Always, Always Always Start with your Conclusion
You should always start with your conclusion because it drives greater reaction and faster action.
“Today I’ll show you why X is Y.”
“At the end of this meeting, you will understand why A = B.”
“You should buy my services because I’m one of the best digital marketers in Australia.” (Hint).
Now, I was tempted to go on a long diatribe of reasons why before concluding with the above. But the simple truth of the matter is that time is precious, people don’t want to wait, ta-dah reveals tend to be more of a damp squib, and frankly, people get bored before you get to the conclusion and start to wonder what’s for lunch / dinner.
- If people agree with your conclusion, then they spend the time finding reasons to re-assure themselves of their brilliance and that reflects well on you.
- If they are unsure about your conclusion, they will tend to listen closely to your arguments with you already having planted the obvious conclusion in their mind.
- If they disagree with your conclusion, then some will turn off, others will want you to prove them wrong, which you may do.
So, out of three possible outcomes, two are very beneficial to you, and some of the other one may also be beneficial. The only segment which is not beneficial to you is the one which is least likely to have agreed with you anyway. So you have lost very little.
That is why you should always start with your conclusion. It’s quicker and more certain. Accept no other arguments.
PS – contact me and I’ll tell you what you should do first up.