Aug. 3, 2025
The Hidden Trap in Tailoring Your Messaging to Decisionmakers’ Concerns
It's time to talk about a hidden flaw in one of the most common messaging strategies that we're all using. And that, if we're not aware of it, can really come back and bite us. Here's how that winds up happening. You've worked hard on tailoring your messaging. You've done your research, and taken a lot of good notes when you've been in conversation with a particular decisionmaker. And you've tailored the heck out of your messaging to appeal to their priorities and concerns and what the...
It's time to talk about a hidden flaw in one of the most common messaging strategies that we're all using. And that, if we're not aware of it, can really come back and bite us.
Here's how that winds up happening. You've worked hard on tailoring your messaging. You've done your research, and taken a lot of good notes when you've been in conversation with a particular decisionmaker. And you've tailored the heck out of your messaging to appeal to their priorities and concerns and what they value.
But then you find you're still not getting what you need from them. Maybe they're still not valuing your work at the proper level. Or they're not getting to yes on investing at the level you need them to. You know something's missing, but you can't figure out what. And short of becoming a mind reader, what else can you do?
The truth is there's a hidden trap in that approach to tailoring your messaging. We can get so focused on tailoring our messaging to appeal to the decision maker's frame of reference, that we overlook one of the biggest obstacles that are keeping them from getting to yes on whatever it is we want from them.
Let’s talk about how to fix that.
In this episode, we share:
- Signs your messaging may be working against you
- How a common practice and culture among nonprofit leaders will sabotage your messaging
- How to uncover the missing pieces of decisionmaker information that are essential for successful messaging
- Two of the most common decisionmaker issues that must be addressed in your messaging
- Three powerful techniques you can use immediately to transform your messaging’s effectiveness
Help spread the word! If you found value in this episode, I’d be grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes or wherever you listen. Your reviews help other nonprofit leaders find the podcast. Thanks!!
WEBVTT
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You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:00:03.057 --> 00:00:08.798
In today's episode, we share the hidden trap in tailoring your messaging to decision makers concerns.
00:00:10.195 --> 00:00:11.035
So, Stay tuned.
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If you wanna have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.
00:00:26.748 --> 00:00:39.738
I'm Kath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive Nonprofit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.
00:00:40.368 --> 00:00:52.908
It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner and to have them.
00:00:52.969 --> 00:00:55.759
Bringing opportunities and resources to you.
00:00:56.359 --> 00:00:58.488
This podcast will help you do just that.
00:00:58.939 --> 00:01:01.969
Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:01:07.564 --> 00:01:08.314
Hey there folks.
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Welcome to another episode of the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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I'm your host, Kath Patrick.
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I'm so glad you're here for today's episode because it's time to talk about a hidden flaw in one of the most common messaging strategies that we're all using.
00:01:23.518 --> 00:01:27.677
And that if we're not aware of it, it can really come back and bite us.
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Here's how that winds up happening.
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You've worked on that tailored messaging.
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You've done your research, you've taken a lot of good notes when you've been in conversation with a particular decision maker.
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And you've tailored the heck outta your messaging to appeal to their priorities and concerns and what they value.
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But then you find you're still not getting what you need from them.
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Maybe they're still not valuing your work at the proper level.
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Or they're not getting to yes, on investing at the level you need them to.
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You know something's missing, but you can't figure out what.
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And short of becoming a mind reader, what the heck else can you do?
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Those are the signs that your messaging may be working against you.
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The truth is there's a hidden trap in that approach to tailoring your messaging.
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A lot of times we get so focused on tailoring our messaging to appeal to the decision maker's frame of reference.
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That we overlook one of the biggest obstacles that are keeping them from getting to yes on whatever it is we want from them.
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Almost always what's in the way, is that that decision maker holds one or more beliefs or perceptions that are stopping them from seeing the value of your work, or seeing the value of investing in it.
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And if we don't deal with those problematic beliefs and perceptions, how are they ever gonna get to Yes?
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This is a case where some really good advice and a really sound principle has a hole in it that doesn't get talked about enough.
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The practice and culture, particularly among Nonprofit leaders, of deferring to decision makers and just working with whatever set of faulty beliefs they may have as long as they're not like completely antithetical to our staff.
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That leads to us contorting ourselves and our messaging to try to work with those faulty beliefs.
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We've been taught that's what you're supposed to do.
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But the truth is it doesn't serve us or the decision makers.
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If a decision maker is operating with a faulty belief they can't see clearly, and they miss out on the great investment that your work represents.
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So we have to tackle those problematic beliefs and perceptions head on and disrupt them, dismantle them.
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So that the decision makers can allow in a new way of thinking, a new way of looking at the impact of your work and its value that will allow them to get to yes.
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it's time to disrupt that belief and challenge it and give that decision maker an opportunity to understand things in a new way.
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To do that, the first thing we have to do is understand that there's a hole in the way we've been coming at this.
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And to just say, okay, great.
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I do want to tailor my messaging to the frame of reference that the decision maker is using, to the things that they feel are priorities in their world that are connected to their role and their job and their authority as a decision maker.
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That's all legit, and we wanna keep all that.
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But what we want to become detectives about is to find those faulty beliefs and perceptions that are getting in the way of them really understanding our stuff.
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And seeing how our stuff can really help them and wind up being maybe the most brilliant investment they've ever made.
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So how do you do that?
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Well, the good news is, just like with everything else, all the stuff you've learned to be a good detective about with all the things you try to learn about your decision makers.
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You just want to add this to the list.
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And so you're looking for cues in what they say, whether they're saying it directly to you or in other spaces, or even what you notice they consistently miss or misunderstand.
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Maybe they keep glossing over one piece of your messaging.
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Or they give you other indications that that's just not landing with them at all, and you can just tell.
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It's kind of like, yeah, yeah, whatever, and let's move on.
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Whenever there's that yeah, yeah, whatever kind of reception, or they glance off the topic and they're moving on to something else.
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That tells you that there is a disconnect there.
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And if there's a disconnect, it's very likely that tucked in there somewhere is either a misperception or an unhelpful belief that is keeping them from getting what you're telling them.
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So what are those things?
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There's some really common ones that it comes up in every space.
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It's not unique to one niche or another.
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It's gonna come up everywhere.
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There's a set of things that tend to be pretty common across the board.
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And then I'm sure there'll be some things that are specific to your niche that will also be common misunderstandings, misperceptions, or faulty beliefs that you need to deal with.
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But some ones that tend to happen across the board are, they believe or perceive that the problem you solve is actually quite simple and therefore should have a simple, not too expensive solution.
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And you can see why, if they hold that belief, that's gonna be a real problem for you, right?
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Another one that's very common is holding the belief, and this one is particularly insidious because they often don't even realize they have this belief.
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Is that because you're a Nonprofit, your stuff is either free or should be really cheap'cause you're Nonprofit.
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Right?
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And so that just goes together.
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The cost of what you do should be very low because you're Nonprofit.
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And you know that's not true.
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But if that's the belief that's in that decision maker's head, what are the chances that they're ever going to be receptive to investing in your work at the true cost and value that it has?
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Those are a couple of super common ones.
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There are a bunch of them.
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But I bet you even as I just gave you those two prompts, you could think of several others where they've either said to you or they've implied by their actions or other behaviors or comments that they've got this belief that's in the way.
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So the first thing you wanna do is figure out what those are and identify them, write'em down.
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It's a really helpful exercise to list them out.
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And one thing that I've noticed is that it is not uncommon for there to be a set of beliefs about your work in particular or about your organization or the specific problem that you solve.
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There will be a faulty perception or belief across multiple decision makers, and it'll be the same faulty perception or belief.
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And that's when you know you have something you can really work with.
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Because the fact is that's a big heads up that something's missing in your messaging or something needs to be tweaked.
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'Cause somewhere along the line, multiple decision makers have gotten the same impression.
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So those are the places where I always advise my clients to tackle those first.
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Because you're gonna get the biggest result, obviously.
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There also will be some beliefs and misperceptions that are unique to a particular decision maker, and you also wanna be aware of those.
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But when you're triaging this,'cause you might be dealing with 20 different decision makers and that might be a lot to pay attention to.
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So the first thing you look for is what's common across several decision makers.
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And then for those that are kind of one-off misperceptions or faulty beliefs, you set your priorities based on how important is that decision maker to you.
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Based on whatever criteria you want to use to make that decision.
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Maybe they represent a huge pool of funding that's very important to you.
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Or maybe they have a lot of power in another setting that for whatever reason, they're at the top of your priority list.
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They're the ones you can least afford to have walking around with faulty perceptions and beliefs.
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So you set your priorities among your decision makers.
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The next thing you want to do is say, well, what do we need them to believe instead?
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If they believe that all Nonprofit stuff should be super cheap, what do we need them to believe instead?
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Well, there's a bunch of things probably.
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We need them to believe that pricing is not connected to Nonprofit versus for-profit.
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We need them to believe that quality is what matters and quality is what you pay for.
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Those are two minimum things, and then you can add to that list.
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If they tend to believe that the problem is super simple, you need them ultimately to believe and perceive that the problem is actually quite complex.
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Added onto that, that that complexity of the problem means that the solutions in turn will be complex.
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And therefore very likely cost more.
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You see how those two situations link to one another ultimately.
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So you figure out what you need them to believe instead.
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'cause that's where you want them to wind up.
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It would be really cool if you could just say, Hey, whoop, excuse me.
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You've got a faulty belief, a misperception.
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I'd like to correct that for you so that you can have a better life and make better decisions going forward.
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Uh, you can try that, but I'm guessing you know how that's gonna turn out.
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So we have to do things a little more strategically.
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Now we know that we need to disrupt and challenge the belief or perception that they currently hold.
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But the instinct and training that we all have from kindergarten on is that we make that argument with logic and facts and figures.
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And certainly we want to have facts and figures to back up whatever it is we're gonna say.
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But remember that you're dealing with beliefs and perceptions.
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Those are not necessarily grounded in facts and figures.
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They're grounded in other things.
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So if we try to break loose a belief with just facts and figures, we're not likely to have a great deal of success.
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So we have to come at it in a lot of different ways.
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There are over a dozen different strategies for this.
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And I teach just about all of those in my coaching programs.
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But let me share with you three of the easiest ones to use.
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One great technique is basically exaggeration, where you take their belief and explore what it would look like if it were true a hundred percent of the time.
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You can tee this up with an if then statement that's structured in a framework of, if that thing were always true, if that belief were always true, then obviously-not-true exaggeration would be the case.
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But we know it's not.
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So an example, plugging in actual things.
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If the belief is that the faster, cheaper, one size fits all version of the service you provide is just as good as the tailored version you offer.
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You might say, if that were always true, then there'd be no difference between McDonald's and fine dining.
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The elements of this that work are that when you make that comparison, first of all, you're taking it out of the exact thing that you're already talking about.
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You're helping them look at this through a different lens.
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Because if they're in the little rut of their belief about the thing, you have to take'em out of that rut.
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And all of these things are designed to do that, to pull them out of their thinking ruts, their belief ruts.
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And put them somewhere else for just a second, where they can see the obvious flaws in their current beliefs without you directly challenging them.
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So they don't have to get their ego all involved.
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They don't have to feel defensive.
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They just are like, oh, well yeah.
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Because there's total cognitive dissonance if you say something like McDonald's and fine dining would be the same based on that logic.
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But you don't have to attack their logic.
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You just say, well, you know, if that were true a hundred percent of the time, then this would be the case.
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So you can pick your own example.
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That's just one possibility.
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Another very useful technique is analogy, metaphor, and simile.
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And they're all basically in the same bucket.
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They all are gonna serve the same basic purpose.
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The goal here is to frame the unhelpful belief in an analogous situation that is from their world in some way.
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It might be from the specific professional world they're operating in, or could be from any other part of their world.
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If you can find a sports metaphor or analogy and they're a sports person, you can use that.
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If you can find a childcare metaphor or a pet metaphor, it doesn't matter.
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As long as you know that it's gonna make sense to them based on what you already know about them, have at it.
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When you're using this bucket of techniques, you're basically saying, whatever unhelpful belief is, that would be like doing X thing under Y circumstances.
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Where they can immediately see what a bad idea your example would be.
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So for example, if the belief is that the problem you solve is really simple and therefore the solution can also be simple and cheap.
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And let's say you're in the workforce development space.
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And you've got a decision maker who thinks it would be a great idea to just have everybody use some software to search for careers and skip the individual career counseling part.
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So when that's going on, they're totally focused on saving money and they're imagining how much cheaper it would be if people could just use the software and get their answers, and not have to pay all those people to do all that counseling work.
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One way to challenge this is to similarly simplify something in the decision maker's world or life experience that they know is really complicated.
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And then draw the comparison.
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So you might say, that would be a lot like saying we don't need healthcare practitioners, and instead everybody can just Google their symptoms, self-diagnose and prescribe their own treatment.
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When you put it like that, the absurdity of what they're proposing becomes immediately apparent.
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And then if they want to jump in and object about how, oh, no healthcare is way more complicated, then you've got an opening to help them understand why, actually, no, what you do is pretty complicated too.
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But you've broken open, you've disrupted the belief enough for them to even engage in the conversation.
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Whereas a few minutes ago, they were really focused on their great idea and how it was gonna save all this money.
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The third technique is a bit more direct, where you use a well-known example that contradicts their belief or perception.
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So for example, if the belief is that Nonprofit services are free or covered by donations, so there's no particular need to invest in them.
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You might say, it's a common misperception that nonprofits are primarily funded by donations and other philanthropy.
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But look at some of the biggest nonprofits around.
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St.
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Whoozy-do Hospital right here in town has a$10 billion annual budget, and 90% of that comes from payment for services provided.
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If they were relying on donations for funding, they would be outta business in a hurry.
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Again, you're taking it away from the example of your service, your program, and you're putting their head in a different place where they can open their mind a little more easily.
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And taking them out of that rut.
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All of these that I've shared with you are very effective ways to challenge and disrupt unhelpful beliefs that are frankly getting in decisionmakers way.
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And I'll warn you, these may feel a little uncomfortable till you get the hang of it.
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But keep at it.
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Because the alternative is to leave those beliefs and misperceptions unchallenged.
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And what's gonna happen then?
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If we allow them to stay in those problematic beliefs, what are the chances they're gonna shift their view about your work and the problems you solve and the value of the investment they need to make in your work?
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Staying where they are doesn't serve you or the decision maker.
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But when you disrupt their faulty thinking, you open them up to seeing things in a clearer light.
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And ultimately to making much smarter and more strategic decisions that will benefit them as well as your work and the people you serve.
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Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.758
You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:00:03.057 --> 00:00:08.798
In today's episode, we share the hidden trap in tailoring your messaging to decision makers concerns.
00:00:10.195 --> 00:00:11.035
So, Stay tuned.
00:00:17.208 --> 00:00:26.118
If you wanna have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.
00:00:26.748 --> 00:00:39.738
I'm Kath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive Nonprofit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.
00:00:40.368 --> 00:00:52.908
It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner and to have them.
00:00:52.969 --> 00:00:55.759
Bringing opportunities and resources to you.
00:00:56.359 --> 00:00:58.488
This podcast will help you do just that.
00:00:58.939 --> 00:01:01.969
Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:01:07.564 --> 00:01:08.314
Hey there folks.
00:01:08.314 --> 00:01:11.344
Welcome to another episode of the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:01:11.614 --> 00:01:12.935
I'm your host, Kath Patrick.
00:01:13.444 --> 00:01:22.918
I'm so glad you're here for today's episode because it's time to talk about a hidden flaw in one of the most common messaging strategies that we're all using.
00:01:23.518 --> 00:01:27.677
And that if we're not aware of it, it can really come back and bite us.
00:01:28.177 --> 00:01:29.522
Here's how that winds up happening.
00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:31.900
You've worked on that tailored messaging.
00:01:31.930 --> 00:01:38.349
You've done your research, you've taken a lot of good notes when you've been in conversation with a particular decision maker.
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And you've tailored the heck outta your messaging to appeal to their priorities and concerns and what they value.
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But then you find you're still not getting what you need from them.
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Maybe they're still not valuing your work at the proper level.
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Or they're not getting to yes, on investing at the level you need them to.
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You know something's missing, but you can't figure out what.
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And short of becoming a mind reader, what the heck else can you do?
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Those are the signs that your messaging may be working against you.
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The truth is there's a hidden trap in that approach to tailoring your messaging.
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A lot of times we get so focused on tailoring our messaging to appeal to the decision maker's frame of reference.
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That we overlook one of the biggest obstacles that are keeping them from getting to yes on whatever it is we want from them.
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Almost always what's in the way, is that that decision maker holds one or more beliefs or perceptions that are stopping them from seeing the value of your work, or seeing the value of investing in it.
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And if we don't deal with those problematic beliefs and perceptions, how are they ever gonna get to Yes?
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This is a case where some really good advice and a really sound principle has a hole in it that doesn't get talked about enough.
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The practice and culture, particularly among Nonprofit leaders, of deferring to decision makers and just working with whatever set of faulty beliefs they may have as long as they're not like completely antithetical to our staff.
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That leads to us contorting ourselves and our messaging to try to work with those faulty beliefs.
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We've been taught that's what you're supposed to do.
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But the truth is it doesn't serve us or the decision makers.
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If a decision maker is operating with a faulty belief they can't see clearly, and they miss out on the great investment that your work represents.
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So we have to tackle those problematic beliefs and perceptions head on and disrupt them, dismantle them.
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So that the decision makers can allow in a new way of thinking, a new way of looking at the impact of your work and its value that will allow them to get to yes.
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it's time to disrupt that belief and challenge it and give that decision maker an opportunity to understand things in a new way.
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To do that, the first thing we have to do is understand that there's a hole in the way we've been coming at this.
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And to just say, okay, great.
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I do want to tailor my messaging to the frame of reference that the decision maker is using, to the things that they feel are priorities in their world that are connected to their role and their job and their authority as a decision maker.
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That's all legit, and we wanna keep all that.
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But what we want to become detectives about is to find those faulty beliefs and perceptions that are getting in the way of them really understanding our stuff.
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And seeing how our stuff can really help them and wind up being maybe the most brilliant investment they've ever made.
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So how do you do that?
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Well, the good news is, just like with everything else, all the stuff you've learned to be a good detective about with all the things you try to learn about your decision makers.
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You just want to add this to the list.
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And so you're looking for cues in what they say, whether they're saying it directly to you or in other spaces, or even what you notice they consistently miss or misunderstand.
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Maybe they keep glossing over one piece of your messaging.
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Or they give you other indications that that's just not landing with them at all, and you can just tell.
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It's kind of like, yeah, yeah, whatever, and let's move on.
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Whenever there's that yeah, yeah, whatever kind of reception, or they glance off the topic and they're moving on to something else.
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That tells you that there is a disconnect there.
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And if there's a disconnect, it's very likely that tucked in there somewhere is either a misperception or an unhelpful belief that is keeping them from getting what you're telling them.
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So what are those things?
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There's some really common ones that it comes up in every space.
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It's not unique to one niche or another.
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It's gonna come up everywhere.
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There's a set of things that tend to be pretty common across the board.
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And then I'm sure there'll be some things that are specific to your niche that will also be common misunderstandings, misperceptions, or faulty beliefs that you need to deal with.
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But some ones that tend to happen across the board are, they believe or perceive that the problem you solve is actually quite simple and therefore should have a simple, not too expensive solution.
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And you can see why, if they hold that belief, that's gonna be a real problem for you, right?
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Another one that's very common is holding the belief, and this one is particularly insidious because they often don't even realize they have this belief.
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Is that because you're a Nonprofit, your stuff is either free or should be really cheap'cause you're Nonprofit.
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Right?
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And so that just goes together.
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The cost of what you do should be very low because you're Nonprofit.
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And you know that's not true.
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But if that's the belief that's in that decision maker's head, what are the chances that they're ever going to be receptive to investing in your work at the true cost and value that it has?
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Those are a couple of super common ones.
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There are a bunch of them.
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But I bet you even as I just gave you those two prompts, you could think of several others where they've either said to you or they've implied by their actions or other behaviors or comments that they've got this belief that's in the way.
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So the first thing you wanna do is figure out what those are and identify them, write'em down.
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It's a really helpful exercise to list them out.
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And one thing that I've noticed is that it is not uncommon for there to be a set of beliefs about your work in particular or about your organization or the specific problem that you solve.
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There will be a faulty perception or belief across multiple decision makers, and it'll be the same faulty perception or belief.
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And that's when you know you have something you can really work with.
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Because the fact is that's a big heads up that something's missing in your messaging or something needs to be tweaked.
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'Cause somewhere along the line, multiple decision makers have gotten the same impression.
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So those are the places where I always advise my clients to tackle those first.
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Because you're gonna get the biggest result, obviously.
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There also will be some beliefs and misperceptions that are unique to a particular decision maker, and you also wanna be aware of those.
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But when you're triaging this,'cause you might be dealing with 20 different decision makers and that might be a lot to pay attention to.
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So the first thing you look for is what's common across several decision makers.
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And then for those that are kind of one-off misperceptions or faulty beliefs, you set your priorities based on how important is that decision maker to you.
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Based on whatever criteria you want to use to make that decision.
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Maybe they represent a huge pool of funding that's very important to you.
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Or maybe they have a lot of power in another setting that for whatever reason, they're at the top of your priority list.
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They're the ones you can least afford to have walking around with faulty perceptions and beliefs.
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So you set your priorities among your decision makers.
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The next thing you want to do is say, well, what do we need them to believe instead?
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If they believe that all Nonprofit stuff should be super cheap, what do we need them to believe instead?
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Well, there's a bunch of things probably.
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We need them to believe that pricing is not connected to Nonprofit versus for-profit.
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We need them to believe that quality is what matters and quality is what you pay for.
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Those are two minimum things, and then you can add to that list.
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If they tend to believe that the problem is super simple, you need them ultimately to believe and perceive that the problem is actually quite complex.
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Added onto that, that that complexity of the problem means that the solutions in turn will be complex.
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And therefore very likely cost more.
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You see how those two situations link to one another ultimately.
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So you figure out what you need them to believe instead.
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'cause that's where you want them to wind up.
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It would be really cool if you could just say, Hey, whoop, excuse me.
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You've got a faulty belief, a misperception.
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I'd like to correct that for you so that you can have a better life and make better decisions going forward.
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Uh, you can try that, but I'm guessing you know how that's gonna turn out.
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So we have to do things a little more strategically.
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Now we know that we need to disrupt and challenge the belief or perception that they currently hold.
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But the instinct and training that we all have from kindergarten on is that we make that argument with logic and facts and figures.
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And certainly we want to have facts and figures to back up whatever it is we're gonna say.
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But remember that you're dealing with beliefs and perceptions.
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Those are not necessarily grounded in facts and figures.
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They're grounded in other things.
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So if we try to break loose a belief with just facts and figures, we're not likely to have a great deal of success.
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So we have to come at it in a lot of different ways.
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There are over a dozen different strategies for this.
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And I teach just about all of those in my coaching programs.
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But let me share with you three of the easiest ones to use.
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One great technique is basically exaggeration, where you take their belief and explore what it would look like if it were true a hundred percent of the time.
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You can tee this up with an if then statement that's structured in a framework of, if that thing were always true, if that belief were always true, then obviously-not-true exaggeration would be the case.
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But we know it's not.
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So an example, plugging in actual things.
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If the belief is that the faster, cheaper, one size fits all version of the service you provide is just as good as the tailored version you offer.
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You might say, if that were always true, then there'd be no difference between McDonald's and fine dining.
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The elements of this that work are that when you make that comparison, first of all, you're taking it out of the exact thing that you're already talking about.
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You're helping them look at this through a different lens.
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Because if they're in the little rut of their belief about the thing, you have to take'em out of that rut.
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And all of these things are designed to do that, to pull them out of their thinking ruts, their belief ruts.
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And put them somewhere else for just a second, where they can see the obvious flaws in their current beliefs without you directly challenging them.
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So they don't have to get their ego all involved.
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They don't have to feel defensive.
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They just are like, oh, well yeah.
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Because there's total cognitive dissonance if you say something like McDonald's and fine dining would be the same based on that logic.
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But you don't have to attack their logic.
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You just say, well, you know, if that were true a hundred percent of the time, then this would be the case.
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So you can pick your own example.
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That's just one possibility.
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Another very useful technique is analogy, metaphor, and simile.
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And they're all basically in the same bucket.
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They all are gonna serve the same basic purpose.
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The goal here is to frame the unhelpful belief in an analogous situation that is from their world in some way.
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It might be from the specific professional world they're operating in, or could be from any other part of their world.
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If you can find a sports metaphor or analogy and they're a sports person, you can use that.
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If you can find a childcare metaphor or a pet metaphor, it doesn't matter.
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As long as you know that it's gonna make sense to them based on what you already know about them, have at it.
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When you're using this bucket of techniques, you're basically saying, whatever unhelpful belief is, that would be like doing X thing under Y circumstances.
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Where they can immediately see what a bad idea your example would be.
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So for example, if the belief is that the problem you solve is really simple and therefore the solution can also be simple and cheap.
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And let's say you're in the workforce development space.
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And you've got a decision maker who thinks it would be a great idea to just have everybody use some software to search for careers and skip the individual career counseling part.
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So when that's going on, they're totally focused on saving money and they're imagining how much cheaper it would be if people could just use the software and get their answers, and not have to pay all those people to do all that counseling work.
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One way to challenge this is to similarly simplify something in the decision maker's world or life experience that they know is really complicated.
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And then draw the comparison.
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So you might say, that would be a lot like saying we don't need healthcare practitioners, and instead everybody can just Google their symptoms, self-diagnose and prescribe their own treatment.
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When you put it like that, the absurdity of what they're proposing becomes immediately apparent.
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And then if they want to jump in and object about how, oh, no healthcare is way more complicated, then you've got an opening to help them understand why, actually, no, what you do is pretty complicated too.
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But you've broken open, you've disrupted the belief enough for them to even engage in the conversation.
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Whereas a few minutes ago, they were really focused on their great idea and how it was gonna save all this money.
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The third technique is a bit more direct, where you use a well-known example that contradicts their belief or perception.
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So for example, if the belief is that Nonprofit services are free or covered by donations, so there's no particular need to invest in them.
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You might say, it's a common misperception that nonprofits are primarily funded by donations and other philanthropy.
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But look at some of the biggest nonprofits around.
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St.
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Whoozy-do Hospital right here in town has a$10 billion annual budget, and 90% of that comes from payment for services provided.
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If they were relying on donations for funding, they would be outta business in a hurry.
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Again, you're taking it away from the example of your service, your program, and you're putting their head in a different place where they can open their mind a little more easily.
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And taking them out of that rut.
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All of these that I've shared with you are very effective ways to challenge and disrupt unhelpful beliefs that are frankly getting in decisionmakers way.
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And I'll warn you, these may feel a little uncomfortable till you get the hang of it.
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But keep at it.
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Because the alternative is to leave those beliefs and misperceptions unchallenged.
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And what's gonna happen then?
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If we allow them to stay in those problematic beliefs, what are the chances they're gonna shift their view about your work and the problems you solve and the value of the investment they need to make in your work?
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Staying where they are doesn't serve you or the decision maker.
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But when you disrupt their faulty thinking, you open them up to seeing things in a clearer light.
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And ultimately to making much smarter and more strategic decisions that will benefit them as well as your work and the people you serve.
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Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
