The Radical Yet Simple Solution To Finding Great Messages

• 00:04 How do you know what messages will actually work on your audience?
• 00:09 Well, here's a radical idea for you, ask people.
• 00:14 Yeah, I love Google, and the Internet and all that, but
• 00:18 sometimes just going up to people and asking them.
• 00:21 What issues are of greatest interest to them can be the most helpful?
• 00:24 I remember many years ago, I was working with a political candidate who was
• 00:29 running for Supervisor of Elections and accounting in Florida.
• 00:34 And this was after a whole situation where voting machines didn't work.
• 00:39 The current Supervisor of Election was going to be voted out of office.
• 00:43 There was no doubt, and people were upset their vote didn't count.
• 00:48 So all of a sudden there are about ten candidates running for
• 00:51 this Supervisor of Elections position.
• 00:54 My candidate had about the least money of any of the candidates.
• 00:57 All of the candidates were running around town saying
• 01:02 Democracy is paramount, your vote is essential.
• 01:06 And I have a nice law degree, and they had nice and suits, ties on,
• 01:10 it looked professional.
• 01:12 They all sounded like statesmen.
• 01:15 And they were all sounding as if they were running for,
• 01:18 you know, basically President of the United States.
• 01:22 My candidate had to figure it out a way of cutting through this.
• 01:27 So I asked Ian, what have you done that's different from other people?
• 01:32 He said, well, I actually went to the factory where they make the voting
• 01:36 machines, and I got certified to fix it.
• 01:39 I said okay, that sounds interesting, it was a one day certification process.
• 01:44 So I just went around and asked voters, what are you really looking for and
• 01:47 the Supervisor of Elections?
• 01:49 And everyone said the same thing, they generally care about that.
• 01:52 All I want is someone will make the machines work, so my vote counts.
• 01:56 Again, and again, I heard that.
• 01:57 Now this didn't cost any money.
• 01:59 We didn't have money for extensive polling.
• 02:03 But what we did is we got rid of all the messages about 15 years in the Coronas.
• 02:10 And the boy scout, membership cup masters representation
• 02:14 leadership is get rid of all of that in the candidates messaging.
• 02:19 And instead, Ian focused on a clear simple message,
• 02:24 on the only candidate who's been certified to repair these voting machines.
• 02:31 You vote for me, I'll make sure the machines work, and your vote will count.
• 02:38 Three simple messages, and less money than anyone.
• 02:43 He won the primary, he won the general election.
• 02:47 And now actually many decades later, he's still in office.
• 02:51 Because of just asking people, what do they care about, and narrowing it down.
• 02:57 In this case, it wasn't even five messages, it was three messages.
• 03:02 So whatever you do, its not enough to just tell people all your credentials.
• 03:07 Whether you're trying to get a new piece of business, new consulting, investment,
• 03:11 or being hired for a job.
• 03:13 You gotta focus on what the person, or
• 03:16 people you're presenting to actually care about.

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