Demystifying The Art of Influence

In today’s experiment, I’m sharing my favourite model ever… and I love me a model!

Models are great. They simplify the complex. They demystify the impenetrable. They show us what we need to do to achieve an outcome. 

What copywriters can teach us about the art and science of influence

Today’s model was born at the intersection of psychology and sales in the world of copywriting. Copywriters, people who write advertising or publicity copy, are masters of the art of writing influential messages. What’s even more helpful to us mere mortals is that they adopt a test and measure approach to their work. They change one word in an advert or home page then track the impact that has on click-through or uptake rates. They’re applying a kind of scientific method to the art of influence.

What copywriters are fascinated with is the question ‘What needs to happen for a person to shift from ‘Never heard of it’ to ‘I want it’. As such, they provide us with the most amazing, simplified model for influence.

When I first read ‘The Copywriter’s Handbook’ by Robert Bly, it blew my mind. It was quickly apparent that the application of these insights outside the world of copywriting was huge. The process copywriters talk about (which I call the 5Ps Model) applies whenever you want to influence anyone to do anything. 

Have a pitch you’re writing - use the 5Ps.

Preparing for a key presentation - use the 5Ps.

Need to influence a team - use the 5Ps.

Writing a website - use the 5Ps.

Navigating a complicated sale - use the 5Ps.

The 5Ps Model of Influence

The 5Ps model shows the steps you need to guide people through if you’re going to move them from ambivalence to buy-in. Let’s imagine you need to sell something. This could be selling an idea to another team, a product or service to a client or a strategy to your board.

P1 - Promise

The first step is that you need to get your audience’s attention. If you’re selling to a team or client, you’ve not met before you need to get them to agree to meet you/hear your idea. If you’re influencing a board or another team or an existing client, you want them to be engaged and eager to converse. If you’re writing a website or a proposal, you need to grab your readers’ attention by the short and curlies. You need a promise. Ask yourself the question: Why would my audience bother meeting me or listening to me?

Make this the first thing your audience see or hear. Grab their attention and show them why they should bother listening/reading further. Make your message pithy and intriguing if you can. 

Example - say you’re an IT director who needs to influence a sales team to engage with a new CRM. Suppose you start a presentation by saying ‘Hi thanks for your time today. I know how busy you are and won’t keep you long. I’m going to talk today about widget software 5.0 and how it’s better than widget software 4.0’ you’ve already lost your audience. They will listen, however, if you lead by saying How would it feel if the IT department could save the sales team 300 working hours in wasted data entry time in the next 6 months.

P2 - Pain (Problem)

Once you have an audience’s attention, they’ll keep paying attention if they believe you can help them solve a problem they’re having. You need to speak to their pain.

Example: You’ve told us that you’re spending too much time updating the CRM. It’s clunky, and it doesn’t allow you to cross-reference in the way you need. You’re spending more time on data entry than you are on the phone to clients. It’s getting in the way of you achieving your sales targets, and I know how important that is to you.

P3 - Pleasure (Benefit)

Next, you need to make clear the pleasure/benefits, to the audience, of making the decision you’re asking them to make.

Example: You want to spend less time on data entry and more time serving your clients. You need software which is simple and gives you critical insights into your clients and sales opportunities. If we can free up your 300 hours of your team’s time in the next 6 months, imagine what you could achieve instead.

P4 - Proof

Next, you need to show how you/your idea/your product/your company is the right one to enable them to get from Pain to Pleasure. Here you want to share just enough about your idea/company to build their confidence. I know you’re super excited about all the whizzy technical elements of your idea, but it’s unlikely your audience cares - so share enough proof to build their confidence.

Example: Widget software 5.0 is used by xxx and yyy companies. It removes 6 steps in the data entry process, and it allows you to compare aaa with bbb so you can identify new opportunities for sales. We’ve beta tested it with team zzz, and they found individuals saved on average 3 hours a week.

P5 - Proceed to Action 

Finally, you need to move from influence to action. Now they’re at the front door of your idea, invite them in and let them know where to go. 

Example: To progress things, I need 2 members of the IT department to help us scope a transition plan.

One word of warning before we begin

The 5Ps tells you WHAT to do to influence. The HOW and WHY are equally important. Brilliant influencers anchor their HOW in rapport and relationship and their WHY in service and a win-win mindset.

Your Leadership Experiment

This week’s experiment is about diagnosing an influence problem using the 5Ps.

Think of a situation where you're less influential than you need to be.

Is it clear to your audience:

Why would they bother listening to you in the first place? (PROMISE)

What problems do they have that your idea could solve? (PAIN)

How would their work/life/world benefit from your idea? (PLEASURE)

Why should they believe in your idea? (PROOF)

What the easy first step you need them to take is? (PROCEED)

Where did you say no? Make that P the starting point of your new strategy or communication.

Have fun and let me know what you discover.