Skill Master | Teach You to Persuade Someone in 30 Seconds

The McKinsey Way is a classic book that introduces many classic management concepts and methods from McKinsey. Today, we share three of them; you might want to try them out.

Elevator Test

This method is often used to test whether you understand your proposal well enough. That is, your summarized proposal should be explainable to a client or boss within the 30 seconds of an elevator ride. In fact, we often encounter a problem: the entire team spends a lot of time carefully preparing one or even several alternative proposals, hoping that the boss or client will listen patiently.

But the actual situation is often that the other party walks in hurriedly, says they have other important matters to handle, and asks if you can go down in the elevator together and briefly explain. At this point, most people's first reaction is: I have prepared dozens of pages of PPT, how can I present it perfectly in such a short time?

In fact, McKinsey, through long-term management consulting practice, has concluded: As long as you know the topic well enough, 30 seconds is sufficient. Moreover, if you can really explain your proposal clearly within 30 seconds, the other party will be impressed, and your chances of success will be higher.

How can you achieve this? McKinsey says you only need to pay attention to three aspects:

First, be thoroughly familiar with the key points, selling points, and features of your proposal, and organize a clear expression thread. Because expression reflects your thinking process. Only with clear thinking can you speak clearly.

Second, keep your language concise. Many people lack this skill; before they even speak, they think a sentence or two cannot explain clearly. At this point, we need to practice more, develop the habit of speaking concisely, so that anyone listening can understand immediately without explanation.

Finally, highlight the key points. Start from the problem you need to solve, focus on the three most important aspects, and leave supporting or explanatory materials for later communication.

Later, many companies applied this elevator test in their management, because through this method, companies can check whether employees use their time effectively and whether managers grasp the key points of work.

How to Avoid the Effects of Diminishing Marginal Utility

We all know diminishing marginal utility: after a certain point, the return from your efforts becomes smaller and smaller. Many people have the habit of pursuing perfection, over-attending to details, or even being overly critical. For example, a meeting is about to start, and you need to give a presentation. At the last second before starting, you are still checking your script, suddenly find a typo, and rush to correct it. But in reality, this effort is completely unhelpful; it not only gives the speaker and even the attendees a sense of anxiety, but also makes others feel your extreme lack of confidence.

What is McKinsey's suggestion? Set a cutoff point before the meeting, such as 24 hours. That is, prepare all materials 24 hours before the meeting starts. Once the 24-hour cutoff point arrives, end all preparation work, and even corrections are not allowed. Then, only do rehearsal work, or simply rest. Even if the leader asks you to modify, you should resist as much as possible, and do not let positive efforts turn into bad outcomes.

Columbo Strategy

Columbo is the name of a detective in a TV series, particularly good at interrogating suspects. This strategy teaches you how to extract the information you want from others. Generally, when we communicate with others, especially when we need information, we are very serious and formal, asking every detail for fear of missing something. But the "Columbo Strategy" says that this may not achieve the ideal effect; sometimes it is necessary to play hard to get.

The book gives an example from Inspector Columbo himself. Every time he interrogated a suspect, when he asked many detailed questions but still couldn't get an answer, he would stop asking. What did he do? He stood up casually, picked up his coat, and walked toward the door. When he reached the door, he suddenly turned around and said leisurely to the suspect: "Sorry, ma'am, there's one thing I forgot to ask." At this point, generally, the other party would give a satisfactory answer. Because she thought the formal communication was over, she relaxed, and whatever was asked casually, she would tell the truth.

We can also use this method. For example, two or three days after a conversation, create a chance encounter, then say to the other party: "I suddenly remembered a question to ask you. What's the story?" Perhaps you will get unexpected gains.

Now that you know these three methods, why not practice them in your work? If they work, share them with friends around you, and let's improve together. Yeah!

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