SQUAD—Chapter 2
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Chapter Two
Sell Your Ideas
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Read Time: 15 minutes
Hello
Welcome to Chapter Two of SQUAD. New recruits (and old alike) can access the SQUAD Locker to read old Chapters. The Locker is classified and exclusive to squadron eyes only. (Password: topgun)
Before we begin, I’m humbled by the feedback I got from Chapter One. It is the reassurance to continue doing the thing I love, which is creating and sharing.
Those of you, who got left out or didn’t get the chance, I encourage you to fill out this survey. Tell me a little bit about yourself, it only takes sixty two seconds. Your suggestions are appreciated and help me shape and improve the SQUAD.
Back? On with our Sunday adventures now.
One question I get frequently asked is, “How did you convince the client into rebranding?” or “How did you get approval on that idea” on instances when the client appeared to be conservative or rigid or needed to be educated about design.
And, the truth is, I never convinced them because they didn’t need convincing. I’d say, if you’re approaching someone to convince them into doing something, that’s a missed opportunity.
Don’t worry, I’ve been there too. Twelve years ago, fresh out of college, I found myself asking the same thing. What I learned and did, do instead, is what this Chapter is all about.
The art of selling your ideas.
The Chapter is split into four parts. In the first part, we’ll visit Northpoint to give you a frame of reference.
The second slice covers why no one gives a shit about your ideas, how to get people excited and interested in your ideas, and why you need to be a pickup artist.
The third bit dives into having the right attitude and mindset, and the common mistakes people make when sharing their ideas with an illustrative example.
The final breadth is about coming up with relevant ideas that make impact. We’ll also talk about the pitfalls of assumptions and generalisations with a fantastic story the President of Media Planning, Lowe shared with me.
–The First Part
A trip to Northpoint
In 2007, I was enrolled at Northpoint (an offspring of Mullen Lowe Lintas Group), studying brand, marketing, advertising, media, and communications.
An institution designed to address the lack of preparatory grounds transitioning young professionals from text-book to the playing field.
Northpoint had zero, on campus, faculty (except for a Director of Programming), relying solely upon visiting practitioners from the industry. A rare sight at the time.
“Show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are?”
For a year, Northpoint put us in a boardroom (overlooking Western Ghats, a swimming pool and a tennis court, through it’s floor to ceiling windows), face-to-face with President, CEO, CFO, VP, Head of Creative or <put almost any agency department here>, Director and Senior Management (including the client side), exposing and expanding our minds on a daily diet.
Never a dull moment.
These men and women brought, to the table, their experiences, learnings, live case-studies, giving us a first-hand account of what they were working on, what challenges they were facing, and how shit got done in the real world and most importantly how they sold their ideas (on some occasions worth millions of dollars) day-in-day-out.
Beyond these “boardroom” sessions we were thrown into the meat-grinder, working in the different departments of an agency.
Carrying a bag full of soap, working my way from shop to shop, in the sultry summer of Mumbai, and reporting back to Unilever HQ with findings and observations was part of working at the client’s office.
By its immersive nature, the Northpoint experience hardwired these real-world problem-solving practical skills into me leaving no chance for guesswork.
Anyone caught faffing was at the wrath of Siva sir (Northpoint crew knows what I’m talking about). We took our shit seriously, son.
The next near-decade was spent in applying those skills in an advertising agency and later in a brand consulting firm I founded with a friend. The findings and results of application and practicing those concepts are what I’m sharing with you today.
–The Second Part
Why you need to be a pickup artist
“Whatever you’ve learned till now is fucking wrong! It doesn’t work in the real world. We’re going to unlearn everything.”
There I was, front row and centre, on day one, at Northpoint, and the first thing to come out of Suraja Kishore, VP, Lowe’s mouth (sporting a French-beard and bright floral shirt) were those words.
A statement made only with the intention to instigate and open up our minds to new possibilities and a different world view. Pickup artists and great salespeople use a similar technique when starting any interaction.
By the way, I’m not suggesting the VP is a pickup artist. Having the undivided attention of a room full of restless-opinionated-minds within fifteen seconds of making an entrance was a technique worth elucidating.
Here’s the psychology aspect.
As people walk through life, over time, they tend to form secure belief systems, view of the world, view of themselves, view of how things work, opinions of who they are, what they stand for, what they believe in, or in the case of companies, what the process or culture is, what they can or cannot do etc., becoming set in their ways.
I get caught up in the hype too. No kidding.
“I’m not creative” or “I’m an analytical thinker” or “I’m not outgoing” or “I’m not meant to be a dancer” or “I’m an atheist” or “This is how we’ve (or I) always done (do) it” or “We don’t need a rebrand” or “We don’t need a new website” or “That new app user flow isn’t for us,” being close relatives of the same mentality.
Some people, clients, brands etc., like living in the neatly designed shell of their our own self-image because it’s harder to adjust their view than to maintain it.
And at the slightest chance of someone changing that reality or offering a different view, “No thank you I/we don’t want it” becomes the gut knee-jerk reaction.
Laziness and fear being the culprit.
Opening up your audience to become receptive to your ideas begins by making the interaction personal and relevant. As the VP had done so successfully by questioning and challenging a bunch of BBA freshmen.
Being a figure of authority, in the room, was another factor going for him that day despite the floral decoration.
Offering an alternate view is not about coming from a negative place or an attempt to put others down. I’d be worried if I were in a room where that was acceptable. It should be aimed to inspire and present an alternate reality of success to a client, person, company or business. Remember, you’re not trying to negate other ideas but only bring more perspectives to the table.
The second part of presenting an alternate world-view to someone is freeing yourself of the outcome. To not be worried about failing, rejection or falling flat on your face. Being able to walk away at anytime works in your favour.
Here’s why.
You don’t come of as needy (when talking to a hot girl) or trying to be “salesy” (trying to win business).
On winning and losing countless pitches (in personal and professional life), I traced back failure to the lack of applying these simple traits.
–The Third Part
Sharing Mindset
Having someone, other than yourself, listen to your idea- not hear it passively but listen attentively and remain engaged till you stop talking can be a nerve-racking and daunting scenario to some.
In your case, it could be a project that needs approval or a partner that needs to be “convinced” or a stakeholder/client that won’t budge. Who knows what this may entail for you?
The common thread I noticed by observing and working alongside clients, colleagues, bosses who inspired, motivated and excited me to do my best can be explained as so.
When great leaders, people I admire and for whom I go out of my way to work with, share their ideas, they invite people into a dialogue, are at the cause being proactive, open to consideration, have a willingness to share ownership with people around them and are receptive to world-views different from their own and able to channelise their team’s energy towards their vision while welcoming and embracing negative feedback.
In stark contrast, clients, colleagues or people I try and avoid exhibit traits that are commonly found in amateur talent, out to prove themselves. They behave reactively, fearing their ideas may get hijacked or stolen or have to be shared by other people, acting defensive, trying to protect their ideas by playing bank with cash. They are not receptive or open to feedback or different world-views. Any attempts made to help are seen as stealing or putting down their idea.
It’s the fear of having someone else improve upon your idea. If another soul made your original idea great by adding to it, would that still be “your” original idea? Having to resonate in the thought of not being the one to have had that better version? Not getting one hundred percent credit or losing limelight are a few susceptible causes.
Whenever I find myself caught up in this feeling, I shake it off immediately knowing nothing good will follow.
It takes guts to be transparent and open by putting yourself and your idea out in front of the world, being vulnerable to external forces beyond your control. To a certain degree, there’s a level of detachment required from your own idea for it to truly become a living breathing dragon. Ha! You get the point, right?
–The Final Part
Why assumptions are bad news
Premjit Sodhi, President Media Planning, Lowe started his workshop with a lesson he learned during his days in business school. He recalled his professor putting the class to task with the story of a farmer. It went something like this (this was while ago but I’ve got a handle on it).
There’s a poor farmer living in the middle of the Rajasthani desert. He can barely make ends meet, his house is falling apart, the nearest hospital is hours away and there’s no water supply… and so on describing the apathetic conditions of the villager. How can you improve and make the farmer’s life better?
The students, including Premjit, assembled in teams, spending the day debating and ideating. They came back to class that evening, in time for presentations, with amazing ideas.
These ranged from getting the government involved, interconnecting the remote village with satellite towns by road and having a school built, digging a community tubewell, giving the farmer a tractor and supplies (even a laptop), fixing his house to finding him a job and having a municipality setup.
The professor listened, chiming in on occasions, patiently till the last student spoke his last word. And, when all was said and done, he had only one question, to their dismay, for his hungry-for-praise students.
“Did anyone bother to ask what the farmer wants?”
Today, product designers are labelling it “User Centred Design” as if it’s a concept dropped out of digital heaven, wedging the divide between the agency and product world thinking. Maybe we can debate this topic in another Chapter.
But broadly speaking, very early, we learned to leave our assumptions at the door, to question everything, talk to end users/customers, to arrive at true insights by research and observation, have multiple points of view even if some of those views were conflicting and form opinions by doing the work.
No shortcuts, ever.
That’s why when you approach a client with your ideas (without identifying the problems to be solved or knowing jack shit) for rebranding or app design or recommendations on solutions out of context, the gut knee-jerk reaction of the client is to reject it because the client is busy solving “real” problems and doesn’t see the value.
Data speaks
(A pun on deeds speak)
Instead of wasting time assuming and imagining the needs of a product or client or user, I learned to dig for insights, doing the leg work, becoming an investigative journalist.
Soak in the business or client or person you are going to meet. Absorb everything you can find on them (and their direct competitors) across any medium you can get your hands on.
Research, read and read some more (bookmark that shit) on what company leadership is saying in blogs and articles, tap into perspective of thought leaders and opinion makers, check out employee reviews on Glassdoor, put an ear to customer feedback (in forums), make snapshots of press and media clips, engage in social media conversations and comments across the spectrum, and if you have access to the product, take it for a spin.
Let all the research, data, findings feed into your mental mood board. You don’t have to be a practitioner from the client’s or product’s industry to have an informed opinion. I assure and promise you these efforts won’t go unnoticed.
A few things will happen with this approach. One, you’re going to understand the bigger picture at play and have context to the client, product, business, person, throwing light on their vision (or it’s absence), their problems (your opportunity) and what day-to-day activities they might need help with.
In love, looks don’t matter.
Secondly, you’re not pitching pretty designs or (what you assumed to be what the client needed) anymore but having meaningful conversations of “business transformative” ideas that are tuned with the client’s business objectives.
Making it personal and relevant.
And thirdly, you’ll be talking to the client about the client, their product, their customers, excited to share your findings. You’ll be surprised at how many people walk into a room and talk only about themselves.
If one thing I have learned from my travels over the years is people (irrespective of age, caste, sex, religion, place in society) around the world love it when you talk about them. Listening, with genuine interest, is at the heart of it.
Present your ideas, perspectives and pitch with the precision of a meticulous Swiss watchmaking craftsmen and be willing to walk away. There’s a slim chance, despite your efforts, you won’t get heard, and you’ll be OK with that because you’re ideas are not meant for everyone.
Remember, great ideas don’t need convincing.
Think of a prised possession you own or person you admire in your life. Did they try and “convince” you into liking them, buying into them or was it voluntary submission to the cause? On occasions you take pride in being the evangelist to that idea, person or cause. Let that thought sink in.
This week I also wrote Five Life Lessons My Coach Taught Me which is the result of completing 500 days of regular Crossfit.
One last thing before you go
I encourage you to share your views either by replying to this email or tweeting me. Always happy to improve, learn and answer your questions.
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Have a happy week!
Yours truly,
Paul Syng
