Delivering a complex idea without exploding any heads
Michael Taylor
I help companies with complex offerings find their hidden gems, tell their story, get unstuck, and grow.
How can you tackle communicating a complex idea with a kazillion points in a way that will keep your prospects head from exploding?
First, realize your customer’s brain will not grow bigger because you have a lot to communicate. Next, understand the job of communication is to CONNECT more than it is to be comprehensive. To connect with anyone you must put as much focus on what you take out of your communications as what you put into it.
Many neuroscience studies show we retain a tiny fraction of what is communicated to us. Our brains have less RAM than a 1984 Mac Plus. In order not to crash, our brains summarily dump the vast majority of information coming at us every day.
That’s why building your case around a single big idea, is far easier for your audience to internalize than a laundry list of anything.
If you cannot wrap everything you have to say around a big single momentous point, then dumb it down to no more than 4 points. Find four big points you know are burning in your audience’s mind at that moment, then collapse everything else you want to say as supporting statements to these points. I want to emphasize your points focus on what is burning in the hearts and minds of your audience, not you burning up your whiteboard with a laundry list of points queued for assault.
President at B2B Sales Boost, LLC
8 年I have found that many times you want to communicate the conclusion and then show/justify how you got there. Secondly, I always try to ask myself if I am communicating in 8th grade English. You are trying to make your point not impress them on your vocabulary.
Visionary Go-to-Market Strategist & Storyteller
8 年Very thought provoking and challenging, Michael. When helping our high tech and professional services clients communicate their complex ideas we always package them in a story where the prospect is the main audience - and their product/service is the protagonist. Establish a clear context, so you can settle their crocodile brain. Make a concise problem statement. Raise the stakes. And then, and only then, introduce your solution as the hero. Finally, leave them with a clear picture of the new world the hero has made possible. That means making a lot of really tough choices about which details to include and which to push to the sequel.
Certified Management Consultant
8 年Excellent point, Michael. Better to make one or two points clearly than smother others with multiple topics soon forgotten.