Have Something to Say, and Say it Well

Persuasive Communications Enhances Sales and Marketing 

Persuasive Communications helps you communicate more effectively and deliver your message in a logical and persuasive manner. A very useful framework  for communicating and persuasive arguments is S-C-Q-A. At Revenue Architects, when discussing a client presentation, we often ask each other, “What is the S-C-Q-A? ”.

Top-down Thinking and S-C-Q-A and SPIN Selling

You can use SPIN selling techniques to build an understanding of a client/customer’s situation, problems, the implications of not solving the problem and the value or need payoff for solving the problem.  The approach helps you articulate the situation or problem by asking questions about their situation, then you can deliver your message by reflecting back on their situation and complication before offering a ‘single-minded message’ (your answer) along with evidence that supports your answer. Persuasive communications and S-C-Q-A mirrors SPIN to present your answer or proposition in a structured and logical way.

Persuasive communication is a structured way to position and communicate that ties your Answer – or the Governing Thought –  to the Situation and the Complication that your buyer must overcome.

Let’s walk through an example by introducing this Persuasive Communications approach. In this example, I will try to “convince” you that you should embrace persuasive communications in your organization.

To do this, I will use “SCQA” or Situation, Complication, Question and Answer which is the structure that  guides the delivery of your messages.  SCQA can be used in subtle and conversational ways, but to illustrate the logic and how it works, I will use it explicitly in the following argument:

Situation

Communicating a clear and persuasive message is vital in a marketing and sales. We need to communicate our ideas in a clear and convincing way and reflect the key issues and challenges or pain points that our audience is facing. If we can be more effective in communicating our message and persuasive arguments, we will be much more likely to convince our audience that they should take the actions we propose.

Complication

Unfortunately, to often our communication lacks clarity and structure. Marketing messages are inside-out rather than buyer centric reflecting the audience and their pain points.  Corporate presentations miss the mark in delivering a single-minded message and instead offer only a reflection of the company itself. Without an adequate focus on the audience and the opportunities they seek to address. sales teams often meander through client conversations without delivering a clear and persuasive argument backed by logic. In order to deliver persuasive communications,  presenters need a structured communication process they can use day-to-day.

Question

How can we improve the way we communicate to our audience and realize better results?

Answer

Help your sales and marketing teams deliver more compelling arguments that drive result using a structured persuasive  communications approach.

How?  Here are three steps you can take:

1. Introduce Structured Top-down Thinking and the S-C-Q-A structure using hands-on practice, and real-world examples.
2. Reinforce the approach by applying structured communication techniques across interactions day-to-day – including presentations, emails, blog posts and marketing communications.
3. Promote adoption across the organization, leading by example and recognizing the impacts that come from applying the approach.

Persuasive Communications helps you build marketing and sales effectiveness and realize better results from your sales presentations, value propositions and buyer engagement messaging.

How you used these techniques in your organization? Good luck and good communicating!

Image source: Seraph Science