When you communicate, how do others evaluate what you say? Effectively transmitting ideas is vital in business. Executives with important initiatives need to get buy-in from colleagues, superiors and agents. Marketers need to get the company’s message across to insureds and prospects.
Whether in one to one communication or a marketing and sales support campaign, you could spend hours putting together a strong, persuasive message. But busy people often don’t take the time to carefully consider all the facts. Instead, research reveals, they use decision shortcuts. You probably do it yourself. Some decision shortcuts will vary from person to person. Do you know which ones your boss or customers use? Some are universal. Here are two:
Confidence
Georgetown University professor Deborah Tannen wrote, “The CEO of a major corporation told me that he often has to make decisions in five minutes about matters on which others may have worked five months. He said he uses this rule: If the person making the proposal seems confident, the CEO approves it. If not, he says no.” One who speaks with conviction often wins others over.
This, of course, is a two-edged sword. Many have attended meetings where one person appears supremely confident, but hard facts prove him/her wrong. As Professor Tannen’s example shows, people often assume that the most confident person in the room is the most correct. It’s therefore vital to base a self-assured presentation on solid evidence. No doubt the JPMorgan Chase executive who recommended gambling on risky trades sounded convincing, but that didn’t stop the bank from losing $20 billion.
Familiarity
Does it truly pay to regularly advertise your product or idea's advantages? Yes. Repetition boosts familiarity. Researchers find that people often base judgments on how easily something comes to mind. Social psychologist and author Dr. David Myers restates their conclusion: “Mere repetition can make things believable.” Studies reveal that even false statements, if repeated often enough, will be widely regarded as true. Naturally, in the information age lies are often quickly exposed. But if repeating a falsehood increases its acceptance, what will skillful reiteration do for the truth?
Effective marketing communications strategies often involve artfully repeating a product or plan's key advantages enough to gain acceptance. This is particularly true during challenging economic times. Harvard Business School professor John Quelch states, “It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”
Thus an integrated marketing communications campaign that uses different communication channels and messaging to build a brand will often succeed. In uncertain times people look for a sure thing. They often choose a product or a plan they’ve come to believe will work for them.
Are confidence and familiarity shortcuts your boss or customers use to make decisions? Research reveals several others that are common. Stay tuned.
Let's face it, your product is probably boring as hell. And your competitive advantages are probably just as much of a snoozer. That doesn't mean you don't have a great product or that your competitive advantages are not accurate (though I might challenge you on that one), but we'll go with it for now. These are pretty harsh words. But to truly strategize, deploy and reap the rewards of compelling lead generation methods, you can let me ask the questions, or you can just ask them of yourselves. Who really cares? Why would I pick up the phone or log on to that personalized URL, or take any action that you request of me?
Katherine Heigl. I guess she admitted on Monday that - at times -- she regrets having left "Grey's Anatomy. Hmm. As "admissions" go, I'm not sure that was the most revealing.
I think I say the term 'CRM' maybe 250 times in a week. I have said it so often that I forget it's even an acronym for something. Over the last year we have discussed what customer relationship management means to Allied and what we need to do with that 'meaning' going forward. Overall it involves "using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes... The overall goals are to find, attract, and acquire new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service..." - 
Yaaahoooo! Let's get right into it...here's "what's trending" according to Yahoo:
Holiday season is busy time of year . . . very busy. Holiday parties. Buying Gifts. Year-end tasks at work. Seeing relatives. There are many things that happen at the end of the year that no doubt make this a stressful time. BUT despite all the stress, we love it!
This ain't Kansas anymore folks. But it really doesn't have to be complicated either. It's just life as we know it now. Can you say you really prefer radio over newspaper? Or maybe TV over the Internet? Or emails vs. texts? Or how about LinkedIn vs. Facebook. Sure, we all have ones that we like, dislike, use more than another etc..., but, for the most part, we are all exposed to multi-media messages, ads, "buzz" and conversations through multiple channels by marketers, bloggers, friends, family, trustworthy, untrustworthy, relevant, irrelevant, clever and not so clever.
Let's face it, technology has pretty much invaded every aspect of our lives. And as much as you try to "unplug", it has become increasingly impossible to navigate your way through a typical day without encountering technology in some way.
1. Cheryl Burke. Who? I must confess, I hadn't a clue. Well it looks like this Dancing with the Stars "pro" has become a blogger for People. And today's topic is her observation of Rob Kardashian's (her Dancing with the Stars partner) weight loss. OK.
There are a lot of sayings about this topic. It's not how you run the race, it's that you finish the race (something like that). It's important to get off to a good/quick start. Its important to finish strong. You don't win or lose the World Series in April. You don't win or lose the World Series in September. Winning is everything. Nobody remembers who came in 2nd. It's not winning or losing, it's how you play the game. 
Powered by Compendium