered by multiple, independent lines of evidence. 
 
For example, if you are arguing for a promotion, your position is stronger if you include information about your project results, your leadership, your tenure, your training, and your vision for the future.
 
As the proverb goes, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
 
 
2. Clear and Memorable Headlines
 
Now that you’ve identified your evidence, you must make each point stand out.
 
The best way to make each of your points independently memorable is by including a clear headline for each one. This can be as simple as, “There are 4 reasons why our product is better than the competition.  First ...”
 
If all your rationale blend together, it’s too easy for your audience to group them together and reject them en masse.  Make your audience do the mental work to acknowledge and assess the legitimacy of each point.
 
 
3.  The Head and The Heart
 
Aristotle called it logos and pathos, and it’s the idea that the most convincing arguments have independent appeals to logic (logos) and emotion (pathos).
 
Not everyone looks at business through the same lens.  The audience you are challenged to convince may consist of a CFO/accountant, a barefoot Founder, a millennial CSO, the head of design, and a retired board member. 
 
It’s hard to know how each one will evaluate your argument (although you should endeavor to try with a detailed audience audit, which you can learn more about in our Soundbite, “Pure Art. Pure Color. Pure Baseball”), but you increase the odds of delivering a winning argument to each one if you appeal to both the head and the heart.
 
 
4.  Contrast Against the Alternative
 
Too often, individuals present the accolades of their position without directly comparing it to the alternative.  This constructs an argument against an unknown and undefined alternative.  That’s not maximally convincing.
 
Instead, do the comparative work for your audience. 
 
If you are arguing that your product/service is better than the competition, say that. 
 
You don’t have to use the name of the competition, but statements like, “A feature you won’t find anywhere else in the market is _______________,” or “What really differentiates us from everyone else that will present to you for this project is __________.”
 
The more comparative work you do for your audience, the more likely you are to deliver a convincing argument.
 
 
5.  Tell Real World Stories
 
Illustrating how things play out in the complexity of the real world eliminates the possibility that your argument’s rationale can be dismissed as hypothetical or theoretical. Relevant stories can also help win over skeptical audiences. 
 
For example, if you tell me a story that illustrates how your product solved a real-world problem for a real-world customer, I will be more convinced.  And the more similar that customer is to me, the more convincing your story will be. 
 
For more information on constructing compelling stories, see our previous Soundbite, “Tell a Story.”
 
 
The next time you prepare a presentation, ask yourself, “What argument am I making?,”  and then use these 5 tips to ensure you are constructing the most convincing argument possible. 

You’ll see the benefits in the outcome.