What’s Your Point?…Get to It!

There is plenty of time in any communication to expand on your thoughts. Getting to your point sooner allows you to engage and retain the attention of your listeners or readers. This allows you to measure their interest in continuing either by body language or some type of audible signal if you are on a call. The audible sigh is bad, but the click of the phone is the worse.

Many of us engage our listeners and readers in long drawn out communications where both parties struggle to get back on point or often miss completely. Providing an early, “What’s in it for them?” moment not only raises interest levels but increases awareness in the next thing one has to say. Waiting to the end of the communication to show them value simply weakens our position as communicators.

Imagine you are in an interview and being asked the common question, “What was your greatest accomplishment in your last position?”

There are two tracks you can take. One is to tell the whole story and then add the measurable result. It becomes a great story but just that, a story. Now imagine positioning that answer with the result first which you believe could be repeated or expanded upon for your potential new employer, and then telling the story of how it happened.

Let’s try an example with a candidate who was just asked that question.

“We built a new widget that accurately measures the heart rate of our listeners allowing us to tell when they were at the perfect closing point. Our closing rates increased 53% within a few short months. It is repeatable and I believe it could help drive additional business for you. Here’s how we got there…”

In this example we got to the point quickly, provided a, “What’s in it for you?” moment, and still got to tell the how it happened story to what would be a more willing set of ears.

Getting to your point early provides a platform to build on, not a climatic finish with no where to go.

Try it and let me know how it works. Hard to perfect, but worth the effort.