Getting to the point
By Becky Beach
My 16 year old son, Archie, has a brilliant mind. It is crammed full of facts and information that ranges from dinosaurs to rock formation, and quotes from page 384 of Harry Potter’s Goblet of Fire to the version of Iron Man’s suit that featured in the Avengers’ film, Age of Ultron and how many frames per second the PS5 runs at and what sort of output monitor it therefore requires.
Whilst this may sound like the boast of a proud parent, it’s not meant to be; my meandering paragraph has a point which I will get to shortly.
Archie has Asperger’s Syndrome which is a form of autism usually characterised by difficulties in social interaction. As with any form of autism the effects are different for each person. I’m not going to give you a detailed list of Archie’s; I am however going to tell you about one of his traits as that will help me to get to the point I wish to make, and it’s this:
Archie doesn’t understand that other people may not have the same level of interest in the same subjects as him.
So, when Archie speaks to you about something, you get everything he knows about that subject. His inability to marshal his thoughts coupled with his intense need to impart all known facts means there is no brain-to-mouth filter function. Any adults meeting Archie for the first time are profoundly impressed with the level of detail and superior knowledge he has on the subject. Accordingly, they are generally more easy-going and give Archie room to carry on whilst simultaneously processing the information so that they can work out what &/or where the (one-sided) conversation is heading. Kids on the other hand give Archie a short shrift: “What are you talking about?” or “Get to the point”.
And getting to the point is the exactly point I want to make.
You can’t get to the point unless you are specific about what it is you want to achieve. The more specific you are about what you want to achieve the easier it will be to figure out how to arrive at that point.
In business it’s the difference between:
“I want more clients” and “I want to grow from 2 clients a month to 5 clients a month”
Or
“I want to make more money” and “I want to increase my income by £1000 per month”
It’s a mindset that should also be applied to advertising and marketing strategies. People seeing your copy aren’t going to be as accommodating as adults are toward Archie; they are more likely to take the same approach as the kids i.e. “What are you talking about?” or “Get to the point”. Once you start being specific in your marketing materials you will give yourself a higher chance of converting readers into customers.
If you need some help in figuring out how to get to the point hit give Becky a call on 07976 869435 or email and let me show you how I can help.