Merry Christmas

 

May your Christmas and New Year

Be Smooth Sailing

“Do Not Be Afraid”

Are you holding back in any way? Consider this…

When the angel greeted Mary and told her of what role she was to play for God, to be the mother of Jesus Christ, she was “greatly troubled” and filled with doubt.

How common it can be to for us to react the same way when we have—to put it one way—a monumentally tall order ahead of us, or “big, hairy, audacious goals” to accomplish. When presented with new, grand roles to play, fear and doubt are among our own internal “first responders.”

Yet look at what God instilled in Mary and what she, in turn, claimed for herself. The angel said, “Do not be afraid.” Then Mary, as if with her head held high, shoulders back, and with a confident voice declared, “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be.”

The angel and Mary reveals to us the quality we are to possess in such (in all) moments: conviction. We are to have a firmly held belief—a confidence, sincerity—in the certainty of our living and working out those things we are to do.

Conviction, the fifth “C” in the 7Cs of Persuasion, reflects a personal belief, confidence and determination, and it’s wonderfully contagious.

May this holy season and holy day remind us all to not hold back, to not be afraid, but rather to live, work and relate with conviction.

Merry Christmas.

Scripture reference: Luke 1: 29-38

The Only Visitor of My Profile Is…

I’m getting tired of receiving emails from Reunion.com…which I receive about once a week…that “A 51-year-old from Medfield visited your profile.”

That’s me, and I haven’t even visited it in a month.

My preference is for LinkedIn, Facebook, and the jury is still out on Plaxo.

Which are your favorites, and why?

Consider This…

“In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts.” – Rupert Murdoch

True, though put “hearts” before “minds” for your advertisements. 

It’s our human nature to first react emotionally to what is being communicated to us.

When your ads create a positive emotional reaction, and then provide information that lets your audience justify—rationalize—that emotional response, you’ve got a message that can effectively motivate.

You Know What?…

In one of our research projects, we asked hundreds of employees to name something frequently asked on a job interview.

The number one answer: Previous Experience

If you’re job hunting, you’ll be more persuasive by using success stories to help your interviewer visualize the benefit and value of your experience. The second “C” from our 7Cs of Persuasion is CASE HISTORIES.

Audiences of one, or one million are more fully engaged and convinced when they hear or see positive outcomes.

What do you think were the next five responses to our survey, subjects brought up during job interviews?

Gain Market Share Now – Part 3

To recap from Parts 1 and 2, the first four of the seven steps to Gain Market Share Now include the following:

1.  Listen anew to your audiences. Their thoughts, feelings and needs have changed.

2.  Refine and strengthen your primary and secondary messages.

3.  Refine and strengthen your offers and calls-to-action.

4.  Utilize proven marketing and sales tools and approaches.

If you need to catch up on the details of each, please go back; scroll down for those posts.

This part focuses on one of the single most powerful of all seven steps, and the one that has accounted for some our clients being able to see double-digit growth this year. Some of the most dramatic and exciting case histories from my career can be attributed to this strategy.

5.  Increase, and be more creative with how you create sampling opportunities.

Instead of underestimating the potential impact from product/service sampling, go ahead and over-estimate what it can do. Think big, because a positive sampling experience is a brand-changer. It’s a closer.

A sampling experience can take shape in a wide variety of ways and in new ways than you’ve ever thought. Clearly, the best is in person, yet effective use of media opens up new possibilities.

The emphasis needs to be on the “experience” (emotional and rational). Think in terms of when and where the experience can be novel and even surprising.

For examples of what has worked well for us, reply or contact me directly.

Meanwhile, what’s the most creative form of product sampling you’ve produced, or experienced?

GM Is Still Selling Against The 80’s

How would you like to have to advertise and sell now, fighting to live down your customers’ 20-year-old (negative) views?

CNN’s John Roberts yesterday interviewed Bob Lutz, GM vice chairman of global product development, and discussed a GM ad recently placed in Automotive News Journal, which Roberts described as a “big mea culpa” and an acknowledgment that GM let down customers with diminished quality and dull designs.

Lutz said, “I think people were expecting this sort of message. What we’re trying to do with an ad like that is live down this legacy of the ’80s. Everybody agrees that American cars of the ’80s were not very good and were not competitive with the Japanese. But that was a long time ago.”

Given the full-court-press GM and the other Detroit car makers are making on Capital Hill, this ad of GM’s may be helpful at softening up Congress and voters alike. Dramatic times may call for dramatic messages.

However, if we’re to be persuaded that GM is worth our tax dollars, let along buying one of their cars, the most persuasive message was presented by Lutz’s next comment to Roberts.

Lutz continued, “We’ve now equaled the Japanese in productivity and quality, and speaking for General Motors we got Car of the Year with the Saturn Aura, Car of the Year for Chevy Malibu, Truck of the Year with the Silverado, Green car of the Year with the Silverado hybrid, and on and and on. Car of the Year with the Cadillac CTS.”

That’s more like it. That’s positive. Referring to the awards is believable, trusted, coming from a third party. Just as CLOUT is the fourth “C” in the 7Cs of Persuasion, whenever we can refer to the judgment of a credible and relevant expert or respected third party, we can be more persuasive.

Would you ever write copy in an ad, or state in a sales pitch anything similar to what GM explained in their ad?…”We have proliferated our brands and dealer network to the point where we lost adequate focus on the core U.S. market.”

Do you think this helps them be more persuasive?

Who’s The Best Listener You Know?

“It seemed rather incongruous that in a society of supersophisticated communication, we often suffer from a shortage of listeners.” – Erma Bombeck.

Who’s the best listener you know? What qualities make him or her a good listener?

The Salvation Army’s “Expect Change”

The Salvation Army very effectively uses a powerful statement in this year’s campaign:

“When you put money in our kettle, expect change.”

It’s a creative and timely benefit statement. Furthermore, it reflects the fifth “C” in our 7Cs of Persuasion. When you use CONSEQUENCES, whether they are positive or negative, you communicate the impact of your actions. Just as in communicating or persuading with a “Feature/Benefit” or “Problem/Solution” approach, outlining what will happen when the action is taken, and likewise what will happen when a certain action is not taken, this is an absolute must facet to effective persuasion.

Another good tool used by the Salvation Army is the personal online device, My Kettle. I created one and invite you to help me raise just $125.00 this month.

Please point your browser to this address and make a donation: 

http://give.salvationarmyusa.org/goto/Rick.Cram

You Know What?…

Boston area workers have plenty of excuses for their bosses when they’re late to work. According to our survey, here are their top five:

• Car trouble
• Bad traffic
• Overslept
• Alarm broke
• Missed the train
• Felt sick

Missing from the list is, “I was running late.”

I once heard some good advice when we show up late to a meeting: don’t give a reason, just apologize and proceed.