An older video, but very clever.
Robert De Niro sells cars
Vulgar, but humorous.
Clinton 2012
Bill Clinton’s speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention nominating Barack Obama for a second term as president is considered a masterpiece in persuasion.
Procopius and Anekdota
The Byzantine official Procopius wrote three historical works in Greek. In the first two, he dealt with wars and public works projects, but the third was something of a departure from this kind of history.
Referred to as Anekdota, from the Greek a meaning not, and ekdidonai meaning to publish, it contained bitter attacks on the emperor Justinian, his wife, and other notables of contemporary Constantinople.
“Super common with this breed”
The vet should have stopped after she got the dog-owner to accept the first three. Here are some funny comments:
“for anyone who thinks that eye removal joke is an exaggeration my mom’s yorkie almost had her eyes removed by the vet after years of treatment when another vet cured them easily with some drops and a cream”
“Sounds surprising similar to the last time I took my car in to the mechanic for a “general check-up.”
“When my dog started to have trouble walking the vet touched his belly for like one minute and told me he only has 3 months to live. Charged me $80 for it. He did die 3 months later tho so thanks for the heads up”
“Always be closing!”
This is a famous scene with Alec Baldwin from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. Brace yourselves. This scene is very intense and includes vulgar language. In the American business context persuasion is sales, and sales is persuasion.
“Whaddya say, Ray?”
Observe how a very intelligent young man by the name of Harry Sonneborn persuades Ray Croc to fundamentally change his business model re: McDonald’s.
Steve Ballmer going crazy
Former Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, was famous for displaying his emotions and energy at conferences. The video below from the early 2000s is typical for his exuberance
Ballmer is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association in the U.S. Here is on an American late-night talk show:
Bill Clinton. Aretha Franklin.
From Merriam-Webster: a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident. Synonyms: story, tale.
The artful placement of an anecdote is key to being persuasive in the American culture. Stories are convincing. They speak to our experience. Storytelling. Great leaders in business, politics, culture know how to speak to the imagination of their audience. Listen to former President Bill Clinton speak at the funeral service for Aretha Franklin:
“Buy before too late!“
When Americans sell too energetically Germans find it a bit crass, loud, unpolished. I see in my mind’s eye a certain kind of television advertising in the U.S. Evenings. Six p.m. A local station. A local car dealership. The owner him-/herself, with his face up close to the camera, in a loud voice: “This is the greatest deal of the century. Buy fast, folks, before it’s too late!”
Or I think of the famous, and often infamous, television evangelical preachers of the 1980s and 90s, with tears in their eyes asking their audience in the church and in their living rooms to “speak directly to God” – via an 1-800 telephone number – and make a donation.
What Germans do not understand, and reject (often vehemently), is the caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) approach in the American business context. The difference between the German Auskunftspflicht and caveat emptor is dramatic and leads to significant misunderstanding and irritation.
What surprises, throws off balance, and can anger Germans is when Americans while selling their product, service, concept or idea only mention its strengths, even though the Germans sense, or even know, of its weaknesses.
They often notice immediately when Americans exaggerate the positive and either play down or leave unmentioned the negative. And if the negatives are mentioned, then as if by some magic they can actually be converted into strengths, if understood and managed properly.
Depending on how much experience Germans have working with Americans, the caveat emptor approach can lead to indignation. At a minimum Americans can be viewed as being tricky, clever, in some cases even as lying.