Frame Sales Information as Training Information
Your deck shouldn't be a “sales” presentation meant to persuade.
Overview
Humans experience psychological reactance.
If they believe that someone is trying to influence their behavior, they resist (Brehm, 1966).
Be careful with any slideshow or formal presentation. Once they see your slides, your counterparts will think: Hmm, okay. These slides are meant to persuade me.
Whoops — they will now resist anything you say (DeCarlo, 2005).
How can you prevent this harmful mindset? Simply reframe your slides by saying: Yeah, I’ll show you. We have a slide deck for new employees. It has information about our company.
It’s the same presentation, yet this subtle framing bypasses reactance because it’s no longer a “sales” presentation. These slides were designed for new employees.
- Brehm, J. W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance.
- DeCarlo, T. E. (2005). The effects of sales message and suspicion of ulterior motives on salesperson evaluation. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(3), 238-249.