“Masterclass at work”

At 11:00 AM on warm sunny Sunday afternoon, we made our way to a sub-division to meet a few investors, interested in purchasing new investment properties.  Now, these are seasoned professionals, so I’m was looking forward to cues, labeling, framing, re-framing, mirroring…etc, drama.

We meet the investors at the model home and the sales rep for the builders greeted us.  After the formalities, the show begins.  “We have 3 models for investors”, he said, “but they’re selling fast and we’ve already moved on to phase-2 of the property”.  The investors got excited and asked for layout of lots.  The sales rep produced three layouts and went on, “The basic plan, the gold plan and platinum plan are what we offer with these elevations, we should go see one”. 

Before the investors could decide, he continued, “It, would be the gold plan, which has an $8K premium, and provides the biggest bang for the buck, shall we go?”.  Just like that, we were out to see the lots.  We drove around, saw 4-5 empty lots.  By chance, I think not, the last lot enticed the investors, “What a great choice, it’s close to the amenities and kids will enjoy it – but I have to tell you, this is extremely sought after, and I already have several other investors ready to move on it”, the rep went on.  The final nail, “If we move on this quickly and you go with our lender, they contribute 2% [$5K] to your closing and you can re-invest that money in the property for even more upgrades”.  By end of the day, the deal was signed.  Did I mention it was a premium lot and required an additional $10K deposit on it?
“The art of framing, anchoring, labeling”

Did you notice, all the tactics that were used by sales rep?  3 Models – Framing with choices, Selling Fast – Labeling, “Great choice on lot” – Framing, 2%[$5K]– anchoring on prize, Other Investors – Scarcity.  These are just a few – can you spot the others?

If you take the above story and apply it to your day-to-day encounters, you’ll notice that we pitch and get pitched to all the time.  Take your own buying experience, especially a car from a dealership, you’ll see the masters at play.

As we make a pitch, the receiving parties Amygdala [aka the reptilian brain] is evaluating your carefully crafted statements – “The Frames”.  One wrong move can trigger an Amygdala highjack.  Therefore, your frames need to be simple, enticing with a “pot of gold” and time-bound.  A relatable frame should cause the brain to release neurotransmitters called dopamine.  These neurotransmitters cause the brain to feel good and satisfied.  

Complexity can cause the release of anti-dopamine - epinephrine, triggering the body’s fight and flight response.  There are many visual cues that one can pick on to know that this has happened.  At this point, the strategy should be to highlight the prize that will be lost if not acted upon soon.  The goal is to keep the brain happy!

“Bringing it Home!”

What I have realized over the years is that framing is the most important element of a pitch.  What I experienced in my not so successful encounter with the investors was that I had no idea how to counter a frame.  When it stated, “There is no market for it”, our response was analytical – numbers and percentages to justify the problem, causing the reptilian brain to kick off flight mode.  The reptilian brain does not understand complexity, and that’s where we had failed.  The correct response should have been re-framing our complex problem statement into bitesize consumables. 

This is what made the tech-expo successful, when I was asked about “lack of market fit”, I reframed the frame to, “what’s the problem you’re trying to solve”.  Once I was armed with that framed, I reframed the pitch to avoid the Amygdala highjack and started communicating at the Neocortex level.

“The so what of all this is…”
Pitching is as much a science as it’s an art.  I didn’t cover cues in this writeup, but will soon.  In addition to the scientific research, a lot of these ideas were validated by reading the work of authors like Malcom Gladwell – “Blink”, Chris Voss - “Never Split the difference”, Andrew Grove - “Only the Paranoid survive” and many more.