Are you really customer-focused or just pretending?
It’s much easier to claim that you’re customer-focused than to actually demonstrate it in your day-to-day activities. In fact, most companies can’t even identify what these behaviors look like, much less consistently demonstrate them. If you want a quick way to determine where you fall in the seller-focused versus customer-focused continuum, look at what you pay attention to, and in particular what you measure and reward.
For example, is your focus all about the numbers – sales volume, profitability, earnings or share price? Or is it all about efficiency – production costs, price per widget, productivity, leanness? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then you are probably seller-focused, not customer-focused. I’m not suggesting that you stop paying attention to profitability and operational efficiency. Those are vital to maintaining your business. I am saying that those things are no longer enough. Such data is important – but only to you, not the customer.
Operational efficiency is important. But, customers don’t care how efficient your operations are; they only care about the end result – how well it produces the outcomes they want.
Quality is obviously important, but not the quality of the production process. What’s important is the quality of the end result. And, that quality can only be defined by the customer, not by you.
Price matters to customers, but it’s not price per se, but value-for-money and cost to own or use that matters to the customer.
Change your focus or become a dinosaur
The seller-focused approach is an obsolete remnant from the Industrial Age, and the post-WWII production frenzy. Both were times of mass markets when the customer had limited options and no control. But, that model has already changed. Slowly over the years, power began shifting from the corporation to the customer, as more choices became available. But, in the past two years (with the birth of social media) we’ve seen a radical change. Power and control have been seized by consumers.
This fact is evident in the vast universe of consumer-written product reviews and consumer blogs. The buying public now relies on those sources for information, rather than the one-way sales pitches delivered by the companies. Strangely, many companies have yet to realize this change. In order to capitalize on this new dynamic, companies must shift their focus!
The Risk
Continue to focus internally on production and profitability and you risk finding yourself doing a really good job producing something customers don’t want. You’ll have great profit margins for a product that no longer sells.
Conversely, when you shift your focus to understand customers and involve them in the design, development and marketing of products, you’ll be better positioned to meet current and future needs. When you proactively measure your ability to deliver what your customers want, you’ll be well on your way to becoming truly customer-focused.
What does the customer care about?
Research by Redline Advisors indicates that customers consistently look for four or five specific types of attributes in virtually all products, whether tangible or intangible:
In spite of that research, companies rarely measure their product attributes from a customer perspective. As a result, organizations are unable to proactively address customer wants and expectations. As those wants and expectations evolve and change, data-focused firms risk losing more and more of their market share. How willing are you to put that at risk?
Revisiting Rewards
In most companies, rewards are focused on production and volume. The more widgets you make at a cheaper price, the better. The more people you call on and the more widgets you sell the better. Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach or these kinds of measures. It’s simply that business has moved on and this type of measurement breeds and rewards goals that are no longer relevant.
Bringing it all together with the customer at the center
It is unrealistic to expect organizations to dramatically change overnight. That said, companies that don’t begin to shift their focus place themselves at risk of quickly losing customers. People tend not to buy from firms that fail to solve their problems or meet their wants.
One simple way to adjust your direction is to begin adding customer-focused measures. Rather than give rewards based on short-term goals, reward sales people based on their network of key relationships, the value-add they provide the customer or their contributions to a customer information databank.
A second way is to begin to think and communicate in terms of outcomes rather than products . So rather than focus on what the product is, focus instead on what it does. As Peter Drucker said “Customers don’t buy products, they buy results” or as we like to say – customers don’t buy drills, they buy holes.
And, a third way is to refocus marketing so it is accountable for results. Borrow a page from direct response marketing and continually test to improve results. What drives results? Delivering to the target market a product that those people want, and communicating the benefits in a language that they are comfortable with. Give them choices and initiate a dialog with them.
Customers are constantly looking for better ways to achieve the outcomes they want. If you as the producer continue to concentrate on the process of making widgets, or the mass marketing of those widgets, rather than on delivering high value outcomes, your future success is clearly at risk.
The future is coming at you fast! If your organization is like most, it is at risk. Changing customer preferences, globalization, disintermediation, transmigration, and commoditization are just a few of the many forces acting on all industries. CEOs and other senior executives are doing their best to look out into the future, detect nascent threats and opportunities and navigate their organizations safely through the turbulent waters. This is just what we’d expect from any good leader.
The Problem
So what’s the problem? The problem is navigating the turbulent waters involves change and change always presents itself as risk for some. As I watch and assist leaders drive a change agenda, I often observe the conflict that emerges as a result. When people feel threatened, they go “Reptilian”. They shift into survival mode and often behave irrationally. Sometimes their actions can be dysfunctional. These dysfunctional behaviours can set off a chain of negative events similar to dominoes falling. Once the negative cycle begins, it can be hard to slow it down.
Different Time Zones
Assuming that everyone involved has good intentions, one way of understanding these conflicts is understanding the time orientation that dominates people’s thinking. People have one of three different time orientations:
Past
Present
Future
Leaders are typically visionaries, and as such, they typically have a future orientation. All information that comes to them is filtered through the lens of the future. How will this affect strategy? How will this compromise or achieve my vision? Operational staff typically have a present tense orientation. They are all about getting work done efficiently. All information that comes to them is typically filtered through the lens of how does this impact current work? Analysts typically have a past tense orientation. They are all about figuring out the root cause of problems. To do this, they consistently have to go back in time to understand why certain symptoms are presenting themselves. People who have a strong investment in the status quo, also tend to have a past orientation. They like to look back on all the things they did to make the present what it is today.
Depending on which time zone you occupy, you will perceive change differently. A leader can present a wonderfully crafted initiative only to be met with shock and horror by people who immediately understand the impact it will have on current workloads and by people who see it as a threat to everything they accomplished in the past. The result? Conflict – followed by the erosion of trust. Simply stepping back, assuming everyone wants what’s best for the company and understanding what a new initiative looks like from the different time zones can be extremely constructive.
Sales Perspective
From a sales perspective, when proposing new value, I suggest the following:
1. Make sure you understand the impact of your proposal on the strategic objectives of the organization.
2. Don’t assume that because you have senior leadership support, that your proposal will be accepted. Often the pushback from other parts of the organization will be strong and legitimate and sufficient to prevent your proposal from being acted on.
3. Take time to understand how your proposal builds on the good work that was done in the past. Is there a way to present your proposed change as a validation of the work that was done previously?
4. Get support from Operations as to how the additional workload can be absorbed.
Once your proposal is understood and supported from the multiple time zones, it is much more likely to be implemented successfully.
If you want to be successful in sales today, DON’T handle objections. There are so many courses and articles focused on how to make you effective at handling objections. Some titles are: Handle Every Objection, Close Every Sale, Use Your Prospect’s Objections Against Them, etc.
Here’s the problem. Handling objections is an Industrial Age concept. It comes from a product-first philosophy. The corporation needed sales reps to sell its product. Prospects who would not buy were a problem. Sales experts then anticipated all of the potential reasons a prospect might not buy and came up with approaches to address these objections. If the prospect says they can’t afford it, say this. If they say they need to check with someone else, say this. When in doubt, use the “Feel, Felt, Found Formula” which goes like this: Really Mr. or Mrs. Prospect. I understand how you feel. Many of our customers felt the same way, until they found…” Successful sales reps came home with the order or the contract.
Handling Objections is Nonsense
In today’s post-modern world, handling objections is nonsense. Avoid anyone who tells you they will train you or your people on handling objections. Success today is not defined by how much you sell but by how well your solutions get implemented and the success you bring to your clients. Consequently, the quality of your sales matters more than the quantity. Of course, quantity matters. You have to make your targets. But you must make your targets by delivering real value.
Real value is delivered over time. Superficial value does not stand the test of time. If you do not deliver real value, your brand will suffer. In this age where everyone has a voice and anyone can amplify their voice, you can’t afford to deliver superficial value. This means that you must partner with your prospects to ensure you can deliver value to them and to minimize the risk of delivery.
Rather than “handle objections”, the focus of your sales effort in the latter stages of the sale, must be on mitigating risk. Rather than wait for the prospect to bring up reasons why they are apprehensive about proceeding and being forced into a reactive position, why not partner with your prospect and proactively address this issue?
Risk Mitigation
Prior to signing the contract, schedule a meeting with your prospect to address the issue of risk. You are in the business of helping your clients solve their problems. Remember, the issues you address are not your problems. They are your client’s problems. This is an important realization. The burden is not on your shoulders; it’s on your prospect’s shoulders. You are there to help them remove the burden. Home Depot has the right idea. Their slogan is, “You can do it. We can help.” You are there to help not to do everything. Sales professionals who don’t realize this take on too much responsibility for the solution. Prospects knowingly or unknowingly collaborate with your sales rep to shift the burden of responsibility to your company. When things go wrong, you are to blame.
You Can Do It, We Can Help
Your sales team should make it clear to the prospect that your company is there to help. They should also make it clear that risk is involved, Based on their experience, they should proactively tell prospects the nature of the risks they believe the prospect will face and solicit input, based on the prospect’s knowledge of their environment, of the risks they believe they will face. Once all the risks are on the table, they should be grouped into categories based on severity and likelihood. Together, the sales rep and the prospect should develop approaches to deal with the potential risks.
This approach keeps the responsibility where it belongs – with the prospect. It also develops trust and respect. More than ever, prospects are looking for partners not pitches. When you handle objections, you broadcast that you’re only interested in making a sale. When you broadcast that you are only interested in making a sales, you trigger your prospect’s defense mechanism. When you help your prospect mitigate risk, you broadcast, very clearly, that you are sincerely interested in building partnership. When you broadcast that you are interested in building a partnership, you inspire your prospect to connect with you.
This is a fascinating story of innovation and human connection. Selected prisoners (most convicted of murder) enroll in a program where they help to train puppies to become sniffer dogs for law enforcement. As a result of the program, hardened criminals are transformed into caring people; people who had no regard for the law are now strengthening law enforcement.
What is most fascinating to me is how this story demonstrates the need for human connection. All of us have a reptilian brain that is focused on survival. It wants to avoid pain and seek pleasure. Protect or connect. Hardened criminals function primarily from the “protect” mode. They only think of themselves and they have given up on connection. Seeing former murderers enjoy connecting with another living being is inspiring.
Here are the words of William “Bear” Purnell, one of the inmates enrolled in the program: “I don’t want to be the bad guy no more and the puppy showed me that I don’t have to be, that it’s all right to be a person; that it’s all right to express myself; that it’s all right to want to help someone.”
Remember, everyone wants to connect. Your employees want to connect. Your clients and prospects want to connect. It’s a fundamental human need.
After 17 years, on May 29, 2009, Jay Leno made a clear exit from the tonight show and graciously handed over the reigns to Conan O’Brien.
Three months later, Jay Leno launched his new show on September 14, 2009. Of course, as the master of humour and timing, his debut was not a disappointment – well, not entirely. I have to admit, however, that I was a little bit disappointed. I was expected something new and I thought new meant different.
The Jay Leno Show was not dissimilar from The Tonight Show. Jay’s loyal sidekick, Kevin Eubanks, also made his debut with The Prime Time Band (different in name only from the Tonight Show Band).
Just Like a CEO
As I processed my disappointment with the apparent lack of creativity, I realized that Jay is the same as CEOs who move from one company to another. After many years, they develop their formula for success. They have a certain way of getting things done that leverages their strengths. They also have a network of close associates that they trust, that understand them and that they can rely on to get things done.
When a CEO moves from one company to another, the strategy he or she will initially employ to make a mark and put some quick successes on the board is entirely predictable. It will be the same strategy that brought them success in their previous role. In order to execute that strategy, the CEO will need to be surrounded by reliable people. Inevitably, they will recruit their trusted network into the new company in an effort to reduce the number of unknowns associated with their new role.
When Does This Approach Fail?
This is a perfectly reasonable approach except in the following circumstances:
1. The new environment differs significantly from the old one and the strategies that worked well in the old environment are ineffective in the new one. This can be as a result of the strategies being ineffective in the new environment or the strategies violating deep-seated cultural norms or tightly held values.
2. The trusted network that is recruited into the new environment does not have the deep relationships and influence that are needed in the new environment in order to get things done.
3. A competitor understands this tendency and employs a counter-strategy that sets the CEO up for failure.
What Does This Mean To You?
First, realize that all of us are creatures of habit and we repeat the strategies that work for us. Consequently, you should work to show up on the radar of your C-level clients as a resource that can be trusted to make them successful. If you do, they will take you with them wherever they go.
Second, if you are taken into a new situation by a new CEO, don’t assume that the strategies that worked in the past, will continue to work. Be sure to assess the environment you are being brought into and determine what variables have changed.
Third, when a new CEO shows up in your environment, take the time to find out where he or she is coming from and what/who made him or her successful in his/her previous role. Look for the strategies and the people that were employed and expect elements of the previous strategy to be immediately repeated. If you are competing against such a CEO, figure out what steps you might take to neutralize these strategies. If you are supporting such a CEO, find out how you can ensure these strategies become more effective in the new environment.
Finally, if you are hiring an executive, realize that people will do what they have done. Hire someone who is doing or has done exactly what you need done. Don’t hire someone hoping they will figure out what needs to be done and they will grow into what you are looking for.
The Success Formula
Jay Leno knows what his success formula is and he knows the people he can rely on to execute his strategy. Your C-level clients know their success formulas. Are you on their radar as someone who they can rely on to execute their strategies?
Well, it’s not just Twitter. It’s Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and most of the new social networking tools. Twitter is probably just the worst offender. While the popularity of these social networking tools continues to skyrocket and our networks within them continue to expand, we have to ask ourselves if we are missing the point.
I am currently on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Plaxo, among others. LinkedIn is my favourite, followed by Twitter and then Facebook. I haven’t yet figured out the value of Plaxo. The danger I see with these technologies is, by their nature, they are focused on quantity of connections rather than quality. In fact, services are now available where you can buy thousands of Twitter followers or Facebook friends (see Usocial). There is a built in psychic reward associated with having a bigger network. Conversely, there is a personal, psychic penalty associated with having a small, fledgling network. The inevitable consequence is an inner hunger for ever more connections. But to what end?
Meaningful Connections
As humans, we are social beings. We need social connections. We thrive with healthy connections and wither without them. We also thrive with diversified connections. The person with a homogeneous group of friends, who all think and act alike, is narrow-minded and boring. Hanging out with people who have different perspectives challenges and broadens us. Learning different perspectives enables us to think with increasing layers of complexity and to think more creatively and more intelligently.
Having said that, having lots of superficial connections does nothing meaningful for us or our connections. Social media is just a technology. It’s just one of many ways we can reach out and touch others. It’s flattering to receive emails notifying me that I have more followers on Twitter or to receive invitations to join different networks on LinkedIn or Facebook. Wouldn’t you agree? However, as we reach out and make new connections, let’s not forget to bring increasing value to the people who are already in our networks.
I recently took a look at my client list. Like you, I’ve got great clients! They’re interesting and they’re doing great things with their careers. I’m honoured to have the opportunity to work with them. Spending time with people who know me and value my work and who are open to a deeper relationship is far more valuable and rewarding than making another superficial contact. I think we need consciously to prioritize true and meaningful connections over superficial ones.
Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against social media. The danger is we can get sucked into chasing what we don’t have rather than valuing what we do have. This is true personally as well as professionally. We need to look at the relationships we do have and realize how fortunate we are to have these people in our lives. We need to spend time thinking about how we can enrich their lives. Parodoxically, the more fulfillment we can create for the people who are already in our network, the more attractive we become to people who are outside our network.
Front End vs. Back End
I think the people who are spending an inordinate amount of time in social media are robbing themselves of rich relationships. Social media is just one of many lead generation front ends to bring people into our network. But once they’re in, then what? Investing in the back end is what matters. Build depth in your funnel so that as clients work with you, they are constantly amazed at the value you provide. Once you’ve got that figured out, social media, like other front end technologies, will bring new people into your world and you’ll be confident that their journey with you will be meaningful, fulfilling and mutually rewarding.
Here are 3 things you can do, to enrich your network and ensure you don’t get caught in the superficial net of social media:
• Reach out to an inactive client and get caught up on what’s happening in their world;
• Invite an active client to come to your office and talk about what’s going on in their world and what their most pressing priorities and challenges are;
• Ask a long time client to tell you what they value about you and how you might bring greater value to them.
Life is all about relationships. If we are not in meaningful relationships and doing meaningful work, we will be haunted by an increasing feeling of insignificance. Connections matter not because they are many, but because they are meaningful.
25 Years Old
It’s hard to believe that PowerPoint has now been with us for 25 years. I remember when I was first introduced to PowerPoint. I was working for KPMG and one of my colleagues introduced me to the program. It was fascinating. The idea of being able to present information in a piecemeal fashion so that, layer by layer, greater understanding was achieved was powerful. I think the main difference between then and now was back then, our ideas were already crystallized before we turned to PowerPoint. It was a matter of taking the crystallized ideas and reflecting them in the presentation tool.
Today, I think it’s a different story. I think many presentations are actually developed using PowerPoint. The result is a very dense presentation as every thought is reflected in either a slide or a bullet point. I think this is unfortunate. Most people instinctively flinch when presentations begin because they suspect they are going to be subjected to 50 slides with way too much text and a presenter that does little more than read from the slides.
The best presentations are conversations. Visual support is great if it is used as visual support. In this case, the less slides, the better. The slides that are used should be highly visual rather than laden with text.
Personally, I am now experimenting with another presentation tool. It’s called Prezi. This tool is forcing me to think much more clearly about what I want to say and only when I am crystal clear on what I want to say and why, do I think about where I might need visual support.
We do live in a highly visual society. As a result, we do need to think about how we present our viewpoints. But this is the point, we need to THINK. Too many presentations are streams of consciousness. They are not succinct and well thought out. Consequently, PowerPoint is used as a crutch for the speaker to remember what they are going to say next rather than a visual support to help the listener gain greater understanding.
I’m sure PowerPoint will be with us for many more years. I just hope we learn to use it and any other presentation tools as supports rather than crutches.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher in the 18th century. His flagship work, An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations, propelled him into a leadership role with respect to economic thought. His ideas were clear and compelling. With respect to labour, he explained how each person’s employment inadvertently benefited society, “By directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.” Fundamentally, what he was saying 233 years ago is people are basically selfish and any good that comes to society as a result of our industry is an unintentional by-product. This notion became known in economics as the invisible hand. The economy just worked as a result of each person seeking to improve his or her lot without much regard for the welfare of others.
Fast forward to 2009. People are still inherently selfish. Most people make decisions based on the “what’s in it for me?” principle. The invisible hand is still at work. What Adam Smith could not foresee, however, was our population explosion combined with globalization. In the world of Adam Smith, nations were islands of independence and there was no Internet. So what? In a world of the advantaged and the severely disadvantaged, where ideas can spread like viruses across the globe via the Internet, we are compelled to care for the welfare of all people.
People like Osama bin Laden are extremely powerful because they are propagators of ideas. Their ideas spread easily by virtue of technologies like the Internet and their ideas appeal to the most disadvantaged. Those with nothing having nothing to lose. They are easily attracted to the idea of blowing up the world, or at least large portions of society, and starting over. Those of us with a comfortable existence and lots of prospects for the future, have lots to lose. We are quite comfortable with the status quo.
The status quo, however, is at risk. If those of us who “have” continue to act as if those who “have not” don’t matter, we will find one day that the status quo has blown up in our faces. The business model of pursuing maximum profit with no regard for the impact of our business on others is obsolete. If we value our planet, we have no choice but to think holistically. We must balance our pursuit of profit with a proactive contribution to making the planet a better place.
Adam Smith’s world was a much simpler, somewhat protected world. Our world is complex, interconnected and vulnerable. If we intend only our own gain, we will be “led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.” With men like Osama Bin Laden at large, that end will not be pretty. Terrorism finds a fertile home in the minds of the disadvantaged. If Adam Smith were alive today, I’m sure he would observe baker, butcher and brewer have no choice but to think beyond themselves and consider the benevolence of all people and how they might share their wealth to feed the world’s poor.
Comments? Please fire away!
(Note: Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations is available online here.)
Historically, there has been a divide between sales and marketing. Very few companies have their sales and marketing teams working together seamlessly. The current economy, however, is forcing the issue. With more demanding buyers, more niche-oriented competitors and longer and longer sales cycles, salespeople are being forced to think like marketers and marketing people are being forced to think like salespeople.
Funnel Management
Both sales and marketing have their own funnels. Marketing must now directly tie the end of their funnel to the beginning of the sales funnel. Moreover, the output of the sales funnel must tie back into the marketing funnel. Every dollar spent on marketing must be measurable and show clear return on investment. Every lead generated for the sales force, must be accounted for.
Traditional marketing focuses on creating awareness in the general marketplace. The problem with this type of marketing is it is extremely expensive and almost impossible to measure. Companies with huge budgets tend to win this game. They succeed in creating mind share for the sales team but they do so by spending unnecessarily large amounts of money. Moreover, they never know which specific initiatives led to their success. Today, CEOs and CFOs expect more from marketing and they are questioning every dollar spent. Marketing executives must get ahead of this scrutiny.
Measure Everything
They will do so by carefully planning their campaigns and setting up clear measurement criteria to determine which campaigns are successful and how to increase their effectiveness over time. These metrics include, but are not limited to: total reach, number of inquiries, number of first meetings, # of proposals, # of sales, meetings-to-reach ratio, closing ratio, conversion rate, acquisition cost, cost per contact, cost per meeting, profit results, and ROI. Marketers must clearly track all activity through the marketing funnel to the sales funnel. The marketing funnel should comprise three key stages:
1. Reach – the number of people in the suspect base that will be touched by a specific campaign.
2. Enquiry – the number of people who respond positively to a campaign by initiating a conversation.
3. First Meeting – the number of people who are sufficiently interested that they are willing to meet with a salesperson to learn how the firm might address their specific challenges (i.e., qualified leads)
All marketing today must be oriented toward generating qualified leads for the sales team. Every campaign must be measured in terms of the number of first meetings it generates for the sales team. And every sales professional must be scrutinized in terms of his or her ability to convert first meetings into sales.
Linking Funnels
The end of the marketing funnel is the beginning of the sales funnel. First meetings should represent the top of the sales funnel. All activities prior to first meeting represent part of the marketing funnel even if salespeople are engaged in them. (Yes, sales and marketing must learn to work together.) All opportunities must be tied to a specific campaign in order to connect all sales activity to the marketing activity. Once a first meeting is successfully concluded, the sales funnel should comprise three key stages:
1. Diagnose – the buyer is willing to work with the sales professional to help him or her understand the situation and develop a solution.
2. Propose – the buyer is clear about the challenge they are facing, what your firm can do about it, and is open to receiving clear documentation on the specific way you can work with them to resolve their challenges.
3. Close – the buyer, ready to take action to resolve their challenges, is now negotiating with you and completing necessary paper work to initiate a project.
Phases vs. Steps
Many organizations we consult with tell me they have more than a three step sales process. I don’t disagree. Your sales process, however, is not the same as your sales funnel. Managing the sales funnel is about managing the phases that opportunities go through as they mature. The steps you go through to make a sale are not the same as the phases an opportunity will go through. By way of analogy, what you do to harvest fruit is separate from the phases that fruit goes through as it matures. Fruit is initially unripe, then it’s ripe then it spoils if it’s not eaten. The steps to harvest fruit might involve planting, tilling, spraying, inspecting, picking, etc. The steps you go through might be very different to the steps I go through but the phases the fruit will go through are universal. The same with funnel management.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat
The end of the sales funnel is the beginning of the marketing funnel. In other words, existing customers must not be neglected. Marketing must now engage in a separate set of campaigns that reach the entire client base, generate enquiries from existing clients and lead to first meetings with the sales team to discuss new challenges/opportunities.
To make the most of your sales and marketing investment, accurate metrics must be gathered for each phase of the marketing and sales funnel. Getting a handle on these metrics and putting them into a management dashboard is the key to ensuring ever dollar invested in sales and in marketing will provide increasing returns to the business. These metrics can be captured seamlessly if your CRM and accounting systems are set up properly and if your sales and marketing teams learn to work together. Once these metrics are tracked and managed, sales and marketing will have tied the knot and you will have a consistent cash flow machine regardless of economic conditions.
I’ve been thinking about the number three. As a speaker, one of the things I try to do is to work with three points. For some reason, this is an optimal number when communicating. Why?
I have a theory.
As human beings, we are meaning-making machines. Our entire life is about deciphering and creating meaning. From the moment we are born, we are seeking meaning. Consequently, we are wired for story. Stories help us understand our world. (See my earlier post on story telling.) and stories have three (3) parts. They have an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Our minds naturally have three buckets. As we fill each bucket, we seek to fill the next. Until all three buckets are full, we know we don’t have the whole story.
As long as we are alive, our lives have three parts. They have a past, a present, and a future. Each part gives meaning to the others.
What do you think? Are our minds naturally wired to receive information in three chunks?
I’ve been thinking about the number three. As a speaker, one of the things I try to do is to work with three points. For some reason, this is an optimal number when communicating. Why?