Text Size 
Setting Up The Appeal
In order to properly set up an appeal you must know what emotions you are hoping to engage. It is imperative that you understand generally what your audience will respond to or is seeking.
One of the best ways to effectively set up an appeal is through effective questioning, getting people to express what it is that they desire most. But that isn’t the end; you need to ask questions around what is important about that desire. Once you know what is important to the person or the group you can then set up the emotional appeal.
Let’s look at my three year old daughter as an example. I was recently shopping for some educational toys that would help her learn better or more efficiently. I particularly wanted things that would help her begin to learn to see patterns, something I was not taught in my youth.
The store clerk greeted me and asked me what I was looking for. I told him that I was looking for toys for my daughter that would help her learn more about pattern recognition. He proceeded to show me several toys and suggested that the best toy was one of the most expensive. He went on to talk to me about the quality of the toy and the research that went into it. Those were important things to me, but not the most important. Had he received the education you are right now, he might have asked a series of questions that looked something like this:
Salesman: Welcome to The Toy Store, is there something specific you are looking for?
Me: Yes, educational toys that help children learn pattern recognition.
Salesman: Let me show you what we have. What is important in learning pattern recognition for you?
Me: I believe that it allows children to learn more easily when they are able to recognize the patterns in language, mathematics etc.
Salesman: Interesting . . . . Did you learn pattern recognition when you were young?
Me: No, education was not a priority when I was a child so no one really taught me how to learn (strong emotional content around loss and shame). But all the really smart people I know (emotional content around acceptance by a certain group of people) understand how to recognize and interpret patterns in information and their surroundings, so I learned later in life (emotional content around pride).
Salesman – We have a wide variety of toys that help children learn patterns, but the ones that are recommended by some of the top learning institutions like Harvard will help your child have the advantage you didn’t much earlier. Is earlier mastery important to you? (Encouraging me to engage my emotional content around wanting my daughter to be smart and not feel the same shame I did around what I perceived as an inefficient education.)
Me: Absolutely!
Salesman – Wonderful, these are the top two toys for early mastery. Why don’t we let your daughter look at them with you and see which ones appeal most to her? (Encourages me to get involved in the teaching, learning, and selection process with my daughter, firing off many emotions around being connecting, loving etc.)
Me: Perfect.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes