Weird Persuasion
Taking Sales pitch tips from electioneering feels fraught with hazards.
Take the Democrat Party candidate in the 2016 US presidential campaign.
Hillary Clinton and her minders thought they'd gain from labelling their opponent's supporters 'deplorables'.
See how that turned out.
The same party eight years on, mid-way through 2024 suddenly switched their choice in the looming contest.
Yet an adaptation on the previously unsuccessful label quickly surfaced.
This time, their opponents are suddenly being widely denounced as 'weird'.
Who knows how this slight will affect the competing Trump-Vance ticket come November.
Yet it seems to be having its sticky moment in the spotlight.
One (opposing) commentator even described it as "professional grade persuasion";
"Weird" is professional grade persuasion, like "dark" was in 2016.
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) July 30, 2024
It did not come from normies sitting around and brainstorming.
Democrats needed a retreat from Hitler talk, because of the assassination attempt, but also a word that can keep people distracted from policy talk.… https://t.co/uqhBWiKXMf
I suppose personal attacks have become a central tenet in American politics.
It's as if this soul-over-substance is nowadays the vote campaign equivalent of our sizzle-over-sausage.
If you can't beat someone on actual policy, then smear their character.
Sticks and stones foregone as names are now what hurts you.
As well as the disparaging collective noun, slavishly repeated by all joined in support, there's the desire to regain control of the narrative.
Even when ultimately (perhaps) debunked, as the wistful saying goes, the ol' lie has well and truly raced around the world before any truth has even clasped its shoelaces.
This also touches on the concept of Silo Lies. Where people not only make taints up, but are wilfully neglectful of any proper fact check.
Many a solution sale bid can encounter such skulduggery.
Maybe (ludicrously) even seen by competition as 'ethical'. Pointing out fatal flaws in alternatives in the style of a FUD tactic (to spread Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt among prospect minds).
Your fresher option can be dismissed as 'unproven'. Your stable offering merely 'generic'. Your version of tailored actually 'unsuited'.
Yet my golden rule is never to slate competition. Then you have your compass. It is about your prospects needs, and the way you alone uniquely serve them.
After all, one of the tested themes of workplace psychology, is how to deal with the office gossip. If someone is always denigrating other people to you, imagine what horrors they say about you to others. In other words, such behaviour is a serious trust inhibiter.
In which context I also position those competitors who pitch what in effect are also such ad hominem attacks.
It may be old school. It might run counter to clickbait gurus. It could even go against what your boss is telling you.
But do not even mention your competition. Ever. Throughout the entirety of your bid.
As another saying goes, don't wrestle with a pig...
Try to remember, you're only focus really is your prospect needs and how you alone fit them.