For openers, (a mental) image is everything

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from Miller's Book, Metaphorically Selling: How To Use the Magic of Metaphors to Sell, Persuade and Explain Anything to Anyone (2005, Chiron Associates, Inc.)

One of my most challenging assignments was a presentations skills program for a group of top new business executives at a national investment management conference. These people spent every day of their working lives making presentations. They earned healthy six-figure salaries. They had sizeable egos and they did not suffer fools gladly. How was I going to get them to pay attention and participate?

"Good morning, everyone, " (a safe beginning). "Welcome to our 'Winning Presentations' Program. Let me ask you a question. How many squares do you see on this page?

"Sixteen! " volunteered one person. "Seventeen, " said another. "Keep looking, " I said. "Oh, twenty-one! " came another voice. Now, everyone was riveted on this figure.

"Very good, " I said, picking up a red magic marker to circle them. "But there are more. Can you see the others? " After a few seconds, I said, "Okay, let's see just how many there really are. We all see sixteen. Where are the others? " Answers flew at me: "The big one! " "The four sets of four in the corners! " "The one in the middle! "

A sea of 'I-dare-you-to-show-me-any-more' eyes flashed at me.

"Right, but there are more: there are also four sets of middle fours and four sets of three by three's which makes the total at least thirty squares, " I offered, and wrote a big '30' on the page. "You came close, " I added, to protect their clearly bruised egos. "Most people see only up to twenty-one squares. "

"Now, " I continued, "You're thinking, 'But what does this have to do with our program?' When you looked at this figure the first time, you saw sixteen squares, maybe a few more. No one saw all thirty. Similarly, what you know about making effective presentations is your 'sixteen squares.' Our goal today is to get you to see the possibilities of what you may be missing. You're going to see all the ways a presentation can increase your selling power and bring you more business. "

The power of this opening is that it knocked the group off their pedestal of believing they knew all they needed to know about making pitches. The perception game disarmed them enough to pry open their minds to the possibility that there might be more yet to learn about presentations. I was able to link the game to my message. I had no trouble drawing them into the rest of the program after engaging them with this visual sixteen box metaphor.

How did I come up with my opener?

First, I ran through the Four-step Metaphor Workout:
#1. What was the group's conceptual blindspot?
They thought they knew it all when it came to presentation skills.
#2. What could my snapshot tell me?
Successful, sophisticated, smart men and women from all over the U.S, experienced at selling investment management services. A driven, highly competitive group short on time and long on ego.
#3. What metaphor would most effectively pierce their resistance?
A sophisticated audience assumes they already know what you're going to say. I would have to challenge them; I would have to show them, immediately, that maybe they didn't know everything when it came to presentation skills. I decided to build an opening that would capitalize on their competitive instincts and challenge their assumptions. The sixteen-square illusion would engage them intellectually without triggering the "heard this all before " shut-down response.

#4. How would I relate my sixteen square metaphor to the subject at hand—making better presentations?
The link was to stress that they might be missing the potential for more—more boxes, more sales—by assuming they already saw everything. Their current skill level was their "sixteen squares ": many more boxes/skills, techniques and strategies might be at their disposal if only they were to pay closer attention to the possibilities.

Why Did It Work?

1. The best openers surprise.
My metaphor was a visual surprise—an optical illusion. But metaphors of any sort surprise your audience because by definition, a metaphor is something other than what is expected. It's a stand-in for the obvious. That's why a story about something or somebody works: For a moment, or several minutes even, your audience is treated to a distraction.

You can tell a story of your own or you can invite your listeners to use their imagination ( "Imagine you are waiting for a train… ") and the effect is similar: They're momentarily transported away from their assumptions. Likewise, a novel image, an unbelievable statistic, or a little-known fact can snap your audience out of their complacency. Even a question they're not likely to be able to answer right off the bat can do the trick.

2. Openers should never offend.
Always take into account your audience when choosing a metaphor. Surprise them, but make sure your tone and content remain appropriate. In my program, I was addressing high-rollers in a conference room; had it been a boardroom full of stockholders, the perception-game opener would have been inappropriate: too boisterous and competitive.

Be sensitive to generational, cultural and value differences. Frank Sinatra references may go over the heads of Eminem fans. Analogies about the Chicago Bulls may fall flat or arouse animosity if used in Los Angeles or New York. Disparaging comparisons to cell phone abuse may be unappreciated in a company where it is the norm to take cell phone calls during meetings.

3. A good opener is just long enough to make the point.
Some openings may be quite short—a question, a startling image, a funny reference. Stories or metaphors that build an image can take longer. But for the opening to work, the metaphor must not ramble; it must offer only enough detail to set up your linking statement.

4. The K.I.S.S. principle applies.
My sixteen-square figure was quite simple to grasp, if not to solve. More importantly, the link I made between the 16 obvious boxes and the group's presentation skills did not require considerable explanation. My audience did not have to work too hard to "see " my point.

Metaphors can make even highly technical material easy for the layman to grasp, provided you keep the metaphor itself simple. Imagine that your topic was the Automated Payment Transaction tax (the brainchild of Edgar L. Feige, a retired economist from the University of Wisconsin). Look at how this opening metaphor pulled people into a potentially deadly topic.

Think of your economic life as a highway. It's decently paved. But thanks to the tax system, there are tollbooths all over, with rates so high you need someone along to help you find ways to pay them or plain get around them.
Now imagine that a sort of tax-system E-ZPASS comes along, enabling you to whiz through the booths without digging in your pockets or consulting a guide. Suddenly, the highways are opened up and you're no longer wasting time or energy.
The Automated Tax System is the E-ZPASS solution to our complicated tax system…

Summary

• Metaphors make great openers, because metaphors surprise.


• Opening metaphors must be appropriate in tone and content for the audience and the setting.


• Effective openers include only enough detail to set up your point.


• A metaphoric opening clarifies complex topics provided it is limited to ONE image.


• You must link your metaphoric opener to your message.