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Persuasive framing is a psychological technique that salespeople use to focus a pitch. Bestselling author Daniel Pink discusses the power of persuasive framing and how to use it to capture the sale.

Daniel Pink Discusses Persuasive Framing in Sales

 One aspect of contemporary society is that people are stimulus rich but context poor. They don't know what it all means, they don't know where to focus their gaze. And one thing that always helps people see in any realm of life is a frame. It's hard to-- there's so much stuff going on around us that we don't know what to focus on. And so, if you put something in a frame, it actually makes things a little clearer. And it can lead to a better outcome, in part because it focuses the issue on what you want to focus on. It avoids people concentrating on extraneous things. In some ways, it sets the terms of the discussion. You don't have to use a frame every single time, but what I want to try to equip you with is a whole set of frames. So almost like you have a workshop and you have all these frames arrayed on your shelf, and in certain circumstances, you say, oh, I want to use that one. Oh, I want to use that one. That's going to give you a greater persuasive repertoire and allow you to be more convincing, more likely to get people to go along.

Bestselling author and human behavior expert [Daniel Pink](https://www.masterclass.com/classes/daniel-pink-teaches-sales-and-persuasion) started his career in politics after landing a coveted job at the White House as the chief speechwriter for then-Vice President Al Gore in 1995. A couple of years later, Daniel decided to leave the position to follow other pursuits and wrote about his own rationale for leaving politics in a landmark article for *Fast Company*. That story, and his subsequent journey into the world of freelancing, served as the basis for his first book, *Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself*, which arrived in 2001. Since then, Daniel’s research and writing, focused on the behavioral and social sciences, have cemented his place among the world’s most influential management thinkers. 

Four of his books, including his 2018 release, *When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing*, have become *New York Times* bestsellers. He’s contributed to *The New York Times*, *Harvard Business Review*, and *Slate*, worked as a contributing editor for *Wired*, and appeared as a regular guest on PBS, ABC, and CNN. In the last 15 years, he’s delivered more than 1,000 lectures to companies, universities, and nonprofits on six continents. His speech on the science of motivation is one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time, with nearly 40 million views across multiple platforms. Daniel offers unparalleled expertise on everything from [getting a raise](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-negotiate-a-raise) to pitching a product and is an authority on motivation and persuasion. 

Daniel is the author of many provocative books about the changing world of work and human motivation, including the *New York Times* bestseller, *A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future*, the #1 *New York Times* bestseller, *Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us*, the *Washington Post* and *Wall Street Journal* bestseller *To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others*, and *The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need*, a business book that uses manga-style formatting.
In business, persuasive framing is a psychological tool that salespeople use to craft and hone a [sales pitch](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/daniel-pinks-tips-for-crafting-a-sales-pitch) that speaks to the biases of their prospective clientele to persuade them to make a purchase or commitment. Salespeople use many frames to play to various biases, including the potential frame, which emphasizes potential, and the loss frame, which focuses on what customers stand to lose by not making the purchase. 

A major part of knowing how to frame a pitch persuasively comes from understanding that humans inherently fall victim to [cognitive bias](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-identify-cognitive-bias), which is best described as letting subjective reality—or how we perceive the world—take precedence over objective reality. Cognitive bias ultimately affects how and why people make a decision. In sales, it’s always beneficial to consider cognitive bias while pitching because it can help salespeople decide how to best frame a pitch in a particular circumstance.
Framing provides customers with the right perspective and language to help them get past the personal, professional, and cultural filters through which everyone sees the world, allowing salespeople to tap directly into what appeals most to them. According to bestselling author Daniel Pink, “Framing focuses the issue on what you want to focus on. It sets the terms of the discussion.” Here, Daniel discusses some of the most common persuasive framing techniques in sales:

1. __The Blemish Frame__: This frame focuses on being upfront about a product’s minor flaw to persuade a customer to purchase it. Salespeople typically tuck the product’s blemish in after naming all of its positive attributes. Daniel shares an example of a Stanford study in which participants had to choose between two hiking boots. The boots’ descriptions featured a list of positive attributes, but at the end of one of the lists was a single flaw—one of the pairs of boots was only available in two colors. The group opted to purchase the boots with the flaw. “You might think that it's because the seller was being honest and open, and that could be part of it,” Daniel says. “But in the long list of positives, you didn't have anything to compare it to. With the long list of positives followed by the small negative, that small negative triggered that very important compared-to-what question.” 
2. __The Experience Frame__: This frame is based on the cognitive bias of experiential value, which draws on people’s tendency to value experience over goods and services. “We tend to value a fairly universal set of experiences. What do we like? We like novelty. To some extent, we like a challenge. We like being with people we care about,” Daniel explains. “And that common set of experiences are really what gives us satisfaction as human beings. And so you can elevate your offering, again, by putting it into this experience frame and make it in some ways, not only more viable but more valuable to the person who's buying it.”
3. __The Loss Frame__: Based on the cognitive bias of [loss aversion](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/loss-aversion-explained), the loss frame contextualizes a sale around what the buyer stands to lose if they don’t hit the bid. Selling someone insurance is the classic example of this frame. “We experience losses more severely than the equivalent gain. So the prospect of losing $10 is far more daunting than the thrill of winning $10, even though economically, it's essentially the same,” Daniel explains.
4. __The Potential Frame__: This frame, which draws on the cognitive bias of [opportunity cost](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/learn-about-opportunity-cost-in-microeconomics), embraces the possibility that potential is often more persuasive than current performance. “The reason this is effective, I think, is because potential creates uncertainty, right? When we don't know what something is going to be like, we start filling in the blanks,” Daniel says. “And often, people will fill in the blanks and make decisions based on what they imagine to be very positive things. And so, by emphasizing potential in those kinds of circumstances, you're creating uncertainty. The other person is filling in that uncertainty with something positive.”
Get the [MasterClass Annual Membership](https://www.masterclass.com) for exclusive access to video lessons taught by business luminaries, including Daniel Pink, Chris Voss, Robin Roberts, Sara Blakely, Bob Iger, Howard Schultz, Anna Wintour, and more.
Persuasive framing is a psychological technique that salespeople use to focus a pitch. Bestselling author Daniel Pink discusses the power of persuasive framing and how to use it to capture the sale.

Bestselling author and human behavior expert <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/classes/daniel-pink-teaches-sales-and-persuasion' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/classes/daniel-pink-teaches-sales-and-persuasion","linkCopy":"Daniel Pink","category":null}'>Daniel Pink</a> started his career in politics after landing a coveted job at the White House as the chief speechwriter for then-Vice President Al Gore in 1995. A couple of years later, Daniel decided to leave the position to follow other pursuits and wrote about his own rationale for leaving politics in a landmark article for Fast Company. That story, and his subsequent journey into the world of freelancing, served as the basis for his first book, Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself, which arrived in 2001. Since then, Daniel’s research and writing, focused on the behavioral and social sciences, have cemented his place among the world’s most influential management thinkers. Four of his books, including his 2018 release, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, have become New York Times bestsellers. He’s contributed to The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Slate, worked as a contributing editor for Wired, and appeared as a regular guest on PBS, ABC, and CNN. In the last 15 years, he’s delivered more than 1,000 lectures to companies, universities, and nonprofits on six continents. His speech on the science of motivation is one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time, with nearly 40 million views across multiple platforms. Daniel offers unparalleled expertise on everything from <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-negotiate-a-raise' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-negotiate-a-raise","linkCopy":"getting a raise","category":null}'>getting a raise</a> to pitching a product and is an authority on motivation and persuasion. Daniel is the author of many provocative books about the changing world of work and human motivation, including the New York Times bestseller, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, the #1 New York Times bestseller, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal bestseller To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others, and The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need, a business book that uses manga-style formatting.

A Brief Introduction to Daniel Pink

In business, persuasive framing is a psychological tool that salespeople use to craft and hone a <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/daniel-pinks-tips-for-crafting-a-sales-pitch' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/daniel-pinks-tips-for-crafting-a-sales-pitch","linkCopy":"sales pitch","category":null}'>sales pitch</a> that speaks to the biases of their prospective clientele to persuade them to make a purchase or commitment. Salespeople use many frames to play to various biases, including the potential frame, which emphasizes potential, and the loss frame, which focuses on what customers stand to lose by not making the purchase. A major part of knowing how to frame a pitch persuasively comes from understanding that humans inherently fall victim to <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-identify-cognitive-bias' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-identify-cognitive-bias","linkCopy":"cognitive bias","category":null}'>cognitive bias</a>, which is best described as letting subjective reality—or how we perceive the world—take precedence over objective reality. Cognitive bias ultimately affects how and why people make a decision. In sales, it’s always beneficial to consider cognitive bias while pitching because it can help salespeople decide how to best frame a pitch in a particular circumstance.

What Is Persuasive Framing?

Framing provides customers with the right perspective and language to help them get past the personal, professional, and cultural filters through which everyone sees the world, allowing salespeople to tap directly into what appeals most to them. According to bestselling author Daniel Pink, “Framing focuses the issue on what you want to focus on. It sets the terms of the discussion.” Here, Daniel discusses some of the most common persuasive framing techniques in sales:<ol class="mc-m-4"><li class="mc-my-4"> 1. The Blemish Frame: This frame focuses on being upfront about a product’s minor flaw to persuade a customer to purchase it. Salespeople typically tuck the product’s blemish in after naming all of its positive attributes. Daniel shares an example of a Stanford study in which participants had to choose between two hiking boots. The boots’ descriptions featured a list of positive attributes, but at the end of one of the lists was a single flaw—one of the pairs of boots was only available in two colors. The group opted to purchase the boots with the flaw. “You might think that it&#39;s because the seller was being honest and open, and that could be part of it,” Daniel says. “But in the long list of positives, you didn&#39;t have anything to compare it to. With the long list of positives followed by the small negative, that small negative triggered that very important compared-to-what question.” </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 2. The Experience Frame: This frame is based on the cognitive bias of experiential value, which draws on people’s tendency to value experience over goods and services. “We tend to value a fairly universal set of experiences. What do we like? We like novelty. To some extent, we like a challenge. We like being with people we care about,” Daniel explains. “And that common set of experiences are really what gives us satisfaction as human beings. And so you can elevate your offering, again, by putting it into this experience frame and make it in some ways, not only more viable but more valuable to the person who&#39;s buying it.” </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 3. The Loss Frame: Based on the cognitive bias of <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/loss-aversion-explained' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/loss-aversion-explained","linkCopy":"loss aversion","category":null}'>loss aversion</a>, the loss frame contextualizes a sale around what the buyer stands to lose if they don’t hit the bid. Selling someone insurance is the classic example of this frame. “We experience losses more severely than the equivalent gain. So the prospect of losing $10 is far more daunting than the thrill of winning $10, even though economically, it&#39;s essentially the same,” Daniel explains. </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 4. The Potential Frame: This frame, which draws on the cognitive bias of <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/learn-about-opportunity-cost-in-microeconomics' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/learn-about-opportunity-cost-in-microeconomics","linkCopy":"opportunity cost","category":null}'>opportunity cost</a>, embraces the possibility that potential is often more persuasive than current performance. “The reason this is effective, I think, is because potential creates uncertainty, right? When we don&#39;t know what something is going to be like, we start filling in the blanks,” Daniel says. “And often, people will fill in the blanks and make decisions based on what they imagine to be very positive things. And so, by emphasizing potential in those kinds of circumstances, you&#39;re creating uncertainty. The other person is filling in that uncertainty with something positive.” </li></ol>

Get the <a href='https://www.masterclass.com' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com","linkCopy":"MasterClass Annual Membership","category":null}'>MasterClass Annual Membership</a> for exclusive access to video lessons taught by business luminaries, including Daniel Pink, Chris Voss, Robin Roberts, Sara Blakely, Bob Iger, Howard Schultz, Anna Wintour, and more.

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Persuasive framing is a psychological technique that salespeople use to focus a pitch. Bestselling author Daniel Pink discusses the power of persuasive framing and how to use it to capture the sale.

Persuasive framing is a psychological technique that salespeople use to focus a pitch. Bestselling author Daniel Pink discusses the power of persuasive framing and how to use it to capture the sale.
