Management Information |
Data Delivers Credibility
Over the past couple of days I've been setting up visitor counters, so people in another organization can accurately count the number of people who visit their event. They got the idea (and the counters) from an association I belong to, and they, too, are learning how data delivers credibility. I'm always impressed by how much respect I get when speaking or writing with specific, solid numbers. For example, when I talk about the number of visitors who came through the gates of my association's event on a specific night, I don't talk about "a lot" or "a few" or "more than the night before." Instead, I can say something like, "2,348 visitors came through last night, compared to 1,852 the evening before." That specificity makes a difference when it comes to credibility, and if I propose a certain course of action based on those numbers, I'm likely to get the support I need from other members of the board. Data, you see, represents very specific information, and often, the more specific you can be, the more credibility you have. Similarly, direct marketing gurus encourage their clients to use specific numbers in headlines, rather than generalizations. That's why effective direct mail, and now online advertising, uses claims like "Learn how one sales rep earned $2,216.78 last week..." rather than "Learn how one sales rep earned more than $2,000 last week..." By being specific, the headline writer converts a boast ("more than $2,000") into a conceivably credible claim. What's implied is that it must be true or the writer wouldn't use that specific figure. You'll find other professionals get credibility in the same way. For example, lawyers get it by citing precedents. Rather than talk to a judge in generalities, good lawyers cite previous case law and decisions by other judges. You also know the clergy gain credibility by citing passages of scripture, along with the chapter and verse numbers. And, how about the medical profession? For example, physicians and others don't speak of "heart attacks;" instead they speak of different kinds of heart disease and conditions. By being specific they gain credibility, credibility that sets them apart from lay people. The concept works for just about anyone, in any profession or occupation. Suppose, for example, you're a sales manager attending a budget meeting, and the general manager wants you to increase your sales by 15% next year, far more than you're likely to achieve. To argue persuasively that the target should be lowered, you might explain that the economy of your city is only expected to grow 2% next year, that your main competitor recently cut prices by an average of 4.5%, and that your company's production will be just 5% greater next year. Now, you've got ammunition when you argue for a lower sales target. In summary: Data, in the form of specific numbers or references, adds credibility to messages. It's a technique used by many professionals, including the clergy, physicians, and sales people. About The Author Robert F. Abbott, the author of A Manager's Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results, writes about communication issues in the free online ezine, Abbott's Communication Letter: abbottr@managersguide.com
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Selective Job Cuts Often Benefits Firm More Than Broad Layoffs Over Long Term It is difficult to pick up a newspaper or listen to a business news broadcast without being greeted with the announcement of another massive corporate layoff or cutback. The economy catches a chill and, as a result, the corporate world catches a profits "cold. What Consultants Want You to Know (But You Never Ask) I've been both a CEO and a consultant, so I've seen from both perspectives what goes right and what goes wrong when a consultant comes in to a company. Generally the CEO or the manager who hires the consultant tells the consultant what he or she wants. Crisis Management Essentials - How to Communicate Effectively During a Crisis, Emergency or Disaster A crisis, emergency or disaster can happen at anytime and anywhere.Just ask the residents of Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory. Leading Bad Actors To Be Good Performers A successful leader told me, "The biggest challenge I've had in my career is dealing with bad actors. Brent, do you have tips on how to do it?"First, before we can deal with "bad actors", we must define the term bad actors. The Supervisors 14 Essential Truths For Communicating With Direct Reports One amazing, but sadly true, fact of today's advances in communication tools is that we really don't communicate much better than in the past.Indeed one recent study determined the number one advancement in communication tools was the availability of cheap on-line airfares. Create Your Methodology Based on a Standard Framework - Part One OK. So you have decided that your organization has to improve the way in which it works. How to Manage Your Most Valuable Assets - People? People management and leadership has become a major topic of conversation in today's market place and have assumed mythical qualities. Managing you people is not that difficult if you are willing to invest one thing in their development; YOU. If You Build It, Investors Will Come When you begin to write your business plan or a section within it, you probably ask yourself, "What should I talk about? What key points should I bring out that are important to potential investors?" The best way to answer these questions is to put your business plan trial. That's right. People Literacy Every Manager has experienced the frustration of not understanding why one management approach that works beautifully with one employee is ineffective with another. That's because what we think would be motivating isn't always motivating to someone else. Out of Control? There are papers on the floor, across the desk and resting on the keyboard. Piles of files are all around. How To Rebuild Trust Here are some quick thoughts on ways to turn things around.Determine the real reasons why trust has diminished. 4 Tips on How to Avoid Communication Lines Breakdown For example, in a small, two-person company, there is often the greatest opportunity for direct conversation and discussion throughout the day. There are only two possibilities for verbal communication and it's usually quick, easy and descriptive. Have You Fixed the Broken Window? Left alone it doesn't take long for a building with a single broken window to rapidly become a building with many broken windows. Fixing problems when they are small will prevent them from developing into larger problems. Medical Malpractice: Three Myths That Cost Your Hospital Millions What's the use?Nothing you do will hold down the cost of medical malpractice. It feels that way sometimes, doesn't it?Unfortunately, for many risk managers, that's not too far off the mark. Few Things Are More Destructive Than An Insecure Boss Few things are more destructive to a career than a boss who is insecure. Unfortunately, it is a near certainty that most people will encounter one or more such persons along the way. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly Important Use your time for problems that are truly important.Hard as it may be to walk away once you're aware of it, just because a problem is there doesn't mean you have to solve it. Managers' Biggest Blunders Nobody's perfect, including the boss. Managers, we polled recently, acknowledged making a number of mistakes, from not recognizing staff accomplishments to inadequate communication to poor hiring decisions. Good Idea Generation - A Process It seems incongruous that good idea generation can be a process or that a process may lead to insight. However, if you examine the behaviour of people who regularly generate good ideas - such as creatives in advertising - you will find that common patterns of behaviour do emerge and it is possible to make insight more likely. Train Me -- But Follow Through My mechanic has me trained. When I take my car in for an oil change, he places a sticker in the upper left hand corner of my windshield to remind me what date and mileage I should have my next maintenance completed. Creativity Management and Time Pressure There is a pervasive belief that time pressure stimulates creativity. This is both true and false. |
home | site map | contact us |