1: We have three minutes.
“Every time we make a pitch, presentation, or proposal to try to influence anyone to do anything, our audience’s first impression will be fully formed in less than three minutes,” Brant Pinvidic writes in his book The 3-Minute Rule: Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation.
“That yes or no is already in their heads,” he writes. “It’s not our fault. That’s just how people are.”
The human attention span has been declining for decades. According to a recent Microsoft study, the average human attention span is now 8.2 seconds.
A goldfish is at 9 seconds.
Have we become brainless, distracted zombies?
“It’s actually just the opposite,” Brant writes. “In fact, people today focus more intensely and efficiently.
“The proliferation of technology and the ability to get unlimited information instantly have created hypersavvy consumers. We have zero tolerance for long-winded explanations, exhaustive chatter, or linguistic sales tactics.”
What do audiences want?
Information. And they want it to be logical, fast, and efficient.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re presenting to the board of directors of a major research hospital or the PTA at the local high school,” Brant observes. “This reality will be smacking us right in the face.”
2: To be successful, we must capture and maintain our audience’s focus long enough so they can make an initial decision.
We have about three minutes.
“Three minutes is not just a time frame to condense our information; it’s based on the science of approach motivation, the study of why consumers are driven to engage,” he notes. “The science says, if you can maintain their focus, you can create their desire. You need three minutes.
Yesterday, we looked at the approach Brant used to sell the “wildly complicated, probably way too expensive, had never been done before” TV show Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition to ABC. The show became one of the highest-rated summer reality series in network history.
He calls his framework “The 3-Minute Rule.”
“In the first three minutes,” Brant writes, “we need to vividly illustrate the most valuable elements of our proposal, capture and maintain our audience’s attention, and—most important—create engagement.
“Everything of value about our companies, ideas, products, or services can and must be conveyed clearly, concisely, and accurately in three minutes or less,” Brant writes.
3: Our goal is to differentiate between what we want to say (which is usually far too much information) from what we need to say.
Brant has created a simple but powerful process that revolves around four specific questions. Which he calls the WHAC method:
1: What is it?
2: How does it work?
3: Are you sure?
4: Can you do it?
“It is very simple, but very effective,” he writes. “By using these four questions to filter your information, we can unlock a powerful storytelling technique that will help lead our audience to the conclusion we want, every time.”
More tomorrow!
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Reflection: How long is the typical sales presentation at my organization? What lessons can I learn from Brant’s 3-Minute Rule?
Action: Discuss with my team or with a colleague.
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