Harvard University Division of Continuing Education: Professional Development

February 21, 2012

In the words of consultant Michelle Ehrenreich, “business communication is all about creating a call to action.” And if you’re not using the power of persuasion, you may be bumping up against walls when pitching a new client, getting buy-in for your new strategy, promoting a complex new product, or advocating for some other change in your organization.

So how can you avoid the pitfalls? How do you gain interest in your cause and get people to do what you want them to do?

Ehrenreich, a management consultant and Harvard Business School graduate who teaches the March professional development program Persuasive Business Communications, suggests avoiding these four mistakes in telling your story.

Misstep #1: Communicating the way YOU prefer, not the way your audience wants you to.

You may be passionate about your work and love to discuss all the glorious details... but guess what? Not everyone cares about the details! Or you may like to keep your slides to 3 simple, high-level bullets—but a key decision-maker needs to get comfortable with the data and analysis to sign off on your proposal. It’s not about you! You need to think about your audience’s needs and preferences for receiving information—not yours in providing it—and give them what they want.

Misstep #2: Waiting too long to deliver the punchline.

First of all, your audience may choose to take a brief nap while you get to the point. But more importantly, you may miss your window to connect with a key decision-maker. Suppose you’ve got an hour slotted to pitch your strategy. You’ve diligently prepared a beautiful 20 page presentation. But 10 minutes into the meeting, two key decision-makers are called out unexpectedly. And you haven’t gotten to your “killer” slide on page 19, where you brilliantly tie everything together and lay out the new strategy! Get your key messages out right away.

Misstep #3: Pitching your story in the order in which you did the work, not the way it’s most easily understood and acted upon.

Let’s say you’re working to improve Product A’s position in the market, whose market share has dipped precipitously. To understand and then address this problem, you’ve interviewed customers, examined competitor offerings, and discussed recent manufacturing hiccups with suppliers. Rather than say, “here’s what I learned from customers, here’s what I learned from competitors, and here’s what I learned from suppliers,” try saying “here are the four things we need to do to improve Product A’s position going forward.” Then support each action with integrated findings from your customer, competitor, and supplier analysis.

Misstep #4: Being too wordy in your writing.

Now more than ever people are bombarded with information—from emails, texts, twitter, Facebook, newsfeeds, and on and on. Our attention spans have never been shorter. That 500-word e-mail you wrote might not be read. Keep it short.

This blog post originally appeared on the Harvard Extension School blog, the Spark.

Build persuasive business communication skills this March

In Ehrenreich’s Persuasive Business Communications program, you can learn how to develop a compelling story and inspire action.