Tag: change

Consider future costs

FabrizioLeave a comment

Everything you do is a trade-off.

When you are lucky, it’s between two options. More often than not, it involves multiple options, some of which are equally appealing.

If you go to the movie, you cannot stay home with your family or spend time reading a book. If you buy a new car, you’ll have to refrain from other big expenses for a while. If you accept that offer, you won’t be able to pursue your dream of being a freelancer or a full-time YouTuber.

It’s self-evident, I know. And yet, there are two things about trade-offs that is worth keeping in mind and reminding when appropriate.

First of all, the nature of a trade-off is that you leave some stuff behind. Regrets, while natural, are kind of pointless, as you know you would still be missing something, one of the options, would you have made another choice. It’s intrinsic to the idea of decision-making.

Nonetheless, and this is point number two, that does not mean you cannot change your mind. Even if the other options are no longer available, the fact you invested (time, energy, commitment) into your choice, does not mean you have to stick with it even in front of clear evidence it is not working. What you have to keep in mind is not what you put into the option you’ve pursued, but what you will put into it from now on. Is it better putting that bit into something that is not worth it anymore, or in something new, perhaps something you still have to discover yourself?

This second one, of course, is the basic idea of sunk cost. One of the easiest economic concepts to understand, one of the most complicated to put into practice.

A reminder

FabrizioLeave a comment

What would be of your marketing if tomorrow you would be left without behavioural information, pixels, tracking, preferences, and so on?

Just a reminder that the tools you use today to deliver your message are just tools. Much more important is what’s behind that: what you stand for, what your customers stand for, what your products stand for. Once you have that clear, the rest will come no matter what.

Who will listen?

FabrizioLeave a comment

ABC is the trend-setting original German working glove, packed with innovative state-of-the-art technologies and super features.
ABC working gloves are the only one in the world to be equipped with the new and revolutionary anti-penetration material PATENTIX® – a high-tech, ultra-strong and lightweight textile felt. The material was originally developed in the United States as part of a special project for the US elite soldiers, Navy Seals, who would use bulletproof vests that were particularly lightweight and flexible.
The integrated PATENTIX® safety layer in the XYZ32 model shown, weighs only 32 grams and is thus 55% lighter compared to other textile anti-penetration layers used in working gloves. Finally a working glove without side effects! See, feel and try ABC at selected stores http://www.abc.com

Ad in airline magazine

It can be argued that the ad is not for me. That I do not belong to the target audience, as I am not a person who uses working gloves in the workplace. It can also be that people using working gloves in the workplace, or people buying working gloves to be used in the workplace, will immediately get the benefits of a working glove without side effects, and will then rush to the website and the selected stores to buy it.

And yet, there is a better way to make our audience understand what we stand for, what our product stands for. While most brands out there use the name of their products, the alphanumeric codes and acronyms of their models, the meaningless label of a registered trademark, and an endless list of pointless features, we could start by saying what all of it means to those who will have to chose between our product and all of the alternatives, and then use it day in and day out.

Sure, it takes a lot more effort. But if all we talk about is ourselves, who will listen?

P.S.: I have replaced the parts that could more directly identify the brand in the ad. Those parts are underlined.

Begin with listening

FabrizioLeave a comment

An important reminder by Bernadette Jiwa.

If you want to be listened, begin with listening.

If you want to be heard, begin with hearing.

If you want to lead, begin with opening to the people you want to lead.

If you want to sell something, begin with understanding the people you want to sell to.

It is that easy.

The illusion

FabrizioLeave a comment

The first time I was in a leadership role, I struggled very much to understand the unwanted consequences of what a leader says and does.

The illusion is often that you can still behave like a peer, or a friend.

Yet people will look for direction, not for jokes. They will look for reassurance, not for stress. They will look for development, not for undirected and generic feedback.

Grasp this soon when you become a leader, and understand that your words and actions are now under a different type of scrutiny. The whole team will benefit from it.