Starting at the one minute mark of this video John Cena delivers some persuasion genius.
In case you missed it, John Cena hosted the ESPY’s this year. Not a lot of people were excited about it. John Cena the jorts-wearing WWE guy… hosting a show? That not’s exciting.
So John Cena had a problem going in. No one was excited to see him in this role. The host is supposed to be funny, but of all the associations you might have with Cena, funny is not one of them.
John Cena went out, and within a minute and a half had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.
What he did is one of the most important lessons you can learn as a copywriter or someone who needs to persuade anyone.
He openly addressed objections.
Okay, I get it. Tension in the room. Let’s just address it. Why the hell did they get me to host this thing?
Cena (or more likely his writers) steal the thought right out of your head. As you listen to Cena ask the question you’re thinking, a part of you feels empathized with. On some level, you experience the feeling that he understands me.
Biggest night in sports, they couldn’t go out and get Kevin Hart, Matt Damon, Kristoff Porzingis.
Instead they hand it to a guy who spends most of his life in jean shorts and is actually proud of it.
Why?
Why did they go get a guy from the red headed stepchild of sport and entertainment? Why did ESPN get a host from the WWE?
I mean it’s rigged.
Cena continues to build on the point. Why him? He adds levity. Gets you laughing, which opens you up to being persuaded and builds suspense for his answer. Why John Cena?
Why did they go get a guy from the red headed stepchild of sport and entertainment. Why did ESPN get a host from the WWE.
I mean it’s rigged.
Did I just to spoil the surprise for anyone?
It’s scripted entertainment, what we do is fake.
So I know what your thinking. Me hosting the ESPY’s, that crazy.
Or, is it genius?
It’s time to take a look at yourself sports. And realize that you are more like the WWE than you have ever imaged.
John Cena concludes his answer and the crowd laughs. The thing everyone was thinking “Why the hell is John Cena hosting?” has now been resolved. But if you look at his answer, you can see that he never answered the question.
The original objection was framed as “Why is John Cena hosting the ESPY’s?” This is a question about John Cena as an entertainer. Compared to Kevin Hart, or Drake, or any of the other amazing performers and entertainers, why this dude?
Cena sets up his argument around this point. But, in a subtle and quick way he changes the frame. Instead of “why is John Cena a good host?” the question becomes “why is the WWE like other sports?”
Biggest night in sports, they couldn’t go out and get Kevin Hart, Matt Damon, Kristoff Porzingis.
Instead they hand it to a guy who spends most of his life in jean shorts and is actually proud of it.
Why? <—- “Why John Cena instead of someone like Kevin Hart”
Why did they go get a guy from the red headed stepchild of sport and entertainment? Why did ESPN get a host from the WWE? <— Repeats the why, but changes the question.
I mean it’s rigged.
He has completely changed the topic, but he has done it so smoothly, so elegantly, that you just accept the point as answered.
Cena goes on to make some funny comparisons between the major sports and WWE. The crowd is laughing, fully bought into John Cena as the host.
So what is the lesson to take away?
First, don’t hide from objections, address them immediately! This is obvious and easy when you have a good answer to the objection, but it becomes more difficult when the objection is a very legitimate concern.
All to often we feel uncomfortable about objections, and we try to hide from them. We doubt ourselves, so we avoid addressing that doubt in the open.
Why is John Cena hosting is an excellent question, ESPY fans would have been way more excited about Kevin Hart.
So, John Cena could have crafted an answer based on reason. That he was a good host because he has a lot of experience with entertaining crowds and talking in the blah blah blah…. But, John Cena would have lost the crowd if he had done that.
With an attempt to answer the question through reason, Cena would have confirmed the story in everyone’s head that John Cena is not funny or entertaining as a host.
Instead, Cena took the objection and with some linguistic judo changed the frame to make it about a comparison between the WWE and the NBA/NFL/MLB. This is a more humorous comparison, and it is a more favorable comparison than Cena vs. Kevin Hart.
So remember that you need to address objections to be persuasive, but you don’t necessarily need to answer them directly. As the speaker or writer (less wiggle room as a writer) you can use structure, like a repetitive “why?” to change to tweak the objection to something that has a more concise and more flattering answer.
You can turn an unfavorable comparison to a favorable one. And you can turn doubt and skeptism in belief.
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