Why Business People Speak Like Idiots by Brian Fugere & Chelsea Hardaway

Author:Brian Fugere & Chelsea Hardaway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Free Press

9

THE NON-SELL SELL

You’re sitting there in your La-Z-Boy recliner, Budweiser in hand, watching the Patriots trounce the Panthers, when the broadcasters announce they are cutting to a commercial. Four sponsorship logos and a slow-motion pan of the Gillette Stadium sign later, the game fades out and cuts to a man and a woman, relaxing in separate tubs, overlooking a seascape. (We’re always finding ourselves in that situation.) You’re not listening, because it’s an ad. And it’s another ad for erectile dysfunction, for crying out loud. The voiceover drones on about potential complications and side effects. Headache, upset stomach, nausea, blurred vision, dizziness, blah blah blah. And then, just as you’re about to start channel surfing:

Men who experience an erection for more than four hours should seek immediate medical attention . . .

Four hours?! You look around for a pen. Honey? Honey! The nachos fall from your lap to the floor, but you don’t care; you’re still looking for that damn pen. Finally. And on your hand you write your ticket out of that middle-age crisis: C-I-A-L-I-S.

• • •

To date, this is the greatest example of the non-sell sell that we have ever found. The FDA requires that these side effect disclaimers get tacked on at the end of every pharmaceutical announcement. And usually, the reality of the disclaimer undoes whatever positive impact the ad may have had.

But not this time, baby. If you’re going to need medical attention, this is the best reason you’ve heard.

The non-sell sell is persuasion in its most elegant form. It’s fundamentally about letting people make up their own mind without the usual duress of the blaring hard sell. And the disclaimer at the end of the Cialis ad allows us to draw our own conclusion: this drug will turn me into the human version of the Washington Monument.

The more we try to declare, assert, and proclaim, the more our listeners suspect we are up to something. The cynical shield goes up, and instead of accepting what we are saying, they start to question it. But if we allow them to come to their own conclusions, we have a better chance of getting them on our side. People just seem to like an idea better when they think it’s their own.

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