All of us at least once had a good idea, a business idea to be more precise. The problem is that the vast majority of us haven’t done anything with it and so the idea died.

In a world where about two-thirds of good ideas are rejected because they are presented in an underwhelming way, it might be a good thing to brush up on your persuasion skills and give your idea a kiss of life.

Check out: 7 Power Tools of Persuasion

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Glossary

• tingly – causing or experiencing a slight prickling or stinging sensation
• hatch – conspire to devise (a plot or plan)
• on the vine – if something withers on the vine, it is destroyed very gradually, usually because no one does anything to help or support it
• detrimental – tending to cause harm
• embezzle – steal or misappropriate (money placed in one’s trust or belonging to the organization for which one works)
• sizzle reel – a fast paced video that is short and incorporates creativity with sounds and engaging sights to advertise a product or any concept on TV

Think about it

Answer the questions below.

• Why are as many as two-thirds of all pitched ideas rejected?
• What impression might your audience get if your presentation of an idea is too wordy?
• What should you do if you’re not too sure of your next sentence?
• What are the most common terms of equivocation and why should they be avoided?
• What does the author mean by saying you should “channel your Inner Bobby Fisher?”

Practice makes perfect

In the sentences below replace the words and phrases in bold with the ones used in the original article.

• Just about all entrepreneurs have experienced that warm, tingly feeling when they realize they’ve conceived a brilliant idea that could change an industry [. . .]
• Sadly, this is not a tiny problem.
• They naturally disappear and have no future because they were presented poorly.
• [. . .] a lack of persuasiveness when rallying support for an idea can be as harmful to a business as an embezzling CFO.
• Where will they try to find fault with your idea?

Explore it more

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