Does this blueprint apply to outside market research suppliers presenting to manufacturers, or is their job just to supply data?

Hendricks says the blueprint applies regardless of context. Even when a supplier is delivering data, she wants them to tell a story and give her something that makes her want to dig deeper. That storytelling approach also helps her bring the findings back to her internal teams.

When telling a story, do you answer anticipated questions during the presentation, or wait and let the audience ask?

It depends on the audience. If the decision-maker tends to ask questions as they arise, let them. Questions during the story signal engagement. She will redirect execution-focused questions to the end, but does not shut down questions mid-story if the audience is clearly involved.

What tools do you use to make sure you are using the appropriate data points in your story?

She uses word clouds (like Wordle) for open-end text, Power BI to overlay charts and graphs with qualitative quotes, and video clips from interviews or social media research. The goal in each case is to combine quantitative and qualitative material rather than present them separately.

How do you check that your story stays simple and does not tip into data overload?

She tests it on someone outside the work first, including sometimes a household member who is not in the industry. If they can follow it and it makes sense to them, it is likely simple enough. The decision-maker's context then guides how much supporting data to layer in.

How do you teach younger researchers the art of storytelling?

She has younger researchers bring an insight they are excited about and then works through how to tell the story around it, essentially treating it as a case study. They practice in front of peers or a mentor before presenting to a business team. The same approach is used with interns.

Can you give more examples of being provocative in a presentation?

The low-income immersion exercise (having senior leaders live on a limited income for 14 days) was one example. Another: her team was almost ready to lock on an innovation direction when consumer data suggested they should pause and pivot. Coming in to ask for more time and more money rather than a green light required showing leadership what the downside risk of the original path looked like. That framing made the ask feel responsible rather than obstructionist.

How do you handle multiple decision-makers with different personality types and expectations?

She focuses on identifying the single person who truly owns the decision and the two or three people whose input that person genuinely weighs. Then she makes sure something in the presentation speaks to each of those people. Getting that subset aligned is usually enough to move a decision forward without trying to win over every person in the room.

Do you do a lot of legwork with influencer groups before reaching the main decision-maker?

Less than you might expect. She finds that running too many pre-meetings is time-consuming and often less productive than doing thorough internal preparation. Knowing the audience well enough up front is a more efficient use of time than a series of briefings before the main meeting.

Influencing with Insights: Getting People to Act

Naja Hendricks, an analytics and insights leader at Procter & Gamble, walks through a practical blueprint for turning research findings into decisions. She covers how to align recommendations with business goals, craft compelling consumer stories, and remove friction so decision-makers can say yes. The talk draws on real P&G examples, including a low-income consumer immersion exercise and a long-running strategy that took years to land.

Key Takeaways

Make it their idea: the most durable form of influence is guiding decision-makers to a conclusion they feel they reached themselves, rather than demanding or hoping they act.
Know your audience before you build your content: understand the decision-maker's goals, metrics, pet peeves, and what has been rejected before, so you can frame your recommendation to fit their context.
Create a sense of urgency by showing the opportunity cost: explicitly naming what happens if the recommendation is not taken is more motivating than presenting benefits alone.
Tell a specific consumer story: a named individual with real challenges (like contractor Steve) gives leaders something concrete to empathize with and remember, more than aggregate data alone.
Make the yes easy: think through pros, cons, execution feasibility, and resource needs before the room, so the decision-maker sees a clear, low-risk path forward.
Persistence matters: major decisions often require the same message delivered multiple times and in different ways before it lands. Timing is a real variable, not a failure of the pitch.

Questions & Answers

Does this blueprint apply to outside market research suppliers presenting to manufacturers, or is their job just to supply data?: Hendricks says the blueprint applies regardless of context. Even when a supplier is delivering data, she wants them to tell a story and give her something that makes her want to dig deeper. That storytelling approach also helps her bring the findings back to her internal teams.
When telling a story, do you answer anticipated questions during the presentation, or wait and let the audience ask?: It depends on the audience. If the decision-maker tends to ask questions as they arise, let them. Questions during the story signal engagement. She will redirect execution-focused questions to the end, but does not shut down questions mid-story if the audience is clearly involved.
What tools do you use to make sure you are using the appropriate data points in your story?: She uses word clouds (like Wordle) for open-end text, Power BI to overlay charts and graphs with qualitative quotes, and video clips from interviews or social media research. The goal in each case is to combine quantitative and qualitative material rather than present them separately.
How do you check that your story stays simple and does not tip into data overload?: She tests it on someone outside the work first, including sometimes a household member who is not in the industry. If they can follow it and it makes sense to them, it is likely simple enough. The decision-maker's context then guides how much supporting data to layer in.
How do you teach younger researchers the art of storytelling?: She has younger researchers bring an insight they are excited about and then works through how to tell the story around it, essentially treating it as a case study. They practice in front of peers or a mentor before presenting to a business team. The same approach is used with interns.
Can you give more examples of being provocative in a presentation?: The low-income immersion exercise (having senior leaders live on a limited income for 14 days) was one example. Another: her team was almost ready to lock on an innovation direction when consumer data suggested they should pause and pivot. Coming in to ask for more time and more money rather than a green light required showing leadership what the downside risk of the original path looked like. That framing made the ask feel responsible rather than obstructionist.
How do you handle multiple decision-makers with different personality types and expectations?: She focuses on identifying the single person who truly owns the decision and the two or three people whose input that person genuinely weighs. Then she makes sure something in the presentation speaks to each of those people. Getting that subset aligned is usually enough to move a decision forward without trying to win over every person in the room.
Do you do a lot of legwork with influencer groups before reaching the main decision-maker?: Less than you might expect. She finds that running too many pre-meetings is time-consuming and often less productive than doing thorough internal preparation. Knowing the audience well enough up front is a more efficient use of time than a series of briefings before the main meeting.

Session Notes

Starting Point: What Does an Insights Professional Actually Do?

Naja Hendricks opens with a direct answer to that question: she tells stories that get people to act. The framing matters because it separates two things that often get conflated. Telling the story is the craft. Getting people to act is the outcome you are paid for. A presentation can go well and still produce nothing.

I gave the presentation, I felt like it went well, people were engaged... the leader gave kudos... and then I walked out with a big smile on my face. And then my manager said, 'Great, so what did they agree to do?' And I was like... crickets.

That experience, early in her career, shaped her entire approach: applause in the room is not success. Action is success.

The Two Core Principles

Before walking through her blueprint, Hendricks flags two ideas she wants attendees to retain above everything else.

Make it their idea. True influence means guiding decision-makers to a conclusion they feel they reached with you, or even on their own. Giving them space and input into the recommendation increases buy-in and lowers resistance.
Master the art of storytelling. Data alone does not move people. A story that makes decision-makers feel connected to the consumer creates the emotional conditions for action.

The Blueprint: Three Areas

1. Align with the Business Goal

This section is about preparation before you build a single slide.

Know the decision-maker's short and long-term goals, and what metrics they are evaluated against.
Understand any personal goals they have, for example a stated desire to be closer to the consumer.
Research what has and has not worked with that person before. If you have not presented to them, ask colleagues who have.
Strategically position your recommendation to play a specific, defined role within their broader objectives. You do not need to solve everything. Clarity about what your idea does and does not do is an asset.
Create a sense of urgency. Things that sit on a desk get displaced by whatever feels more pressing. Surface the opportunity cost of inaction, get attention early with interactive or provocative framing, and do not default to the status quo if something bolder is warranted.

2. Tell the Story

Storytelling is how you make an insight feel real to people who were not in the research. Hendricks describes three approaches she has used at P&G.

Use a named individual. For a home-improvement project, she built a presentation around a real contractor named Steve, walking leadership through a day in his life on the jobsite. The detail made the team feel they had been there.
Build empathy through immersion. For work on low-income consumers, the team had senior leaders complete a Harvard Business simulation of living on a limited income for 30 days, with unexpected bills and forced trade-offs. They also had those leaders live on a limited income for 14 days. The goal was to help a corporate audience genuinely understand the choices their target consumer faces, not just read about them.
Use your own experience. Showing up as a consumer yourself, even as an end of one, gives people a human anchor for the recommendation.

On structure: a story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. Do not start in the middle. Use charts, graphs, video clips, and tools like word clouds to reinforce the verbal narrative. Confidence in delivery signals that you know your material, which matters as much as the content itself.

On credentialing: before sharing findings, briefly establish the rigor behind them. Citing the depth of research and quality of sources signals to decision-makers that your recommendation is sound before you make it.

3. Make It Easy to Say Yes

Even a compelling story can stall if the path forward feels murky or risky. This section is about removing that friction.

Think through the pros and cons of your recommendation before entering the room, and address likely objections within the presentation or be ready to address them in discussion.
Have an execution plan. If people cannot see how the idea gets done, hesitation fills the gap.
Address resource questions: who pays for it, who owns it, and whether it can be phased.
Anticipate questions from every stakeholder in the room, not just the lead decision-maker. Write down how you will respond to likely questions so you are not caught off guard.

On Multiple Decision-Makers

When presenting to a group, there is typically one person who holds real accountability and one or two others whose opinions carry weight with that person. Hendricks recommends identifying who those two or three influencers are and making sure something in the presentation speaks directly to each of them. Getting 80 percent of the room is usually enough to move a decision forward.

She also notes that doing extensive pre-meetings before the main meeting can consume time that would be better spent on preparation. Knowing the audience well enough to prepare thoroughly is often more efficient than running a circuit of individual briefings.

When the Answer Is Not Yes Yet

Hendricks is direct: not getting a yes in the room does not mean the recommendation was wrong. Big decisions often require the same message delivered multiple times, sometimes up to seven, before decision-makers fully internalize it.

Eventually the customers started speaking the strategy back to us. And I was like, oh, they get it. They just needed to hear it and get to the right point in time where it made sense.

Her advice: keep the core message consistent, vary how you bring it to life, and recognize that timing is a real variable. Sustained belief in a well-grounded recommendation, combined with continued engagement, is how long-term influence works.

Transcript

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oh I'd like to welcome everybody back it is news and we're gonna get started my name is Billy Siva my name is Billy's feedback with accelerate research I'm a student senior strategist for those of you who listen to Karen welcome back for those of you are just joining us now thank you so much we appreciate your time and you are in store for a wonderful afternoon of learning just a few things so let's see I'm going to turn this on now let's talk about tech which first night my first objective is actually to get this on okay let's see okay you should be able to see that now so again welcome to the 2020 quarantine virtual insights conference hosted by accelerant research and again my name is Billy Spivak I'm a senior strategist at accelerant we appreciate your time we're going to go ahead and jump right in because we have a an hours full of great content for you so just a couple of things I think most of us have been using some form of remote learning or remote working platforms for the last couple of weeks as we work from home so we all know that we're at the mercy of tech we're joining some of you are joining us with zoom today others are live-streaming and as we know this can be a somewhat unpredictable platform especially as so many of us across the United States are trying to take advantage of it to keep connected and to keep learning and so we'll do our best but there might be glitches here and there so thank you so very much for being patient with that just a few things to notice that we will be taping but we recording all of the presentations and we will be posting those up later for you so if you're not able to attend some of them throughout the day just go ahead and check in with us and we will have those up for you as well just obviously we're all professionals so be respectful of you know everyone is giving up their time both as attending such as yourself as well as our presenters acknowledge it today so you know just be constructed with your input and your feedback we will be doing QA for those of you who are on zoom' you have the ability to ask questions in the chat feature and we really encourage you to do so at the end of her talk Naja will be addressing your questions so thank you so much for that and then also in addition to learning this is a great opportunity for us to forge relationships as marketers and researchers and so in addition to doing the Q&A section you can also use the hashtag QV I see 20/20 on Twitter and go ahead and we encourage you to post your thoughts and at the end of this we're also at the end of this speaker we're also encouraging you to go on and talk to us about how your company sells insights internally and to give us some of your thoughts and ideas as well so without further ado we're gonna go ahead and jump in it's my honor to present Naja Hendricks who is analytics and insights for Proctor and Gamble she's going to be talking about talking to us today about influencing with insights and getting people to act not so welcome hi thank you for having me great I'm gonna go ahead and stop sharing and allow you to go ahead and put your presentation up all right all right everybody see that next we can see it fantastic alright let's go ahead and get started so thank you for the great introduction I mean I'm not a hindrance I my day job is that I work in analytics and insights at Procter & Gamble my day night and everything in between job is that I am a wife mama for and so that is the 24 hour job that happens at the same time I am going to be talking about influencing with insights and getting people to act but I love to always start with just a little bit about me whenever I hear other folks talk I want to learn a little bit more about who they are and how they approach life and how they think about things and it really helps me to then take in what they share moving forward with the presentation so I thought I would do the same thing with you guys today so you see a couple of these pictures up here of my family my husband have four kids they are 16 nine five and we have one about to turn three in just a few weeks so our house is full and especially as most of you are kind of learning how to do the work from home teach from home and all of that as well we are doing the same so that's a little bit about my family I am originally from Charlotte North Carolina it's also where I live now beautiful Queen City I am an alum of Hampton University which is a private HBCU in Hampton Virginia I have an undergraduate degree in business administration and marketing and my MBA also from there in the bottom left you see that little gift box that is an image of a sampler from a company that I have with my mom and my sister we owned a gourmet candy company called southern sweets kitchen so we do Brittles and chocolates and all that kind of stuff and so that's a little side thing that we love using my mom's recipes that are about 40 years old and so now we've started to sell those been in business for about five years now if you're in the myers-briggs you can see my myers-briggs down there I am an ESTJ to the core everything in that the words in that head all describe me pretty much perfectly and then finally my kind of approach to life I'm actually one of the reasons why I wanted to do the talk today is this quote from Maya Angelou which is you know when you get give when you learn teach and so it's all about kind of an event paying it forward for all the folks that have invested in me and being able to do the same so I just thought it would be helpful to give you a little bit about kind of Who I am as we move into the rest of the talk about how do you take what you learn about how people consumers the marketplace and turn those insights into action so when we talk to folks that work in the insights industry you know there's lots of different ways to describe what it is that we do so some folks call it my research its consumer insights or consumer understanding it's data analytics there's lots of different ways to describe what it is that I do what it is that many of us do but when people ask me what do you do or what do you get paid to do and I tell them I tell stories they get people to act right I tell stories that get people to act and that's really important for me number one is because in order to get people to act you have to compel them to do something that's the stories piece of it and then really I'm compensated for my ability to get people to do something with what it is that I've shared and that's the act part of it so that's kind of the premise of this as I tell stories that get people to act in the way that I'd like to spend our time today is giving you a little bit of insight into number one what is it required to get people to act on the insight or the recommendation that you're bringing and then what's the best way to craft your story in order to deliver on that okay here's the thing about this though this axing how many of you have been in a situation and I'll just say it for me because I've done it where you have given an amazing presentation you had all the right data you had all the right consumer or marketplace insights that you shared and then nothing happens after you've shared all of it I mean I can think back to a time that I gave a presentation I spent weeks working on this presentation we had done a ton of research and I was ready to go share all of my findings with the lead team and I had a big recommendation that was going to ask them to spend some money in order to go after this big idea that I knew would benefit the company and so I gave the presentation I felt like it went well people were engaged at the end of it the leader the general manager at the time gave kudos about how great the presentation was and I walked out of the room with a big smile on my face like yep I did it I probably do a little dance on the way back to my desk as well and then afternoon had a meeting with my boss my manager was like hey how'd it go I'm like oh it was great I killed it and then he said great so what did they agree to do and I was like uh and there were crickets and I couldn't think of anything that they agreed to do in the meeting I thought well I gave them all the things to think about they probably need to go back and talk about what's feasible or what they can do and so I expect that they will make a decision you know by the end of the week the next day ask me again the next week asked me again and there still wasn't anything that happened after I had given what I felt like was an amazing presentation and so there was a big learning for me in that moment a teachable moment that said hey you can share as many things as you want and feel like that you've given the right story but ultimately we failed if we haven't gotten people to act or go do anything after we've given them all the information so who don't do anything we failed we really want to so then how do you actually get people to act you know how do you get them to take what you've shared really understand it internalize it feel compelled to go do something about it that's really what what we're going to talk about today when I think about that it really comes down to this whole idea of influence right and the art of influence this is Merriam Webster's dictionary definition of the word influence which says then to affect or alter by indirect or by intangible means and I love this indirect or intangible means thing because it says it's not just about demanding that someone go do something because of what you shared or even hoping that they might go do it which is what I did in the example that I gave a little earlier it really is about how do you craft it in our strategic in a way that your indirect or in tangible ways that you bring the story to life really allow them to what to go do it on their own there are two things that I want to make sure that you take away throughout this this talk today and I'm gonna give you the first one now so write it down or imprint it in your mind here's the first one the top secret idea is all about making it their idea right that is really one of the key ways to really showcase true influence is making it their idea where the person who's making that decision feels like whether they came up with it on their own or they came up with it with you that you've given them the amount of information and led them down the path but that they can have some space to be able to feel like it's their idea that's one of the first things I want to make sure that you take away that's critical actually okay but in order for you to do that you've got to really understand who the decision-maker is how they think about things know your audience you've probably seen this cartoonist or market Tunis here I've liked all the different types of leaders and how they think about things how they make decisions and so regardless of you know what your leader which one they are and I've properly presented to engage with or try to influence someone in each of these eight different buckets but regardless of where they fall understanding who they are as a leader how they think about things what typically compels them to act what are their pet peeves or the things that causes them to shut down knowing all of those things are really important for you to then think about how you might bring the right tone the right level of detail the timing of when you bring those things all of those are really important in order to be able to influence that person so before you can even think about the content of what you would bring it's really really important to know who it is that you're actually trying to influence and what's the best way to approach them to ultimately get the yes that you're trying to get this is the blueprint and so when I think about what's required to do those two things to tell you know the right information that gets people to do something and to get the guess there's three things that are involved here and I'm gonna go through each of those in more detail the first one is all about aligning with the business goal the middle part is about telling the story and then the end is what do you need to do to make it easy for that decision-maker to say yes the first piece aligned with the business goal this is all about preparation so in order to align your recommendation with the goal that's number one an important thing because you want what you bring to feel like it has a place within what that decision-maker is trying to achieve right does it help to either advance you know what they're trying do does it help to go along with both the short and the long term goals that they are accountable for know what their metrics are that are on their scorecard what are they evaluated for and how can you then align with it understand if there are some personal goals that the decision maker has if that decision maker really has stated that they want to be in touch with the consumer or really understand the broader marketplace make sure that what you're doing in creating for that presentation sets them up well to be able to do that and then research what's worked in what hasn't so if you've never presented to that person before you may say well I have no idea how they react when when people present in this or when they bring certain ideas to them so talk to people who have other folks use your network to be able to understand kind of hey what are some tips and tricks about really getting this person to engage or getting them to be open understand things that they already potentially said no to in the past so that you can think about how you might need to address some of those barriers as you move throughout to the presentation again this is all back to the preparation and it's the preparation for the presentation not necessarily the preparation for the content just yet we're going to get there the second piece of this whole alignment with the business goal is all about strategically positioning your reco so this is like what is the role that your recommendation is going to play within the broader set of objectives or goals that that business leader or that decision-maker has and clarifying your role within that you may not be saying I'm gonna solve world peace you may not be saying I'm going to go solve everything that that this person wants to achieve but understand the particular role of what you are going to bring and the role that it plays within it I think about this as thought leadership and so when you know where things are gonna go or where you expect them to go you can then strategically position idea to help along that path and to move the business move the team move that leader even forward beyond where they may be today along with kind of aligning with the business goals is this idea of creating a sense of urgency and so this is one of the things I think is important because oftentimes when we let things fester or when things lie in wait they are less likely to actually be acted on the more we think about things and sometimes overanalyze or things just sit on the desk other things that seem more urgent or that have a higher priority or appear to have a higher priority can come in and overshadow what we have been shared and so creating a sense of urgency really allows us then to bring up the importance of what we want to go do but get people to do something about it now versus later so a couple of ways to do that the first one is to get their attention so this is about thinking you know getting their engagement early on this is interactivity of the presentation or the content that you're going to share the second piece is showcasing the opportunity cost so what happens if they don't take your reco what are the risks if they don't move forward with what you're proposing that's another way that then begins to create a sense of urgency that would compel folks to what to go do something and then don't be afraid to be provocative if you come in with the status quo you know that's kind of oftentimes expected it also may not get people to engage they may to knout because they may have heard it over and over again so don't be afraid to bring in something that may feel like it is outside of the circle for where things typically fall but sometimes our role in insights and being objective people is to come in and stretch people's on expectation and also stretch the realm of what they think might be feasible or that they may even have the capabilities to go do create a sense of urgency get them to act now versus letting them wait until later you I told you there were two things two big things that I wanted you to remember as we went through this the first one was around that importance of of influence right and getting people to act and it was all about making it their idea the second one is in the stories piece so I go back to what I say this is what I do I tell stories that get people to act this also goes back to why I shared more about me at the beginning that ultimately I kind of told you the story of Who I am so that you could then empathize connect with me see me as a human and not just as a presenter so I'm coming back to this as kind of the crux of the content for what you might share because it's really really important the art of storytelling is something that allows you to set up and really Drive this presentation to a way that gets the response that you want to be able to get from that decision-maker or from that leader okay telling stories in order to tell the story you really have got to be the voice of who you want to bring to the forefront so for me it's all about being the voice of the consumer and sometimes that even means that I can position myself or show up as the consumer it might be an end of one right but it still is a real experience that I may have that I can bring there's a few different ways to do this and I'm going to tell you a couple of examples that I've used just to give you a little bit of inspiration here in this space the images that you see here are a story that I told about a professional contractor called named Steve we had done a ton of research in context and some ethnographic research to really understand contractors in the home-improvement space and Steve was one of the contractors that we spent some time with and his story really allowed us to bring to life the big recommendation that we had and the big ask that we had for the general manager and so after we spent time with Steve we crafted his the key points of his story his challenges he was facing how he went about his day how he went about coming off the job and then coming back home and again this was all about bringing to life what his key needs were so that I could then set up here's how we as an organization as a category as a company can solve for the needs of folks like Steve and so he brought this story in and kind of walked the whole leadership team through kind of a day in the life of Steve that really allowed them to feel like they were on the jobsite with us when we were doing this in context research to make them feel like they knew Steve or even that they knew someone like Steve that they could connect with it wouldn't empathize with really the the things that Steve was going through as he was running his small business another way that we've done this they've done some work on to really understand low-income consumers and when presenting to a group of you know corporate professional leadership team they are not always as in tune with with folks that may be living in a low-income environment or have that as their reality and so bringing some engagement into the story and even some pre-work for them to go do around what it's like to have to make different decisions or choices based off of your limited income was one thing that really helps them so again empathize connect with and feel like they knew those consumers we did a couple of things one is we brought in a simulation for low income that Harvard Business had done and had them go through the online simulation of how to get through 30 days on that limited income choices that were made curveballs that were thrown you know on day 15 of that 30 days with an unexpected bills that they had to figure out how to pay what happens when the car breaks down how do you make choices between whether this is something that I need to pay for now or whether it can wait until later and how do you get to the end of the simulation and not be in the red and that was really a great way to kind of bring some engagement and still tell the story of what these consumers were going through and the choices that they needed to make and therefore the role that our business or our products our categories could play was one way to do that we also had those leaders to spend 14 days living on that income you can imagine how interesting that was and the initial response that we got when we asked them to do it but they all kind of join in and said yep we're going to participate and do it for 14 babies and that also was a way to kind of tell the story of what we wanted to get across and have them to feel like they really understood who it was that we were speaking about who it was that we were trying to serve and therefore why we were making the recommendation that we were making for our portfolio for our future innovation plans and for how we might message or communicate with the key consumers that we wanted to win with so those are two ways to talk about other consumers again I also mentioned that you can even show up as the one consumer so give examples of your own experience of things that you've been through or things that you experienced particularly as it relates to the recommendation that you're wanting to bring it's just another way for people to connect with the message and to understand where it is that you're coming from so be the voice of the consumer bring that consumer to life in whatever engaging or fun a really compelling way to make sure that people really feel what it is that you're communicating the second piece around telling the story is all about knowing your stuff so I love this this image here this mean it's easy to talk about something if you know what you're talking about when you don't know what you're talking about it can often be really challenging and sometimes it comes across as not being authentic or not being confident in what it is that that you're communicating so a few ways to show up as as though you know yourself you know your stuff scuse me the first is credentialed yourself so talk about kind of the work that has been done to this point the in-depth amount of research or understanding the sources that you use to gather that information so that you then are proving from the beginning before you even share your first poll wait hey I know what I'm talking about we've done the due diligence to understand and therefore our recommendation is going to be sound the second thing here is bring the appropriate data points I think we're all learning in and know now that you know data is available more available than it has ever been in our history but it's all about what we do with the data and how do you curate the set of data points that really are just enough to drive the the message and the recommendation that you're bringing so too much data can you know fear people off track or have them have too much information overload but being having the ability to craft and pull out the data points that are most important and most appropriate or what allow you to also show up as knowing your stuff the third piece is then do is the delivery right how do you then present the information that you have delivering that with confidence delivering that in the appropriate flow that kind of brings the story and leads people down the story that you want to tell them so that they get to the in that delivery also includes things like you know when you do tell a story there is a beginning a middle and an end so don't start in the middle start at the beginning so that you can you know make sure that people can follow the path that you're taking and that they don't get sideways or don't get off track and lose the path that you're taking them down bring in the appropriate visuals you know charts graphs whatever it is that you need to do to also supplement the fact that you're speaking so your delivery as well as from a speaking standpoint as well as from a visual standpoint will also kind of reinforce the key message that you're bringing and just continue to let folks know that you do indeed know your stuff the third piece of that blueprint is then the you know how do you get the yes just make it easy for people to say yes sometimes we bring the best of our ideas we bring great information we bring great insights but we make it so difficult and complicated that people want to say yes but they're not really sure if they shoot it then it sometimes feels like a risk to move forward with what we're bringing in and what we've decided that we think is the right thing to do so this third piece is about how do you get people to say yes already and make it really easy for them to do it the person this section is is really think it through so this actually goes back to the first section which was all about preparation there's another piece of that preparation that then allows for this section to be successful that means thinking about within the recommendation what are all the benefits and the pros of what you're bringing but also what are the constraints that we're working in what's the environment and is it how does that affect how your recommendation can come to life and whether it can be adopted think about the cons of things every idea has something that could be a potential limitation or could be you know a non-starter for some folks think about that and how you might address that where appropriate whether that's within the presentation or being prepared for the discussion part of that to then have some thoughts around how you might either address those constraints or bring those constraints and turn them into positives then think about the execution plan like how is this gonna work have a plan for how this could get executed because this is oftentimes where the recommendation and folks are ready to say yes but the execution feels like it's gonna take too long or we don't have the right capability to do that or even the right people in place to do it so have thought through that ahead of time so that then it is a much simpler way to say yes when people feel like okay there is it does seem feasible I think we have a way to get this done and then the resource consideration I talked a little bit about the people do we have the right people in place do we have the right team in place to go about making this happen but also from a funding standpoint like who's gonna pay for it are there different ways we should consider that are there ways that we can phase out the idea or the execution in order to make the resources work for us and the way that they should so this is just about kind of and then thought through if they say they think it's a good idea how can I help get the easy yes by thinking through the execution what the pros and cons are and then how are we going to actually make it happen from a resource standpoint and then this anticipate the questions this may seem like you know duh of course anticipate the questions but sometimes we're so focused on the actual content and the presentation and getting that ready that we don't think about the things that might come up during the discussion and so this is in this space of kind of it also connects back to the kind of know your stuff because even though you may not give every piece of information in the actual presentation if you're prepared with potential questions that may come and aren't able to answer those questions for the most part it reinforces again that you were thorough and that you do indeed know your stuff so think about the key questions that those stakeholders in the room not just the decision-maker but other people who may be contributors to that or have some point of view or some perspective one of the questions that they're going to ask or that they are likely to ask as I go through this in order to make them feel comfortable with saying yes so thinking about those and even kind of writing down or having some bullet points if they ask this here's how I'm going to respond so that you're very well prepared for that part of the discussion which inevitably the questions will come whether that's during the presentation or towards the end either way super important to be able to make sure that you're ready for the questions when they do show up I think if this is be also ready so back to this blueprint we kind of talked these three different areas of what's important in terms of crafting the message that will come that you're that you're going to deliver so that you can make sure that it does indeed a line with what the organization is heading towards either short-term or long-term that you then can craft the appropriate story that tells and talks about a compelling way for these folks to connect with who you're trying to represent and then how do you make sure that you've thought through all the details and the particulars that make it easy for folks to say yes that's kind of back to you on the overall kind of outline of what I note what's required and also from my experience of things that have been really important for me as I've learned along the way in order to get that yes now the last piece that I want to tell you before I open it up for for some questions is that you know oftentimes we don't get the yes in the moment and that's okay because sometimes decisions aren't ready to be made in the moment and sometimes you have a decision maker who is not who does not typically make the decision on the spot and so that's okay we may have to deliver the message multiple times in fact it usually takes people on big decisions seven times to hear the same information before it really really sinks in and they can internalize it and so we may have to deliver the same message multiple times or we may have to shift the way we tell the story the second time around to reinforce the same benefits or key messages but take a different approach as to the how in terms of how we deliver the content so really this is all about just understanding it being it for the law it may not be yes may not come on day one but if you really know that it's the right thing to do for the business for the organization for the consumer for all of the stakeholders involved if you really believe in the day that you have and in the insight that you're bringing if you really believe in the impact that it can have long-term then just stick with it I have you know been in working on the same part of the business now for about seven years and about a year and a half in to this role I had a big epiphany of an idea that I knew was the right strategy for us long-term and so I got you know internal folks my whole team rallying around this idea and we're ready to go present it to the customer and the customer is like nodding their head like yeah that makes sense but they didn't do anything with it and we kept coming back with the same you know changing the message a little bit like change in the way we brought the information to life bring in additional data and I was getting pretty frustrated with like why are they not just saying yes why are they not just moving forward with this idea and I had to take a step back and understand that timing is everything and so sometimes even when we have the right idea the right benefit it's gonna have a great impact the timing of the execution may not be right now and that's okay but because I mean to do we've continued with that message track we continued to read the idea energy and how the strategy can come to life and eventually the customers started speaking the strategy back to us and I was like oh they get it they get it they just needed to hear it and they needed to get to the right point in time where it made sense on for their part and for the marketplace conditions etc to be able to execute it so I say that to say as much as I talked about you know sense of urgency and here's what you gotta do to get the yes and if you don't get a response or don't get some action you know we haven't truly done our job it just means that they may not be ready to say yes yet and so just keep in mind that yet piece that it may come but it may not come right in that same moment stick to it beyond the in it for the long haul and you'll get the yes eventually before we go into Q&A I just want to remind you of the two things I said there were two things that I wanted you to make sure that you took away right the first was make it their idea let them have some skin in the game and some space to kind of create with you to have some input into it so that it really feels like it's their idea as well and they meaning that decision maker and then the second thing is really really leverage the art of storytelling it is really a great way to bring insights to life and a great way to get people to connect with empathize and feel like they want to move forward with your recommendation so that's what I have for you I'm going to go back to the blueprint slide but we can open it up for Q&A for anything that you might want to ask about what I've shared or some of the experience that I've had in this space and I think we're doing that through the chat feature or if you need to come off mute and do that we can do that as well I am going to open up the Q&A because I think that's can see that some of the folks have sent some ahead of time all right okay so I see a question in here that is asking about to all the recommendations apply to outside outside market research suppliers presenting to to call it a manufacturer or or who is and do we what I expect that an outside supplier give a story to get me to say yes or is their job just to supply me with the data and the insights that they've conducted for me so I'll give I'll give a couple of thoughts here the first is I think this whole blueprint applies whether it's in research or any other part of business or industry and so anytime that you want to sell someone on your idea or your recommendation I think these points are relevant even for that and so I would say even if I am working in partnership with a supplier who may be helping with kind of the outside research or bringing some insight to me even when it comes to me I'm hoping that they are telling some story and giving some some of what they found that helped me to even want to dig deeper into the rest of the information that they have or the data that's available that that's the way to get me to say yes to is to get me excited about how they can bring that consumer to life and even what they provided so I prefer then to have them to to take these things and bring them to life as well particularly in the storytelling piece that helps me also as I work back internally I see another question here in parallel with the story being told do you answer the questions you think they might have during the storytelling process or do you let them ask the questions and guide them with your answers this is one that I was I say it depends but I think it depends on the audience so if you know who you're talking to some folks really have a hard time kind of waiting to get to the end before they're ready to like jump in and ask their questions and so if you know that of them you also want them to feel comfortable in it and so just you know if it doesn't if it's not gonna totally derail you from your presentation then I'm okay with letting folks you jump in and ask the question that really drives the engagement even in the midst of the story and if they're asking questions about the story it tells me that they are engaged in paying attention and open to what the story and how the story may unfold and so I may say let's hold you know the questions about the how we execute it towards the end but if they have questions along the way during the storytelling process I'm totally open to to having that be part of the discussion as we go through so nacho this is Billy hi Billy one of the other questions that Pam asked was do you have any tools that you use to make sure that you're using the appropriate data points while you're telling your stories yes oh I love a couple of things if they're if I've done some research where where I we've asked a lot of open ends and I've got to be able to curate all of that like text content I love still using a Wordle or something similar that just kind of visually shows what those key points were that came out from those so I love using that as a visual the other thing that I like to do is then overlay like charts and graphs so I use a power bi to overlay charts and graphs with quotes or with the qualitative nature so bringing in the quantitative and qualitative pieces together is one of the other key ways that I love kind of bringing information or data to life in that way and then the third thing is is video clips so I'll call that tools but bringing in video clips when we've done any kind of interviewing or when we've curated information from other available information like off of social media etc and doing that of course within the guidelines of privacy and what's appropriate there but doing those as another way that I love to kind of bring that information to life actually I also wanted to know is there any metrics that you use to check yourself so that you can keep that balance between the story being simple and not overdoing it with a lot of data but but being subsidized yeah I think one of the things that I try to do is especially if time allows too is to kind of run that story by somebody else and tell it to them first because you usually get a good sense for whether people kind of their head to the side like what are you trying to say or you know how they respond to it do they get it and then funny sometimes I will tell kind of an abbreviated version to somebody else in my household who's not in the industry who doesn't understand all of them or use the terminology that we use or acronyms that we use and say doesn't make sense is it simple enough that anyone can understand it and then I'll bring the data in the support that I know would be required for the decision-maker that I might be presented to one of the other things that you talked about is we all know that research is both science and arts and the art of storytelling takes creativity it takes a higher level of translation skills to take insights and make them actionable and to motivate people to act which is what you're talking about how do you teach younger or PNG researchers the art of storytelling yes funny about six months ago I was giving a presentation with a lot of younger folks and we were talking about this idea of of storytelling and so one of the ways that we've done that is to kind of have them bring in an idea or some insight that they have that they really are excited about sharing back with their business team and then work through how might you tell the story around me is what information do you have could we kind of work on it almost case study like to help them to kind of try it out on their peers or try it out in a safe space before they have the ability to do it in front of the business we do a similar thing with interns as well with their mentors or their coach so that they have a chance to come create it and have some help doing that for the first time and then continue to build that skill with practice over time excellent excellent one of the other things that you talked about was creating this sense of urgency and this idea of being provocative which in itself is provocative and then you gave the example of you know stretching people's expectations and you gave the example of neat scheme and even your came to walk a we can see issues was that one of those examples of being provocative but can you give us others yeah the one with the low income consumer was definitely one because we if you know you know the brands and products that we make a PNG are tend to be the premium brand and it is hard sometimes for people to understand that even a low-income shopper is interested in and wants a quality branded product as well and so we needed to help those leaders to understand are they interested in and willing to buy quality products but you need to understand that other choices that they have to make in the midst of you know wanting to buy or aspiring to buy this product but also having other responsibilities needed to to take care of and so we were considering different potential innovation plans or innovation pipelines that would whether or not we could continue on the same path whether or not we needed to introduce new brands or new products and so it was a provocative thing to say hey all of you leaders who were nicely compensated we want you to go live in a very different kind of environment and have her family involved in that you know for 14 days that definitely was a provocative idea but it was intended to kind of shift the thought process and open up their minds to experience what it was like to have to make those decisions so that's definitely one of the examples around being provocative another example in terms of being provocative is you know we're working on a project that was a piece of innovation that we were headed down the path like literally ready to lock on it and the information that we have gotten from consumers was actually telling us to pause and pivot and go in a completely different direction and so we knew that it might not be the most popular thing to come in and say hey instead of asking for your approval to just move forward we actually are asking for number one more time we're asking for more money to learn a little bit more because we have an inkling and some data that would suggest that this might not be the appropriate path and so for us to do that we had to come in and also talk about hey if we do move down this path and it's not the right decision here's what here's the risk of what could happen and that was one way for us to come in and and be provocative about another path or to pivot but also kind of sharing the broader context or the situation and why we were coming forward with that recommendation that's fascinating one of the other things that you talked about you mean you when you first when you introduced yourself to us you shared your myers-briggs and we've got anyone who's taken and I'm imagining that most of us on this call are probably taking on my respects at some point in our professional career it knows that it it talks to us about like these different styles and how it influences our responsiveness level of openness new ideas and so you're talking buying your blueprint to a decision maker what happens when you have a group of decision makers with multiple types of personalities and potentially even different expectations and needs mm-hmm you approach that this sounds like my day job every day it can be a bit of a challenge but I think one of the key things that is important there is understanding that even when there's a group of decision makers there's typically one person who really is going to be the one who really has the checkbook who really has the accountability for what happens based off of how this decision is made and then they're taking in the input of those other leaders and can be influenced by them as well and so knowing number one that key decision maker but also who whose ear do those other key folks in the room like who has that person's here who do they truly listen to who do they look to when they have questions and knowing that audience in that environment then allows you to kind of say okay I can't necessarily you know when with all 20 people in the room but are there three or four that are key that if I can get my point across and get these three or four plus this decision-maker do I get the 80 for the 20 you know right can I be choice 'full about how I might approach each of those folks and make sure that there's something in this presentation that would speak to each one of them where they could connect in then I've probably done a good enough job of getting enough of the quorum of folks to be able to make this decision move forward do you often find that you're doing a lot of that initial leg work with those influencer groups prior to getting to the we're actually presenting to the decision maker yes so I'm the that comes more so from making sure that we're kind of aligned within our team and so I feel like more of that legwork is happening as a team we're really I think trying to get away from so many pre meetings before the pretty medium for the pre meeting to get to the meeting not and so instead just saying hey how can we take all the information we already know about these leaders and about the context of the situation of the environment that we're facing and how they're thinking about this topic to just do the free work in and of ourselves to make sure that we're buttoned up before we might go in front of them and so I've taken that approach moreso than trying to end your talk to each one of those influencers individually because that ends up taking up a ton of time that I could probably be working on something else pretty productive excellent and my last question for you actually this is a question for me you also when you introduce yourself you have a beautiful family and I'm assuming that you are also one of those parents who is put in the position of homeschooling and so as I was listening to you talk about the art of persuasion and knowing your audience and please you know skating the game not only did I think about like wow how can I apply all of what you're teaching us to my professional life how do I apply it to my home life as know who is homeschooling and having to influence a nine-year-old what have you what what about what you learned professionally are you now applying to your own life yeah I think it goes both ways actually there's much that I've learned professionally than I'm applying the home life and there's much about home life that I'm applying professionally so I will tell you that I have learned more about the agility at home then I have that I've been able to apply this in in the workplace but even for the opposite way of going going the other way one of the things it's back to this in terms of knowing the audience because I have consider every phase of childhood and so being able to talk to to influence to motivate them each in their individual way that they need has been really key and so even as we've moved to having like kids home and in the house I have actually had to shift the routine or the schedule in order to meet the needs of how do I get each of them to get what I need them to get done so he had a schedule and everybody is on this same schedule and about four days they really like this is not working and so we've shifted I know my five-year-old does better when she can get all of her work done before lunch if possible because after lunch she's done it's gonna be like pulling teeth right but my nine-year-old will come back and he needs to do things and smaller spurts so we'll give him 20 minutes of this and they give a break and then 20 minutes of this and give a break and so I've learned that how people are motivated and also how in information I can then craft how I deliver that message or the timing that I deliver that message to therefore meet their needs and I'm applying that then with my kids so make sure that they can still get everything done and that we don't have a ton of whining or moaning in the household another that's fascinating thank you so much for everything you've shared we have about you know five minutes before our next session what I would do is I would encourage everyone who's who's on the line right now to continue the conversation by all means if you have additional questions put them in chat we'll get those answered for you also you can you can continue networking and you can continue sharing your thoughts and ideas by going to Twitter and and what we would challenge you to do is tell us how you at your company are and both personally how you're selling insights and internally how you're motivating your teams how you're telling the stories now so thank you so much for your time we really can do it absolutely thank you you guys have a great rest of time I'll be around kind of joining in some other sessions as well because I'm learning too we appreciate have a wonderful day thank you