How to Influence People, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 1Tool number 1: breaking down the e-wall

Clients are busier than they have ever been before. The easiest way for them to decipher and consider your proposal is when it has been in writing and sent via email. In this way, they are the ones who are in the box seat, able to read and consider the proposal in their time. They are able to compare your proposal to other written proposals, shift around the priority of the proposal depending on their workload, and all of this without your being able to exert your power of influence.

This is because the digital age has created a virtual electronic wall, the e-wall, which our clients can now hide behind. The pattern of communication has become less about face-to-face interaction, and it is acceptable to do business via email.

The e-pong timeline

This is a typical interaction for a proposal that is emailed in the new reality. It is a game that I call e-pong! You have researched, found your decision maker and sharpened your angle to win the business.

• You make a call. The decision maker is pleased to hear from you, but he or she is busy. They ask you to put your proposal in writing and send it to them for review, via email (one week).
• You send your proposal via email.
• The decision maker responds that he or she has received your proposal and will review in due course and respond via email (two weeks).
• You follow up via email in a couple of weeks after hearing nothing back (four weeks).
• Your decision maker is busy and distracted ...