Episode transcript:

M.K.:
Today we’re going to try to map a theory onto another theory or another one structure on to another structure, and we’ll explain in a second what that structure is. Alper is going to explain what that structure is. I just want to make very clear that the first structure belongs to this guy. Blair ends and he is a sales coach for Alper.

M.K.:
He’s a sales coach for creative agencies. Is that correct?

A.R.:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s a training company for aimed at a creative agencies.

M.K.:
Okay, So, so Blair ends. He runs a training company for creative agencies, and Alper and I are both big fans of his. Alber knows more, which is why he’s going to explain the theory. But this all started out because we were wondering, okay, well, Blair, in theory, it’s in a completely different subject matter. It’s used for a completely different thing.

M.K.:
But we were wondering, could you use this for presentations, too? So, Alper, can you explain a little bit more about who is this Blair End guy and what is this theory of the sales cycle that he’s talking about?

A.R.:
Yeah, actually, he’s someone that I have been following almost on the religious level for the past, I don’t know, five or six more than seven years. And there is this book that he wrote many years ago which became like a Bible in the in the in the creative advertising business. But it’s not I think it’s totally not limited to that area.

A.R.:
I think it’s is relevant to any sales or or similar process. And it’s called win without pitching. So if if, if there’s someone in our audience who haven’t read it yet, I strongly recommend and the ideas in this book are to me are so fundamental that it has literally changed the way the way I do business and is is a book is not a very long book.

A.R.:
By the way. There are, I think, 12 proclamations in there in there because the title is When You were Pitching Manifesto. So it’s a manifesto of 12 Things.

M.K.:
Yeah, Yeah.

A.R.:
That we shall do, we shall not do or something like that. And I just give this book a read every month, every two months or something like that. So I don’t remember the number of times that I have actually read it in this, in this book. One of the ideas that I that resonated with me the most is the idea that the idea against trying to persuade or or convince people into getting people into forcing people into doing things and I think is is very relevant to the way we structure a presentation and and we decide what to talk about in that presentation.

A.R.:
And you specifically asked me about this this this three step process.

M.K.:
And you know what he said.

A.R.:
As I remember Yeah, it’s it’s talking about this three step process relating to selling. But I think it’s completely relevant to the way we we structure presentations to basic the first step is to to help the unaware. And I have my notes from the book here, so I’m using the words from the book. The second step is inspired, interested, and the third step is to reassure those who have formed intent.

A.R.:
Okay. And I think it’s a it’s a magnificent way of summarizing the journey That’s a potential client, or in our case, an audience member of a presentation. A goes through.

M.K.:
So he has this is a sales cycle that he’s describing. And you know, there are three steps and you said that the first step was help the unaware. The second step was to help the unaware.

A.R.:
Yeah, yeah.

M.K.:
Help the unaware. And the second step is inspire the interested. And the third step is reassure those who have formed intent. Is that correct?

A.R.:
Yeah. Okay. And I’m imagining this as I mean, when I read this immediately I picture on my mind a funnel, let’s say on the top, and there is 100. There’s there is a group of people, let’s say 100 people that you’re speaking to and as you speak, some of them gets dropped and then you end up with, let’s say, 50 interest interested people.

A.R.:
Now your job becomes to inspire them. Okay? And then maybe half of them drop again and you end up with 25 people who have formed intent. But before taking this step, before actually starting acting the way you would like them to do, they want reassurances from you. And I think throughout this cycle, your your role as the speaker changes from informing to reassuring.

A.R.:
So and and I like I like the idea of that.

M.K.:
When you’re reassuring these people, what kind of reassurance do people need today or does this mean they need to be reassured or that you have the professional chops to take them there? Or are they being reassured about your idea or what are they being reassured about?

A.R.:
Oh, that’s a good question. I think it depends on the environment that we’re talking about. Presentations, right?

M.K.:
Yeah, Yeah.

A.R.:
I think I think it depends on on the environment that you’re doing it environment as in who is forming your audience. For example, are you a startup pitching to investors or are you a marketing manager asking for additional budget to implement other things like making a presentation to the board or something? I think I think it depends on who you’re talking to.

A.R.:
Mhm.

M.K.:
So you think this structure a couple a couple weeks ago we talked about another structure, the boy meets girl structure and that one was Yeah. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. So there were three legs to the structure. Do you think this Blair ends one can be used. I mean we know that Blair in is saying, hey, people use this for the sales cycle.

M.K.:
What are your thoughts on using it for structuring a presentation? Can this also be used to structure a presentation.

A.R.:
Here in this one from the from the manifesto that I talked about? Yeah.

M.K.:
These three steps, can this be used as a three step structure for a presentation?

A.R.:
Well, I, I certainly think it can be used. And again from the top of my head, I imagine, for example, an investment pitch that a startup is making. Let’s say you’re going to talk in a in a in an event where you that you will be sharing the stage with them more projects. Okay. And there’s a group of investors sitting in front of you.

A.R.:
They have never heard about your project before. They have not even heard about your name before, let alone your project. And you have a couple of minutes, like three or 4 minutes to teach your project to them. Okay. And in the end, ideally, you would arouse enough interest in them to want to take the next step with you.

A.R.:
But in this regard, I think it’s completely applicable because what you’re going to do, first of all, those people are unaware of your project for yourself. So you, you make them aware of who you are, so you put yourself on their radar as part of the presentation. That’s part of the pitch. Okay, Then what you will need to do is actually, if there are people interested in your audience, you will need to inspire them to to, to, to keep the conversation with you.

A.R.:
And of course, before the end of the pitch, you will need to give them assurances or reassure them as as it is written in this book, as to why it could be a good idea to take the next steps or at least have the conversation going. Okay, so from the eyes of the audience, when you think about it, one, they’re unaware and so you make them aware in unaware which perfect the first, the second one is inspired, the interested ones who show interest.

A.R.:
And the third one is when they move to the next stage, which is which is maybe showing some intent. You reassure you, you reassure them to to take the next step.

M.K.:
So we’ve got we’ve got two potential presentation structures here. One is boy meets girl, another is this blurring. Yeah. So now I’m wondering when would you use one as opposed to when you would use the other? What are your thoughts on that?

A.R.:
I think I think Boy Meets Girl is a beautiful structure to use when you’re facing, let’s say, a certain situation and certain problem. And when both parties I mean the person doing the president delivering the presentation and the audience are already familiar with a they already have a common ground. They’re all that are familiar with the topic. Okay.

A.R.:
I don’t think you would use it in a setting where the audience have APS has absolutely no idea about what you’re going to talk.

M.K.:
So like, but.

A.R.:
The other one which starts with helping Don aware. Yeah, go ahead also.

M.K.:
So go example. If I’m a let’s say that I’m a marketing manager in and I’m talking to my boss or my boss’s boss or whatever, another marketing manager. So maybe in that case, Boy meets girl would work better for me there because everybody in the room is home.

A.R.:
I think so, yeah.

M.K.:
More familiar with what I’m talking about. But if I’m talking about if I’m talking to, for example, a software engineer who might work in a completely different part of the building we’ve never met before, he might not even know about my project. Then maybe I want to use this Blair and structure because my audience then I need to.

M.K.:
I need to help them. I need to help the unaware. I need to stir up their awareness. And then I guess I need I need to after I catch their interest, then I need to inspire them to take action.

A.R.:
So yes. Okay.

M.K.:
So so one so boy meets girl works well for audiences who kind of already know what you’re talking about. And this Blair and structure is for people who don’t.

A.R.:
Yeah, and I particularly like this word help in the first item. It doesn’t say, for example, make them aware of your project or inform them about your project. It says Help to unaware. And then my and my understanding of this is if if I am a member of the audience that you’re speaking to and I have absolutely no idea what you’re going to tell me or what you’re going to talk about, then you actually need to help me become aware of the topic or the problem or whatever it is that you will be talking.

A.R.:
You cannot just throw information at me and expect me to digest that and do my own work of trying to understand what you’re talking about. No, you actually need to help me get get to that point. So that’s why I particularly like how it is phrased in this book.

M.K.:
So we’re we’re running out of time. But I’ve got one more question for you. So let’s say that we’re I’m an entrepreneur and I sell oranges. I I’m an entrepreneurial orange seller man.

A.R.:
Our fixation with oranges. How about you sell them in Barcelona?

M.K.:
Okay, There you go. Okay, so I’m an entrepreneurial orange seller in Barcelona, and I’m trying to raise money for my orange selling startup. So you’re saying that, okay, I’ve got these investors sitting in front of me, and even though they know a lot about investing, I need to help them become aware about orange problem that I’m solving. Is that correct?

A.R.:
I think so, because unless the event is titled Orange Symposium in Barcelona or something like that, they will have absolutely no idea about your project, your business model, what it is. So I think you will need to actually help them become aware of the orange situation, which I don’t think is the case, but it’s so yeah.

M.K.:
Okay. So we’re about to wrap up for today. So before we go outwards, is there anything else that you wanted to add about this, this, this potential structure here?

A.R.:
Well, other than the fact that I couldn’t recommend this book higher or stronger, I urge people to take a look at it. I think I think the website is one without pitching dot com and they can they can they can go there and and see the book.

M.K.:
Yeah we’re both huge fans of that book. I think Alper reads it. What do you say? Alper You read it like you reread it every couple, two or three months or something like that and.

A.R.:
Much more frequent than that. I take a look at the book at least at least once a week.

M.K.:
Excellent. Well, so I’m a big fan. I’m not that big a fan. I haven’t read the book in a while, but it’s an excellent book and I second Alper’s recommendation. If you haven’t read this book yet, then you should definitely check it out. So any way that that wraps it up for today and thank you very much, Alper.

A.R.:
Thank you.

M.K.:
We’ll see you guys next week.

A.R.:
All right. I’ll talk to you later.