At times it seems like the mayoral race here between the two front-runners — Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who is seeking a second term, and Vincent C. Gray, the City Council chairman — is boiling down to a personality contest.

Make it “seems as though,” “seems as if,” or simply “seems that …”

I’ll go one better.

At times, the mayoral race here between the two front-runners — Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who is seeking a second term, and Vincent C. Gray, the City Council chairman — seems to boil down to a personality contest.

I call this editing by subtraction.

While the meaning has changed a bit, we still seek and offer mentoring.

What’s the best platform for such a trusted relationship?  According to my friend, Nick Gargala, Ed.D., the best results occur when the mentoring happens face to face.  In interviews for his recent dissertation, Nick found that over the phone is a distant second, and e-mail mentoring is the weakest.

Where trust is important to a relationship (e.g., in business development), the more personal the better.

]]> http://doug-stern.com/blog/2010/08/29/mentoring-and-the-tangible/feed/ 1 http://doug-stern.com/blog/2010/08/27/tying-together-some-tangible-threads/ http://doug-stern.com/blog/2010/08/27/tying-together-some-tangible-threads/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:49:42 +0000 Doug Stern http://doug-stern.com/blog/?p=1253 Seth just posted a thought about the importance of relationships and how to build/maintain them.  “The experience I have with you as a customer or a friend is far more important than a few random bits flying by on the screen.”

My advice?

• Be tangible.
• Be tangible.
• Be tangible.

So, touch somebody.  Do something tangible.  Any questions?

Who may pull the Andon cord?  Anyone may, even the lowest-ranking member of the team.

That’s part of the beauty of the system.  Anyone is empowered to pull the cord.

The real beauty of the Andon cord, however, is that it’s so very there — whether it’s used or not.  By its physical, tangible presence, everyone is constantly reminded that they matter.  The Andon cord is a clear and constant tangible symbol that they are part of.

Which, Toyota’s recent troubles notwithstanding, seems to work really well.

I believe it does.

Sure, it depends on the stakes.  In my case, I’m a freelance writer selling into a mature market.  If I want someone to hire me, I must offer them something more than my experience and credentials.  Something more than the promise or intention that I’ll be accountable.

So, here’s a re-frame for my last few posts on memorable communications from my own business development perspective…

• In order to hire me, a prospect must first trust me.
• In order to trust me, they must believe I care.
• In order to believe I care, I must demonstrate that I care…not merely assert that I care.
• In order to demonstrate that I care, I must be as tangible and personal as possible.  The more I sacrifice (e.g., my time, money and the like) in communicating that, the greater the value and impact.  The more I prove I care.

What I’m seeking is to be in relationship with someone.  Because I’m asking them to trust me with their baby.

There were often times I felt that a shovel would have been more effective than my keyboard.

Know what I mean?  Was any of that promoting intimacy?  Or, was I doing more good by putting on my suit coat and taking a partners’ walk?

What, however, about the delivery platform?

My sense is that the more personal the impression, the better.  After all, which are you more likely to remember?

• One of the hundreds of text messages you might get in a day? or
• A face-to-face meeting?

I can offer only a little research to back this up.  Here’s one item .

Actually, what caught my attention was the comment to this linked post:  “Is twitter nothing but a series of text ads put in the context of perceived intimacy?”

The Battle of Jericho, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1851-60. Joshua and the Israelites marched around the walls of the fortress seven times before blowing their horns and bringing down the walls.

Looking for a good way to be remembered?  One route is literary.

Another way is more quantitative than qualitative.  More about deployment than style.

I’ll call this one The Rule of Seven.

Most behavioral psychologists will tell you that it takes between about five and seven impressions for most humans to store anything in their long-term memory.  Short-term memory, BTW, lasts about 18 seconds; long enough to remember, for example, a phone number.

In the context of marketing communication and business development, think of an impression as…

• Mailing (e.g., a personal note, letter, invitation, e-mail message, client advisory, blog posting, newsletter)
• Advertisement (including Web sites visits)
• Phone call
• Face-to-face meeting (e.g., social or business, including seminar presentation, lunch, special event, client outing or reception)
• Film or video (such as a YouTube or Facebook posting)

There’s more, but you get the idea.

Why seven?  There is a ton of science that supports the connection between memory and repetition.  Cognitive neuroscience says that it takes repetition (along with other memory enhancers such as sleep) to create stable and permanent changes in neural connections widely spread throughout the parts of the brain that contribute to long-term memory.

Timing is important, too.  Studies show that the spacing of impressions in critical.  The optimal timing to repeat something is when the memory of a name or event begins to fade, roughly 14 to 21 days.

In other words, once is not enough.  In fact, once is a waste.  And remember the importance of variety in how the impression is conveyed, recognizing that all of us absorb information differently…sometimes it’s heard, sometimes read and so on.

The good news is that once is something stored in our long-term memory, it’s there for decades.  Maybe a lifetime.

]]> http://doug-stern.com/blog/2010/08/23/repetition-repetition-repetition-part-2/feed/ 2 http://doug-stern.com/blog/2010/08/03/why-there-might-always-be-reporters-part-2/ http://doug-stern.com/blog/2010/08/03/why-there-might-always-be-reporters-part-2/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:09:48 +0000 Doug Stern http://doug-stern.com/blog/?p=1172 OK, maybe the only place where size counts is in sumo wrestling.  After reading a reporter’s account of what it took to cover the Tour de France, however, I was reminded of the size of the platform it takes for some stories to get told.

It’s not that newpaper reporters are typically smarter or harder working or whatever than bloggers and others in the non-MSM. Sometimes it just takes lots of patience and other resources to make a story happen…the kind of stuff the MSM supports and others don’t…at least not to the same extent.

For how much longer?  That’s another post.

Was it because the three papers have a reputation for leaning to the left and might, therefore, use the leaks to bash the war effort?  Maybe, though I hardly think opponents of the war need much help in that regard.

A more plausible explanation is that Wikileaks went to the MSM because that’s where the reporters are.  The ones who, by and large, make a living out of gathering, processing and synthesizing lots of information.