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TOP : The Outwith Principle
The view from the other side.
"I explained it perfectly clearly but the idiots didn't understand."
No. It may have been clear to the speaker but it clearly wasn't clear to the audience! And that is not a failure on their part but on his. He was so focused on what he wanted to say that he didn't consider what they needed to hear. And, undeniably, he didn't make every effort required to make sure that they had got the message.
The responsibility for successful communication is always with the communicator.
To get any message across you have to start where the hearer is. You have to see how the world looks from his perspective. This requires some effort on your part to research and understand your prospective audience.
The objective is to get inside the other person's situation and, standing WITH them, to look OUT from there. Or, and this is very difficult but even more important, to get OUTSIDE your own situation and try to see how things appear to someone looking IN.
When you do, it is now his concerns and needs that are driving you, not the other way around. The focus is no longer on your need to sell your product or service but on the prospect's need for solutions to his problems.
The first staggering conclusion may be that he has no need at all to hear what you have to say. That realisation has done you a favour, leaving you free to move on and direct your effort more usefully somewhere else.
A fuller understanding of prospects' needs may reveal that what you are offering isn't really what they require. Although your first reaction will be frustration, you will very quickly realise that you are going to be much more successful if you can adapt and offer what people actually need.
If you work hard at this and are very lucky you may realise that there are a number of things that you unconsciously take for granted which simply are not obvious to people without experience of your product or service and therefore need explaining or highlighting.
Following The Outwith Principle will lead you to target those people who really want what you are selling. You are now talking with empathy about what they perceive as their problems and offering a solution. You are no longer outside, trying to break in and persuade them to buy: you are inside, with them, helping them meet their challenges.
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