I've been a big fan of Helen Tupper's work for a long time and when I was listening to her episode on Jimmy's Jobs of the Future, she did something right at the beginning that I thought was extremely smart.
I call it problem-first positioning and it’s the complete opposite of how most people communicate (as you’ll see in this 46 second clip)…🍿
Let’s break down what was happening here.
When Helen was asked: 'Tell me about the premise of the book?' She so easily could have said:
"I wrote this book to help people build confidence/take control of their careers/learn faster etc."
"This is the book I wish I'd had when I was starting out."
"I wanted to write something that would change peoples lives."
This is passion first-positioning ❤️🔥.
Fluffy, isn't it?
The Art of Problem-First Positioning
Notice how Helen:
𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸 💪
"Maybe before the premise, the problem."𝗥𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 ⚡️
"It's never been more important to learn at work because of the pace of change..."𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲 ⚖️:
"There's this big tension with what we need to learn so we stay relevant and our careers are resilient, but people are finding it too hard to do."𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 (𝘀𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁?!) ‼️:
↳ "If we do not solve the problem of learning at work, then a lot of people are going to get left behind."
And in doing so, she's taken positioned her book as a need to have, rather than a nice to have.
This is a 1% communication trait that anyone can master and whether you’re a thought leader that needs to create urgency or an author that actually wants to sell books, it's critical that you do.
One of the reasons I started MicDrop was because there was nowhere for good communicators to become great.
Our members are way beyond Toastmasters, so once a month we 'Idea Labs.’ Sessions where our members can hone their craft with advanced techniques like the one I shared today.
We’re down to our final 5 spaces for our March intake - click here to find out more.
Alex
P.s. You can grab a copy of Helen’s book, Learn like a Lobster here.
