And There is no other path to GREATNESS
Years ago, I got a horrible berating from my boss, which I still remember after all these years.
_“You screwed up the deal Ravi!!! Was it so difficult to explain what you have created? “_he asked angrily.
“Jim, the customer was asking “stupid” questions and was not ready to understand my solution. The sales guy should have pitched in. I am a developer and I see no rhyme or reason to develop my selling skills” I retorted angrily.
“I will give you two reasons Ravi” Jim Said,
· Selling is the OBVERSE of programming. If good programming is tails, excellent selling is heads and you cannot understate that fact.
· You are the creator. It is your brainchild. If you cannot defend what you have created, nobody else can.”
_“But Jim, I don’t know selling. That is not my forte. I can code anything and create magic but don’t expect me to know selling “_I argued.
He smiled, “Who is asking you to sell. I am just asking you to PERSUADE. You just need to develop the art of persuasion and other things will automatically fall in place.”
“And for that you need to go back 2000 years, to get the wisdom from a Greek statesman and philosopher named Aristotle.
Aristotle was a master in the art of persuasion, about which he wrote an interesting treatise called Rhetoric. Aristotle pointed out three major steps or tactics to be employed if one wants to succeed in the art of persuasion. There are no better names for these three main instruments of persuasion than the words the Greeks used for them: ethos, pathos, and logos.”
Ethos
Ethos is defined as “the speaker’s power of evincing a personal character that will make his speech credible”. The key words here are “personal character” and “credibility”
There are a number of ways in which you can enhance your ethos**.**
Likeability
First and foremost be likable. That means that you should be polite to the customer, even-tempered, responsive to questions, mindful of time limits, and respectful of the concerns of all present in the meeting. One of the quickest ways to lose the quality of likeability is to be rude or abrupt. Failure to answer questions and to answer them directly can also get you on the wrong foot.
Preparedness.
It is critical to be prepared with all possible counter-arguments. This means knowing the customer, the key decision authorities, the existing culture, and all of the salient facts extremely well.
While a customer may have never encountered you in the past, he can quickly determine if you are prepared or not. Rude, obnoxious and “know all” behavior thus will seriously jeopardize any chance of communicating effectively.
Honesty and forthrightness
It is important, to be honest with the customer. If the “product” has a “missing” feature or “bugs”, it pays to acknowledge those issues and provide the best and most persuasive response to questions identifying those issues and problems.
One of the worst ways to harm your credibility is to give the impression that you are being dishonest or that you are playing fast and loose with the record or facts.
Organization
Another key quality is organization, the ability to appear organized and to deliver an organized argument. When delivering an argument, keep all necessary materials close at hand and neatly arranged.
Moreover, a person who presents a disjointed argument without a clear theme and progression will lose the attention of the audience, regardless of how compelling the substance of the argument actually may be.
Clear and understandable delivery
It is very difficult to accept the resounding persuasive appeal of an argument when one cannot understand it. Therefore, it is essential to deliver an argument in a clear and understandable manner.
You should speak words clearly, with a moderate pace that can be easily understood, must avoid using unfamiliar jargon or idiomatic expressions, and should appropriately use pauses and vocal inflection to emphasize the key points of the presentation.
Professional appearance
While this quality is not important like other qualities, it is certainly required to create a professional appearance and sense of decorum to be taken seriously. “Coding” has no dress code as such but presenting needs to have one which has no “jeans” and “cowboy” boots in it.
Pathos
Pathos is defined as the speaker’s “power of stirring the emotions of his [audience].”
And there are a number of ways in which this stirring of emotions can be done.
· **Fear-**You will lag behind if you don’t adopt this technology
· **Envy-**That “startup” competitor of yours is miles ahead. You need to catch up fast
· **Lust-**The “early adopter” position is vacant. You need to implement this technology to be a market leader.
· **Pride-**You have always been the “poster boy” of the industry and you should not lose this status just because of delay in adopting new technology.
· Sloth — You lost a golden opportunity to surge ahead two years back. Don’t let it happen AGAIN.
· Greed — Knowledge is power and power commands respect. Implement these technologies to be deemed “respectable” and knowledgeable”
Logos
Logos is defined as the speaker’s “power of proving a truth, or an apparent truth, by means of persuasive arguments.
Some ways to improve Logos can be as below.
Select your key issues
One of the most important steps in preparing for an oral argument is to select the key issues you will focus on during your argument. While there is no “magic number” of exactly how many issues you can present, in most cases you can expect to focus on no more than two to three issues at oral argument.
Carefully structure your argument
It is very important to have a coherent structure to your argument that begins with a preview that quickly mentions the theme or main thrust of your argument and lists your two or three main points.
Then proceed quickly to the 1st point, answer all queries and then move to the next and so on. It is also helpful, to quickly sum up your argument before you must conclude.
Develop a coherent and compelling theme
Each oral argument is designed to persuade the audience to do something. It is critical that the action you wish your audience to take, be clearly stated at the beginning of your argument with some basic justification for taking that action.
For example, if you want your customer to optimize the demand-supply gap in his inventory, state that clearly and then come up with the argument on how “you can help them do that” through your software.
Rely on your best supporters.
Not everybody is braying for your blood. There are some people in the audience who are WITH you. Find them and TAP their expertise. There is a very thin line between a “meaningful argument “and a “bitter quarrel” so it is important to make sure to garnish as much support as you can during the explanation. This is democracy, increase your supporter count versus your opponent count and you win.
One interesting point to be noted here is that Logos is like the icing on the cake. You have already built a great cake using ethos and pathos and logos is just making it ATTRACTIVE for others to BUY it.
Bringing it all together
That day I learned something new , although in a hard way. I learned one lesson that you don’t become GREAT only by having GREAT programming skills. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have all proved one important fact — Your GREAT coding skills need to be supplemented by extraordinary PERSUASION (Read Selling) Skills.
Unless people are convinced to accept your logic, your way of thinking, your rationale, your code is no more than a piece of ELECTRONIC TRASH. If your code succeeds in “transforming “the “layman” (read the customer), You are the KING.
As rightly told by Alan Perlis.
“The best book on programming for the layman is ‘Alice in Wonderland’; but that’s because it’s the best book on anything for the layman.”
About the author-:
Ravi Rajan is a global IT program manager based out of Mumbai, India. He is also an avid blogger, Haiku poetry writer, archaeology enthusiast and history maniac. Connect with Ravi on LinkedIn, Medium, Facebook and Twitter.
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