CMU School of Drama


Monday, October 20, 2014

How To Persuade Anyone Of Anything In Ten Seconds

LinkedIn: You’re on the most important elevator ride of your life. You have ten seconds to pitch- the classic “elevator pitch”.

Love or Hate. Money or Despair. And you may never get this chance again. As PM Dawn says, “I feel for you. I really do.”

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I can't say that I have ever had to pitch my idea to someone in a short amount of time, but after reading this I would feel very comfortable doing so. I think one of the most important ideas that this article conveys is the 6 U's. The information about how to breathe and knowing who you are is helpful to a certain degree but at some point you have to tell the person your idea. The 6 U's that the author lists seem logical to follow and have a smooth progression to them. The use of a familiar also helped understand this process. I think it's interesting how it states that it is convincing someone that does not want to learn about your information or your idea.

Jason Cohen said...

This article couldn't be more real! Persuading anyone into anything is a really hard task, let alone in ten seconds. The points that the article hits are very solid. However, I might have put them in a different order. First I would present the task to the person. If they seemed to like it that I would begin the persuading, but that is only if I got the right vibe. Now that I only have to persuade the person I would focus on increasing their confidence. By doing this you are giving them the positive push that they need to get started. I would also end with saying that you as a leader are here for them and if they need any help at all they can come to you. This is how I think successful persuasion works.

Monica Skrzypczak said...

This articles is bursting full of good tips. I especially liked the six U's.They are al things I would definitely like to know before I think about wanting to get something.I also think it's a really good point that you have to talk about common objections before the person has a change to say them. It saves so much time and people are more likely to buy in if you really cover everything before hand.
Lastly, in my experience, it is so unbelievably important to let the person really think and process what you said and react before you start talking over them. They won't feel like you care what they have to say if you keep cutting them off. They need to go through everything you said because at that point it is unlikely that anything extra you say will convince them; they have to decide if they are going to convince themselves.

Unknown said...

Being persuasive in a very short amount of time is a great communication exercise. You'd be amazed how a short and sweet persuasive comment could make jaws drop. I remember my draw dropped when I saw Wolf on Wall Street because it was full of persuasive comments in under ten seconds. And it blows my mod on how powerful they were. Here are a few:

"You show me a pay stub for U$72,000.00, I quit my job right now and work for you."

"Does your girlfriend think you're a worthless loser? Good! Pick up the phone and start dialing! I want you to deal with your problems by becoming rich!"

and my favorite!

"Jordan Belfort: Sell me this pen.
Brad: Write me your name on this napkin.
Jordan Belfort: I can't, I don't have a pen.
Brad: There you go, it's a matter of supply and demand."

Very short and sweet comments that are super powerful and then only way someone may not believe you is if then spend a few minute thinking about it. But you're so in the moment, so with these tips and trick and practice the economy will be your puppet.

Olivia LoVerde said...

We have been told about the elevator pitch before and this is the first time that we have really gotten advice on how to handle this pitch. Having to persuade anyone about anything is scary and nerve wrecking and even when you have an hour with them it is hard to get all your thoughts together having an elevator ride is even harder. The author really gives good advice on how to order the conversation and work it to your benefit. I also really like part C how to have a conversation and not sound like an idiot or be disrespectful. The yeahs and uh huhs while someone else is talking is distracting and makes you seem like you don't have anything else to add to the conversation. The waiting a few seconds and thinking of how to respond once they are done taking is even better advice. We talked a lot about listening to people while they speak in Hawk vs. Handsaw and not thinking of what you want to say next while they are speaking is one of the best ways to focus and their words and use all of them to influence what you say next.

Katie Pyne said...

Stand up straight. Relax. Be quiet when someone is talking. Standard practices. But this article is very well written and really gets to heart of the matter. James Altucher breaks down the elevator speech in a way that's simultaneously easy to read and easy to put into practice. For me, I was always befuddled by my elevator speech. Where do I start? What do I keep, what do I toss? This article really cleared the air. Along with Hannah, I also thought of Wolf of Wall Street. While (hopefully) our employers are not on 7 different kinds of drugs during our interview, that same kind of passion is still present and that's what I think you should bring to your speech.

Thomas Ford said...

I've never been in the position of having to give an elevator speech, and if I ever am I probably ave no idea what I'm going to say. Even after reading this article, yes I have some tips and things to keep in mind, I'm still probably not going to be able to give a good elevator speech. It takes time and practice to develop one, but I'm glad I read the article because it provides a lot of information on how to develop your own. I really like the insight that the author had on the subject, and I thought that his HBO show was really interesting. The concept for it sounds really cool, and it was probably really fun/scary/interesting to work on. Reading the article there are definitely some things that I could do more in general, but for the most part none of these things have been all that relevant to past experiences that I've had. That being said, I'm sure after my first actual elevator speech is a flop, I'm going to try to search for this article.

Kat Landry said...

This is a pretty interesting article. Some of these things I might call common sense, but I appreciated those 6 Us. They are a good outline of the things that make your pitch important to another person and I think those things have a lot of value. I can't remember the last time I was pitching love to someone in an elevator, but I do tend to be fairly good at persuading people to side with me. It's very important, for example, to make clear all the ways this decision will benefit them. This was touched on in the article, and I think that's pretty important. I think this goes for more than business pitches as well. Reasons to go to this restaurant instead of that, why we should work on this homework assignment first, etc. Being a persuasive person (if you are under control and know what you're talking about) can be very helpful in aiding the efficiency of any common problem. Making a decision and quickly persuading others it is the right one is a very important skill to have. This is often very true in theatre as well; part of being a good leader there is knowing what to do, sticking to it, and getting everyone else to follow in order to keep things running smoothly and correctly.

Trent Taylor said...

I think this is a bit of an over exaggeration in terms of the title of this article, but it does raise several good points about how to convince people of an idea and not offend them. I think these types of tactics can definitely be extrapolated into presentations of all sorts. Things like not saying up, and speaking with confidence. One part that i didnt really get though was when they started by discussing elevator speeches. I understand that some of the same methods are used, but i feel like when you do an elevator speech, it shouldnt be as harsh as this "convincing advice" was making it sound. The person shouldnt feel attacked.

Andrew O'Keefe said...

I think the hardest thing about the elevator pitch is knowing the audience. You have to know what you're trying to sell in order to sell it. Of course you're selling yourself, but you aren't one size fits all, and like your resume, you're going to want to highlight different aspects to different people. So the elevator pitch has to be really more of a loose outline than a speech. The best advice I think in this article is about body language and presenting oneself in a way that is assertive but not domineering. I think, and of course I may be wrong, that the most important thing to sell is that you are someone your audience would want to work with. Hiring someone is only partly about qualifications, and for some folks it's really not about that at all. At some point you're hired for a job you realize you have no business having, and it will become clear that all the skills in the world don't trump personal chemistry.

simone.zwaren said...

I am actually taking a marketing class right now and persuasion is the majority of what marketing is. More recently we were exploring the six principles of persuasion; Reciprocity, commitment, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. I find it funny that the author throws out these principles as garbage. I find it funny because he basically uses them in his personal techniques. The, “Who are You?” question the author tells the us to answer goes under the principle of liking because the idea behind it is that people will buy (or be convinced) from a person they like. “Relax” also goes under that category in appealing to the person needing the convincing. The most interesting part of this article that deviates from the general principles are the six ‘U’s. It is cool that Altucher lays out how to be specific in the fast elevator ride and if someone can actually remember to do all of that then that person is golden to win that persuasion.

Evan Smith said...

I’ve done a few elevator pitches in my time so far, which I’m sure, I’ll have a few more to do. The article makes some obvious points as to what one should do, which are fairly obvious even when you are doing just a basic interview. What he states that goes completely out of proportion is the fact that you would be able to spit out all of the information the author suggests. It would be too overbearing to someone trying to get to their next meeting, not even too concerned as to what a random person is talking about. I’m sure it’s almost a guarantee every time that you’ll get a yes or no, but I think in any situation like this, you have to be aware of the type of people you’re projecting to, because behind every company, I’m sure there is at least that one person who writes you off from the beginning.

Unknown said...

So, I'm pretty sure that these are the rules for talking about anything that you want the audience to be interested in. This is really just like teaching. If you want your students to be interested at all in your subject, you should first let them know with your body language that it is indeed interesting. I am much more likely to listen to a teacher that is excited about their subject than a teacher that is giving off signals that it is the most boring subject in the WORLD. I don't even care what the subject is.

Nikʞi Baltzer said...

Ten seconds is how long it take to make a first impression. People never forget their first impression in this world. Whenever we interact with someone for the first time we are selling ourselves. The general goal is to sell well. We are a society that wants to be well liked by all because who likes conflict? Don't believe me look at Facebook. Our status between friends is often judged by first the amount of friends or followers we have and the amount of likes we get on the things we post or get tagged in, regardless of what the actually context is we are driven by other people's contentness with us. Social media is just a prolonged example of how we continue to sell ourselves to each other each day. When we sell ourselves well it can lead to jobs, school acceptances, friendships, and best memories.