Head and Heart

Have you ever wondered what persuaded you to buy a particular product? Maybe it was those new pair of earphones you bought last week even though you have various pairs lying around your home. Did you buy it because the sales assistant was cute? Probably not. Chances are, they presented an excellent sales pitch to you. Perhaps, they even made an appeal to your head and heart. But what exactly do we mean by "your head and heart"?

An appeal to the head is done through the presentation of knowledge and logic. This may come in the form of facts, statistics and graphs. On the other hand, an appeal to the heart made through an emotional connection. Storytelling and a call to action are often used.

Now, going back to our cute sales assistant. Maybe they started off by informing you of the features and benefits of these earphones. Portable, noise-cancelling, stylish. Yet that was insufficient in convincing you to make the purchase. Thus, they moved on to sharing why you personally needed the product. These earphones would revolutionise your life and provide you with the perfect auditory experience. Whether it be during study, travel or workouts, these portable gadgets would provide amazing sound clarity and were ergonomically perfect. Bam, you were hooked.

In the same way, we should always consider how we can appeal to the heads and hearts of individuals. Why should people believe you and why should they care? If we can answer these two questions for anyone (whether it be in a presentation or day-to-day conversation), then we’ve paved the way for them to come on board with us and take up our point of contention or call to action.

Some excellent strategies to be used are:

Use statistics, graphs, figures

Structure your presentation in an ordered manner e.g. Cause-Effect-Solution

Features and benefits

Use personal, individualistic stories

Mention people and show faces - humanise the issue

Utilise emotive language

Explain the consequences of not agreeing with what you have to say

Remember, the aforementioned tips are only a starting point. You are the creator of your own presentation. How will you appeal to your diverse audience?

Audilia Sujana