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What you must learn from peacocks!

If you have ever been fortunate enough to see a male peacock displaying their full finery you will know that they make quite a statement. They look absolutely magnificent and catch the eye of anyone who sees them.

But catching the eye of merely anyone isn’t their intention!

Catching the eye of a female peacock is the only reason they strut their stuff.

So what have peacocks showing off got to do with you and me? Well the answer is simple and we can learn heaps from those peacocks.

Whenever you want to sell anything--- products, services, ideas or even yourself to someone else you’ve got to catch the eye of the person you are aiming at. You’ve really got to seize their attention and get them firmly focused on you. That way there’s a chance that they’ll see your message and maybe even take it in and understand it.

And there are a couple of important places that its always important to get your target’s attention, where you’ve got to “catch their eye” or get them to “give you their ear.” They are:

q q When you create an advertisement--- and that could be for your business or a garage sale---

q q When you write a letter--- to sell your product or service or to win you a sales appointment or even a job interview.

q q When you meet someone--- so that you differentiate yourself and make it easy for them to return the conversation,

Well, when you create an advertisement you won’t get them to read it, watch it or listen to it unless it does grab their attention and divert them from what they are doing.

In a written advert the headline is what gets their attention. Headlines are what they put on posters outside newsagents to lure you in and they print them on the covers of magazines for the same reason. Similarly, what the viewer first sees and hears in a television commercial, or the listener first hears on your radio advert, must get attention

Putting it bluntly, a good headline contributes around 80% of the success of an advertisement because it flags down the person you want. And that’s the key--- if they don’t stop and look, or watch or listen, you are history. That means you’ve just got to get it right.

So, whenever you create an advertisement, you should devote around 80% of your time to getting the headline right to make sure you get that attention.

Now its not rocket science. All it requires is a little thought. For example, wouldn’t a newspaper, television or radio headline like…

Parents! Here’s how to guarantee that your kid will never do drugs!

flag down the attention of most parents (and probably lots of grandparents too).

Similarly an advertisement that started with the headline:

How you can be irresistible to the opposite sex

would get the attention of a huge number of readers, viewers or listeners.

Now of course you may be wondering how this would affect what you put in a letter. Well the headline in a letter is very important because it’s really a brief advertisement for the rest of the letter. It’s got to encourage the recipient to read the letter. No matter what you were aiming to do you would seize the recipient’s attention with a letter that started:

You know what? I have a complaint!

They’d certainly want to read the rest wouldn’t they? Now let’s suppose that you are applying for a job and would normally start your application letter with “Re: Your advertisement for a widget puller” and that certainly won’t generate much excitement or interest. Why wouldn’t you try

There are 3 reasons why I am just the person you want!

That would almost certainly get their attention wouldn’t it?

So what about when you meet people? Well there’s a real opportunity because generally after they’ve got your name they’ll ask, “What do you do?” or “Where do you work?” That’s an opportunity to grab them with an answer like

“I work for the best dentist in town!’

Almost invariably they’ll ask you who that is and now you can get the conversation really going (and maybe end up with some business too!).

Now, you might think creating attention-getting headlines like these is difficult but if you know the 12 magic words and use them liberally you’ll find it much easier. These are the most powerful words to use when you want to get attention so it’s sensible to use one or two of them when you are aiming to get attention.

And here they are:

You

Money

Save

New

Easy

Love

Discovery

Results

Health

Proven

Guarantee

Free

To find more great ideas why not browse the Business Growth Center’s cyber bookshop just click here.

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