Trigger Events and Selective Perception

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