Float Like a Butterfly

Getting someone to see your point of view can often feel like pulling teeth. Everyone's wired to think differently, and some people really think differently. So what do you do when your client doesn't see your point, no matter how you explain it? Use a metaphor! Sales and communication trainer Anne Miller recently relayed a story that perfectly fits this situation - read on to see how you can use a metaphor to get your point across.

A reader of Anne Miller's newsletter recently wrote in with the following situation:

As Reed wrote, "I was talking to the Vice President of Sales for a California software company that I am assisting in marketing in Japan. He seemed interested of course in numbers, units sold, and where they stood in terms of lower-priced competitive products."

"I suggested that rather than getting into a features fight and the inevitable price comparison, that they brand their product in terms of their company image, people, and the cool projects they are involved in."

"My client stubbornly insisted we stay focused on the numbers. Realizing that logic was not going to persuade him, I sketched my idea on a piece of paper showing ants on the ground fighting it out over the small stuff, the individual features, vs. the insects with wings flying above the melee, the larger branding. I compared it to Muhammad Ali, and his 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.'"

"Not only did that seem to work for him, but he came back with an intriguing metaphor of his own seeing my strategy as a way of separating themselves from what he called, 'the bottom feeders.'"

Reports Reed, "The metaphor took our conversation away from the dry numbers and performance stats, into the more interesting and emotional world of metaphors, which ultimately led to his acceptance of my ideas."

"An idea forced on people with logic alone rarely sticks," says Miller. "An idea expressed in images changes a listener's perspective and most often gets the results desired. What result do you want? Who doesn't quite see things your way? What metaphor or analogy can you use to shift that person's perspective?"

Anne Miller is the author of Metaphorically Selling. Check out her site at www.annemiller.com.