What happens when the facts aren’t in your favor? Maybe your competitors have facts that support their position as well as your facts support your position. Or perhaps your position is weak. Can you redefine the issue in your favor?
Yesterday I was listening to a segment on the news about an immigration rally in Washington. The reporter interviewed people on questions about policy, enforcement, and economics. Some of those interviewed used facts to argue for stricter limits on immigration. Others used different facts to argue for immigration rights and reforms.
At one point I heard an immigration advocate say “This isn’t about immigration policy, this is about America’s future. It’s about adding $1.2 trillion to our economy.”
What did she do? Both sides in the debate used facts against each other. In order to get a better grip on the argument, she redefined the issue. She defined her side in terms that contrasted with her opponents and attached immigration reform to something most people view as positive, America’s economic growth.
What’s more she didn’t trash-talk or discredit her opponents. She found a commonplace phrase that summed up something most people believe in, America’s future.
Redefining an argument works in business too. Let’s say you are a small company competing for business against a much larger competitor. Your larger competitor will probably frame the argument to emphasize the importance of which company has been in business the longest, has the most resources, and is the most stable. These arguments favor a large company.
It will be difficult for the small company to respond to these arguments. An alternative is to make their positive words seem like negatives. The small company can present its small size as a strength, as the company that is flexible, more responsive to customer needs, more personal in its service.
You haven’t actually called the large company a lumbering dinosaur whose large bureaucracy will be inflexible and unresponsive. You simply redefined your small size as a strength and can leave your potential client to draw the obvious conclusion.
What is the best way to re-frame the argument? Use the commonplace words of your audience that carry a lot of emotional weight. Listen to the expressions that your potential customer uses. Identify the primary persuasive words. Use these words to define the issue in your favor.
It they talk about teamwork or innovation or being more aggressive, describe how your small size will allow you to:
- work closely with them as a team or
- enable rapid innovation or
- move more aggressively.
You don’t have to be a small company going up against a big one to define the terms in your favor. Anytime the facts are against you, redefine the argument in terms that work for you and that discredit your opponent.
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About David Crankshaw