Confused People Don't Say YES

Want an easy way to tell if people "get" what you're saying?

Just watch their eyebrows.?

If their eyebrows go up, it means they're intrigued.?

If they don't move, it means they're neutral (or they've had Botox:-)

If they're crunched up, it means they don't get it.

And if they don't get it, you won't get their attention, respect, trust or business.

Here's how I got clear about the consequence of confused communication.

As Executive Director of the Maui Writers Conference, we did something unprecedented at the time.

We gave authors an opportunity to jump the chain of command and meet face-to-face with decision-makers. Imagine pitching your project to a top agent, editor, publisher or Hollywood director like Ron Howard or Garry Marshall.

Unfortunately, no one knew how to get across the big idea of their work.

When asked, "What's your book about?" they'd start talking and wouldn't stop.

The longer they talked, the more confused those agents became.

And that's a problem because:

Confused people don't keep listening.

Confused people don't say yes.

Confused people don't buy.

In fact, that first year, a woman walked out of her?pitch meeting with tears in her eyes. I walked over and asked her, "Are you okay?"

“'No, I’m not okay. I just saw my dream go down the drain. I put?my 300 page manuscript?on the table,?the agent?took one look at it and said, ‘I don’t have time to read all that. Tell me in 60 seconds why someone would want to read it.’"

She said, "My mind went blank. My big chance, and I blew it.”

She wasn't the only one who got a NO that first year.

And it wasn't that their projects weren't worthy, they just weren't ready.

That night, I asked Robert Loomis, Senior Editor at Random House, "What's happening?"

He told me, "Sam, most of us have seen thousands of proposals. We make up our mind in the first couple minutes whether something's commercially viable."

The next day, I stood in the room watching the pitches, and I could predict who was getting interest simply by watching the decision-makers'?eyebrows.

Try it right now.

LIFT your eyebrows.

Do you feel curious, engaged, like you want to know more??

That's how you want?people to feel from now on when you tell them about your project, program or product.

And yes, this EYEBROW TEST works whether you're interviewing for a job, giving a presentation, or requesting money.

Remember, from now on, your goal isn't to explain your project, it's to get interest in your project.

What is something you care about?

Getting hired? Getting funded? Getting an idea green-lighted?

If you can't get interest in it in 60 seconds, it may never succeed.

The good news is; I've created dozens of ways to get people's eyebrows up. You can find them in POP!, Got Your Attention? and my Micro Content Master Class.