I often remind my team (and sometimes need to remind myself) the power of citing statistics in making a point. It never ceases to amaze me as I sit in a meeting and watch as one of our team recites certain statistics and you can see people write those points down above all others. When thinking about it – it is obvious. But so often it is easy to make a point without citing a statistic and in our “busy times” people will often thin that suffices. But – I will tell you – for sure – IT DOES NOT SUFFICE.
Let me give you one example. Consider the following two statements is a sales meeting -
“More and more as internet broadcasting becomes popular people are switching from watching cable and satellite to watching TV programming on the internet.”
versus…
“A recent poll reported by CNBC stated ’37 percent of Netflix subscribers aged 25 to 34 substitute Netflix for pay television. Almost 30 percent of users between 18 and 24 are using Netflix’s streaming service instead of cable or satellite.’”
Which is more powerful in getting the point across? Which will have a greater impact on the prospective client? To me – the answer is obvious. And the challenge – as leaders – is to compel our team to continually strive to get new and more powerful statistics to bring our points to light.
Do you use statistics in presenting your point? Do you see it as a valuable sales tool?
