In his analysis of research from Carnegie Mellon on the persuasive power of confident individuals, Robert Dooley of the fantastic blog Neuromarketing makes a strong connection to the world of business. From the source:
“I’m not suggesting that we develop false bravado to manipulate others. Rather, we should use time-honored strategies to develop our confidence. Salespeople should truly believe in their product. Every persuader should achieve mastery of the facts. Confidence will flow naturally from these. And, of course, we should resist the tendency to waffle or spend too much time discussing alternative possibilities - this will leave the audience confused and doubtful.”
Some excellent thoughts for marketers to keep in mind when figuring out how to speak to their target. Makes me think of the Albert Einstein quote: “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
While history has given us countless examples of what can go wrong when a confident communicator gets reckless, Dooley chose this video of CNBC’s Jim Cramer as a cautionary tale:
Be sure to check out the paper database of the Carnegie Mellon Center for Behavioral Decision Research. It’s an absolute gold mine of insight on consumer behavior.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Consumer Strategy, Copy & Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.