Have you ever noticed that as soon as you buy a new car you see it all over the road?
When women get pregnant, suddenly they start seeing other pregnant women everywhere. When couples give birth of to their first child, they stop noticing pregnant women and now start seeing babies around every corner. This is called selective perception. We tend to see the things that reinforce what we believe, or the things we can relate to. The rest we usually disregard.
The Trigger Events we experience change what we see. Every time we experience a Trigger Event a new version of selective perception is created. We begin to notice things that were always there. We just did not ’see’ them.
Why is this important? By focusing on those who recently experienced a Trigger Event you can use the words, visuals, or scenarios, that are highly likely to resonate with them. In sales, that means saying the words that will capture your prospects attention. In marketing, that means using the words or visuals that will make your advertising jump out of the page and get noticed by those readers who recently experience a Trigger Event and are most likely to become your customers.
The next time you are crafting a message, focus on the audience that recently experienced a Trigger Event. Focus on shaping your message so that when they see it, they will take that most important step to becoming your customer – phoning you.
Other Trigger Event Resources to Consider
I scour the Internet searching for ideas, resources, articles, and success stories about leveraging Trigger Events to outsell the competition. This time I want to share with you an article by Frank Filippo, of Dow Jones’ Factiva SalesWorks, called Sales Triggers for Advantage. In his article Frank shares his thoughts on the different types of Trigger Events you can find in the news.
I encourage you to get together with others and brainstorm on ways to capitalize on Trigger Events to outsell your competition. Contact me when you have ideas, resources, or success stories about leveraging Trigger Events that you want to share with the over 2,000 entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales and marketing professionals who subscribe to this blog.
Have an eventful week!
Craig
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Yes, indeed I have noticed this too. When I got my Toyota corolla I say all these corollas here and there. Then when I got a Nissan Altima, the same thing.
But, I never thought of it in the way you put it here. This is so “outside of the box’ for me. To use this as a marketing advantage!
This reminds me of a tactic one entrepreneur was promoting at the Warrior forum entitled “event domination.” His angle was to watch the news for trends and happenings and then put up pages or adword ads or cpa offers to syphon off the quick hit of traffic and interest the topic generated.
Anyway, thanks for this. much appreciated. I have to print out your post for marketing library.
Vote:Craig,
I discovered this when I was about 8 years old. My dad called Montgomery Ward, the monkey ward, and I asked him what he was talking about. He explained, and sure enough over the next few weeks, I heard it on television and by people a dozen times.
This power of planting ideas is one of the greatest ways to help people see how something can make a difference.
Great post!
Vote:Craig,
Not sure if you will count this as a trigger event, but when I was a mere youngster my father had his own business selling novelty sweets (candy)to shops. He would buy in some crazy stuff, but he had a great way of creating demand.
He would send me out a week ahead of his planned calls with samples. I would go into the shop and ask if they had any of these… and I would produce my personal sample from my grubby pocket… and the assistant would obviously say no… shame I would say as i was leaving, because they are all the rage at school!
A week later my father would turn up, introduce his new lines and the owner would say… “wow, just what I’m after, all the kids are asking for these”… worked every time!
Vote:Tim,
I really like the concept of trigger events. I was just working recently with a firm of consulting surveyors whose business was largely driven by legislation changes and local government re-organisations. We helped create a better “grapevine” system for keeping them in touch with these moves and using this intelligence on key triggers to drive their sales approach.
What are your thoughts though for businesses where the trigger events that drive customer demand are not so visible to the outside world? Drops in pofitability or personnel changes for example. They often become visible outside a company – but usually a long time after something has been started to address the issue.
Best Regards
Ian
Vote:I know exactly what you mean. When I started looking for a new car and settled on a Jeep. Then all I saw were Jeeps everywhere. I think you touch on a huge topic here shooting for the target event (on pun intended). I would say I found my idea for the day to think about, thanks.
Vote:I also notice the same situation. I believe it is because we are related on a particular situation and we are interested about it. I think all people experience this kind of situation.
Vote:Yes Indeed , I think it’s because is that along with our certain frame of mind comes along it’s own set of filters distinct to it.
For example you just shopped , found and bought your own PC so your perception and mental filters are attuned to all pc based products. Which before you were ever having intentions of buying one your would barely notice them.
A good trigger could be food , it’s a basic need so the trigger is almost constant. All that’s left now it to make your food niche more interesting and distinct from the rest.
Vote:Informative post again. At least my “perception” of it, is.
Brings up an entirely different thought, also: Are marketers behaving ethically when they uses such mechanisms to influence people?
Vote:This idea goes hand in hand with the power of positive thinking. Once you begin to let the world know of your goals,ambitions…whatever…doors of opportunity almost magically begin to open for you!
Vote: