A lot has been written about Audience Advocacy and the mechanics of putting together something that appeals to the listener/reader. However, the bottom line of sales content is that “emotion is what really sells”. You need to get the audience to feel that there is something in it for them, if you want them to listen to your sales pitch and give the call to action.

So the first step in persuasion is to know what appeals emotionally to your listener.  What is the problem the product or service will solve for him and what will happen if the problem is not solved for them? If you can answer these questions, you will have the key to what motivates your audience emotionally. You can then set out to write your sales letter or make your online or offline presentation targeting this emotional quotient.

An outstanding example of an opening sales pitch is Mark Anthony’s speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.  The audience experience a roller coaster of emotions. Mark Anthony declares that he is there to bury Caesar and not to argue with Brutus and others about the qualities of the man. A subtle rider or “hook” to his declaration directs attention to the fact that “evil that men do lives after them” and “good” is buried with them. The rest of the speech is devoted to demolishing the association of “ambition” with Caesar and cutting through the arguments put forth by his killers for the murder…..

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest–

For Brutus is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men–

Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me:

But Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

If you look at successful sales letters or successful presentations or even speeches that moved masses to action, you will notice that an appeal is being made to the emotional being in the target audience every time.  There is play on fears–loss of health, loss of income, fear of failure and so on.  The very opening sentence or headline sets the context. It is often an attention grabbing, powerful, magnetic line that keeps the audience riveted to the speech. Here are a few examples:

• Stop letting other people cheat you out of the Income you deserve
• Your health may depend on the Information contained in this letter
• Add years to your life with Newly Discovered Super Vitamin
• Build Six Pack muscles that will be the envy of your peers

The sub headline then creates the hook that holds the audience dangling on the line.  This is often another associated emotional reason that supports the headline.

Just one capsule a day will extend your life by 25%!

An appeal that has nothing to do with logic.  There is no reference to a miracle vitamin. Only a statement that vitamins will benefit you!

From this point on the Sales letter or presentation or speech is carefully pitched from the point of view of the reader and the flow of thoughts that must arise from the initial questions that were addressed to him.  There is a conscious and sustained effort to answer all the possible questions that may arise in the minds. Of course irresistible special offers are made at the end and a deadline for availing of the special offer is set to urge him into immediate action.

So, if you are making a presentation to your boss or selling a product to your client or making a speech, do not forget–the emotional quotient. The success or failure depends on how well you answer the question “What is in it for me!”