5 Proven Open Loops — The Keys To A Captivating Presentation Or Sales Pitch

Curiosity killed the cat. It also made the marketer, copywriter, and presenter rich. Why? Because open loops make people pay attention, even if they’d much rather be somewhere else doing anything other than paying attention to you!

What is an open loop?

An open loop, also referred to as “salting,” is where you introduce a thought or story and then leave the ending or conclusion until later in your presentation. You do this in order to hold people’s attention and keep them 100% focused on you and your message as you move through your presentation.

You can do this a number of ways, including:

Open Loop #1

Pose an intriguing question at the beginning of the presentation that you don’t answer until the end.

“Why are most businesses failing post Covid? What are the 3 keys to massive increases in profits? That’s exactly what we’re going to cover today, so hold onto your hats!”

When you start with a question, but don’t immediately give the answer, people MUST keep paying attention until you provide a resolution. Using a question as an open loop also functions as a great hook! (2 for the price of one!)

Open Loop #2

Provide a statistic or piece of data early in the presentation that you explain in more detail later.

“73% of all businesses see an INTSTANT increase in profits within 15 days of doing this one thing. I’ll tell you exactly what that is in just a moment, but first…”

As I write this I’m thinking “I GOTTA KNOW what that is!” Using a statistic combined with either a payoff your audience wants, or a penalty/pain they really want to avoid, creates an hypnotic open loop they just can’t ignore. Everyone will want to see if they can be part of the 73%!

Open Loop #3

Share a story or anecdote that you don’t resolve until the end.

“Let me tell you about the time I was standing in the middle of bankruptcy court and the judge laughed in my face! How had I gotten there and, more importantly, would I ever recover financially or spiritually.”

Often you can use the point of high drama in the story as the open loop. Do you want to know WHY the judge was laughing at me? Why was I there? Did I recover? (I’m talking to you, so I must have, but how?) All of these things run through the mind of the audience and they have to stick around until it’s resolved.

Open Loop #4

Introduce a customer success story that you elaborate on later in the presentation.

“Today you’ll hear about Mary. Mary lost 30 pounds in 30 days without setting foot in gym or starving herself. In fact, Mary said she ate more food that month than she ever had in her life… but the pounds still melted off like ice cubes in a hot skillet!”

Come on. No matter how jaded you are or how many different diets or supplements you’ve tried, you’re gonna stick around to hear how Mary lost that weight. If you need to lose weight, you MUST stick around for Mary’s story, if for no other reason than to say to yourself “I already knew that!”

Open Loop #5

Mention a hidden, unexpected, or accidental benefit that you’ll explain in detail later.

“When I started this journey, I was expecting to just lose a few pounds, but along the way I discovered something that changed my life, the lives of my family, and the destiny of people I’ll never even meet. What I thought was a simple way to lose weight turned into something so much more, and we’ll talk about that in a bit.”

Okay, maybe it’s a little bit flowery, but unless you’re a bitter know-it-all, you’re gonna stick around to find out what the big epiphany was for the presenter, especially if it was something uber cool!

Statements, quotes, pictures, or snippets of video can also make incredibly effective open loops you tie back into later in your presentation. The key is to start a train of thought, interrupt it, and then finish it later. In many ways, open looks are just hooks with a delayed story. You open the loop, but don’t tell or finish the story until later in your presentation or sales copy.

Open loops are one of the best ways to hold attention once you’ve hooked your audience. Masters of this technique will often have multiple open loops going at the same time. However, don’t overdo it because you’ll just piss people off and confuse them. It’s kinda like garlic. The right amount makes a meal magical… but use too much and you’ll be sleeping alone tonight because your breath stinks!

Ready to take your presentations and sales pitches to the next level? Learn how to use open loops and other storytelling strategies to make your message unforgettable. Sign up at CopyAndContent.AI and get access to the tools that will accelerate your business growth