As a brand manager, it is especially important to know how to express your thoughts in a clear, concise and logical manner.
The point of view of two books, one called “elevator principle”, one called “pyramid principle”, is probably the same meaning – it just so happens that these two books are written by McKinsey people.
The “elevator principle” comes from a very popular book called “McKinsey View” a few years ago.
The story is: you are a manager of a consulting firm, for an important project you team worked day and night for 3 months, prepared a 300-page report, including 7 recommendations 36 improvement measures and 8 sets of detailed implementation plan, in order to prove these conclusions, you also prepared 5 data analysis and research report appendix, of course Of course, there were also several baskets of source materials.
The client also took the proposal very seriously, arranging for all of the company’s executives to attend, and bringing in the CEO and key members of the board, which of course made you even more excited, as well as printing the report in color and burning a CD for distribution to the attendees.
The night before the proposal, your team double-checked all the words and spelling, and then went to bed early to keep your energy up.
On the day of the proposal, you arrive at the client’s conference room on Time and ready to go, and the CEO and executives are already in their seats, looking forward to your presentation, and you clear your throat and say, “Ladies and gentlemen, the distinguished CEO, today we… …”.
Suddenly the secretary of the board of directors hurried into the office and whispered something to the CEO, who nodded his head to you and apologized and left the room.
With a look of helplessness in your eyes, they left in a hurry. But just as the CEO rushes into the elevator, “Wait”, he blocks the door and waves to you, “Can you use my time in the parking lot to go over the main points of your report?” .
That’s 10 seconds or so? You have to say the main points of the report? And to get his approval and support? You feel the blood rushing to your head, but there is no second chance to rush into the elevator, and as soon as the door closes, you turn to the group and say: “We think ……”.
This is called the “elevator principle”.
Can you condense your annual marketing report in 1 sentence?
Can you explain in 1 paragraph the positioning of your brand and its direction?
Can you explain in 3 minutes the main reasons for the current decline in sales, propose 3 solutions, and then let your boss make a decision?
And so on. It’s all about the “elevator rule” – make your point simply and clearly. If you can’t make it clear in 3 sentences, then you can’t make it clear in an afternoon.
And let’s talk about the Pyramid Principle.
The Pyramid Principle is simple: “Start with the conclusion, start with the central idea, and then work forward.” The author wrote a book to illustrate this point, while McKinsey also deliberately let her not have to work, dedicated to the global tour training this principle, from this for a living, happy ~ ~ ~
Again, let’s take an example.
You are in the office, suddenly your subordinates rushed in and said to you: “Boss, I’m watching the price of raw materials, found that many steel prices have increased, and just now the logistics company also called to say price increases, I compared several prices, but still no way to convince him not to increase prices; also, competing brands *** recently also increased prices, I saw ……; by the way, advertising costs have also been spending more recently, if …… may ……”.
Is it that you are confused? After listening for half a day you still do not know exactly what he wants to explain? Or ask you to provide what help? Or what problem to solve? Or what decision to make?
If he said: “Boss, I think our brand should increase prices by 20%, and to exceed the competitive brands, because first, raw materials have recently increased prices by 30%, logistics costs have also risen; second, all competitive brands have raised prices by 10-20%, we should follow up; third, advertising costs exceed the standard, we should also pull out the space, you can do advertising ……, boss, do you think this proposal is feasible?” .
Is this more clear? This is the “Pyramid Principle”.
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