SellingSecrets.com > Delivery Techniques - Stories > Accelerate Understanding
created on 3/27/2007
Recently, my wife and I went to visit our financial advisor, David Hawkins - a necessary meeting to ensure that I don't have to work until I'm 80-years-old. We currently have two children in college and two more to go, so we definitely need to plan well. We want to take care of our children and help them as much as possible to get a good start in life.
In our meeting, David focused on our life insurance and our retirement account. My wife was concerned about some of the changes he wanted to make in reference to where to put our money. She kept saying, "So what if something happens to us; what about the children?" It was obvious that David wanted to make some changes that my wife perceived as counter-productive in planning for our children.
Finally, David leaned back in his chair, looked at my wife and said, "You've flown in an airplane haven't you?" My wife answered, "Yes." David then asked her, "What is the first thing the flight attendant tells you to do in case of an emergency and your oxygen masks are deployed?" She answered, "That you need to put your mask on first before helping others." "Exactly," David exclaimed. "You need to take care of YOURSELF first, so that you are capable of taking care of others." "You also need to set a good example for your children by showing them that they need to take care of their financial future first."
As I watched my wife's brow unfurl and a smile cross her face, I thought - wow! What a great example of using a story in the form of an analogy to simplify the complex. My wife was not able to see what was already so clear to David. By using the simple analogy of the oxygen mask, David quickly accelerated my wife's understanding of his point.
In a sales presentation, your audience is often lagging behind in understanding the meaning of your message, especially when your message is highly technical. Stories, metaphors and analogies are effective ways to simplify your complex technology and accelerate your prospects' understanding.
Now, in case you didn't notice…this article is also an example of how a personal story can be used to effectively articulate your point.
~ David Lane, Corporate Visions' Consultant
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