Do you know how to instantly captivate your customer?
It’s not about being “the best.” It’s not about being the best salesperson, or manager, or marketer.
In any competitive environment, being the best is not enough… if nobody notices or cares.
Today, we need to understand how to captivate our customers. And it all starts with identifying and applying our personality’s own unique fascination advantage.
In this quick video from a recent keynote speech, I’ll show why being the best is no longer enough.
Now it’s your turn. How do YOU captivate your customer? Tell me here in the comments.
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Juicy re-tweetable bits
Being the best is not enough, if nobody notices or cares. » http://bit.ly/Qn3Kth by @SallyHogshead
Why to captivate your customer in the first 9 seconds: http://bit.ly/Qn3Kth by @SallyHogshead
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Ray Pastore: Another way to look at this would be: Is captivate the best tool for the content (learning objectives) that need to be presented? I would be hesitant to say any tool is the best without looking at a specific set of learning objectives and then determining that the tool best fits those needs. So on that note, given the right set of learning objectives, I could probably argue that PPT is a better tool because it is easier/quicker to develop with – for those objectives in that specific situation. It just depends so much on the objectives not the tool.
Ok I am captivated tell me more.
I make them laugh. Humor is my way of creating a fascinating experience. I want to work with people who know how to enjoy the ride.
Great post Sally and an excellent video to go with it!
I couldn’t agree more with you. Captivating your audience, your customer or your prospective employer is about more than being the best.
I love your point about people having a 9-second attention span. In my best-selling book, Signs of a Great Résumé, I explain that the average résumé is reviewed for somewhere between 7 and 30 seconds. If your résumé isn’t “captivating” you don’t get an interview. Of course, if your résumé is really bad, you don’t even get past the screening software, nonetheless get 7 seconds of reading at the hands of a recruiter! Even if you’re the best at what you do, your résumé has to speak to the recruiter in a compelling way.
I like to say that your résumé should be full of !@#$%, the Signs of a Great Résumé.
! – Experiences that were amazing.
@ – Important dates and places where you gained relevant experience.
# – Numbers that prove your past successes.
$ – Dollar values of your contributions
% – Figures that show growth and results
Being specific and using great accomplishments to showcase your skills help your résumé speak for itself. When your résumé speaks for itself, you captivate a recruiter and you get an interview.
Thanks for sharing this Sally! Your articles certainly captivate me!
-Scott!
http://www.ScottVedder.com
Excellent point and great video, Sally. Your presentation is perfect. Pepsi is a good example of not being the “best.” They may not be the best, but they do very well being #2.
What I sell is my art and how I do it is by telling a story within the work and how it came about. By telling a story you can bring in humor and keep them by touching all of their 5 senses.
Hello Sally
I can’t say about captivating customers, but my attempt is create a momentary experience when folks read one of my articles, kind’a like a conversation with visual cues, illustrations and word pictures, almost like a story.
I liked what Jan Yatsko said, captivating the 5 senses.
And it’s true what you say, if no one notices, no one is going to care. I believe to captivate an audience, you’ve got to notice them first, why they’re here, and what they’re doing. Give something of value, and bring them on an experience.
That’s what’s up!
Thanks for the post! Great presentation again!
Gemma
Sally, I cannot express with words just how much I love the content you provide your readers on a consistant basis. I found out about you from Derek Halpern’s SocialTriggers site and I have been following you ever since. This blog post above talks about creating great content but that it’s not enough if no one is reading it. Your content is slamming! I love that you put the tweetables below the video. Consider using a website called Click to Tweet which will take your pre-defined tweet and turn it into a clickable link. This will increase the chance that your readers will actually tweet out your content instead of having to go through another step (like copying and pasting). I’ve taken the liberty and done if for you so you can see how it works. Click here —http://clicktotweet.com/1XVUu
Great thoughts in your short video Sally. I think your analogy of imagining a door between you and your customer is a good exercise for any company. All too often companies seem to only consider what it would take from their internal perspective to get the prospective customer to open the door – and keep it open. You have a much better shot if you approach it from the other side of the door – if you were on the other side why would you open the door? Why did your current customers? What would captivate your attention? For my company it begins by being relevant, peaking interest, and starting a conversation (through any medium). If you’re trying to talk through a closed door your message will be muffled and you’ll rarely find interest on the other side.