I hate being sold. New-product propagandists annoy me. Innovation entrepreneurs oozing charisma over their brilliant ideas also fail to persuade. As the poet observed, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." In other words, while I'm happy to change my mind, I'd really rather change it myself.

That do-it-yourself attitude is at the stubborn heart of a major marketing dilemma for innovators. Persuading potential customers that your innovation is indispensable is one thing; getting them to persuade themselves of that fact is quite another. This is a critical distinction. Some potential customers desperately want or need to be convinced. In the larger marketplace of novelty and innovation, however, many people prefer the opportunity to convince themselves.

Expanding the question from "How do we persuade people?" to "How do we persuade people to persuade themselves?" poses provocative design choices for innovators. Companies spend appalling amounts of money designing models, prototypes, or simulations that amplify the persuasiveness of their salespeople. But that's a profoundly different task than devising media and methods that empower people to persuade themselves. Precisely because innovators offer the different and the new, they should appreciate that their customers might want to choose how they will be persuaded.

Consider the awkward conversations surrounding retirement planning. Many people are understandably reluctant to discuss the subject for fear of exposing their ignorance or out of concern that they'll be pitched a plethora of "retirement products" from a financial planner working on commission.