Comments on: “Do Not Read This Blog Post” http://www.meryl.net/2007/10/23/do-not-read-this-blog-post/ Content on writing, tech, business, marketing, social media Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:21:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Sean D'Souza http://www.meryl.net/2007/10/23/do-not-read-this-blog-post/comment-page-1/#comment-810661 Sean D'Souza Sun, 17 May 2009 22:13:06 +0000 http://meryl.net/2007/10/23/do-not-read-this-blog-post/#comment-810661 What people call negative is not negative at all. Telling a child to look both sides before crossing the street, is not negative. The weatherman telling you to get out your umbrella is not negative. It's just a factor of letting the person/client know of the impending problem or issue. Just because it's a problem, or has the potential to be problem doesn't make it negative. <abbr><em>Sean D'Souza´s last blog post... <a href="http://www.psychotactics.com/blog/the-role-of-get-rich-quick-merchants/" rel="nofollow">The Role of Get-Rich Quick Merchants</a></abbr></em> What people call negative is not negative at all. Telling a child to look both sides before crossing the street, is not negative. The weatherman telling you to get out your umbrella is not negative.

It’s just a factor of letting the person/client know of the impending problem or issue.

Just because it’s a problem, or has the potential to be problem doesn’t make it negative.

Sean D’Souza´s last blog post… The Role of Get-Rich Quick Merchants

]]> By: Jeff Sexton http://www.meryl.net/2007/10/23/do-not-read-this-blog-post/comment-page-1/#comment-502959 Jeff Sexton Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:36:26 +0000 http://meryl.net/2007/10/23/do-not-read-this-blog-post/#comment-502959 <p>That's for the trackback, Meryl. Just had a couple of quick comments for you that I thought you and your listeners might like:</p> <p>1) You're right that negative, or at least slightly negative, reviews add credibility to the positive ones, I haven't seen examples of this in testimonials (though I'm not downing the idea). The difference between reviews and testimonials are that anyone can leave a review, but you have presumably asked for and selected your testimonials. So...if you want to add some credibility enhancing negativity to testimonials you might either:</p> <p>a) Call them reviews and install a form where clients can leave unsolicited reviews</p> <p>b) Call them testimonials and instead of looking to get a negative testimonial, look to get a testimonial that starts out negative or doubtful and then turns positive. I.E. "I had my doubts about Meryl - she was so expensive and her ideas were crazy - but we hired her, used her crazy ideas, and business went up by 50%! We love you, Meryl"</p> <p>By addressing the objections at the start of the testimonial, the happy ending is that much more powerfully persuasive.</p> <p>2)The Negativity that works in headlines has to do with our brains "hardwired" inclination to look for problems. But rather than me blabbing about this, I'll just direct you to the single best primer on headlines I've ever come across: Sean D'Souza's Psycho Headlines. It's a free PDF he offers when you sign up for his newsletter over at Psychotactics.com. Great stuff.</p> <p>-Jeff</p> That’s for the trackback, Meryl. Just had a couple of quick comments for you that I thought you and your listeners might like:

1) You’re right that negative, or at least slightly negative, reviews add credibility to the positive ones, I haven’t seen examples of this in testimonials (though I’m not downing the idea). The difference between reviews and testimonials are that anyone can leave a review, but you have presumably asked for and selected your testimonials. So…if you want to add some credibility enhancing negativity to testimonials you might either:

a) Call them reviews and install a form where clients can leave unsolicited reviews

b) Call them testimonials and instead of looking to get a negative testimonial, look to get a testimonial that starts out negative or doubtful and then turns positive. I.E. “I had my doubts about Meryl – she was so expensive and her ideas were crazy – but we hired her, used her crazy ideas, and business went up by 50%! We love you, Meryl”

By addressing the objections at the start of the testimonial, the happy ending is that much more powerfully persuasive.

2)The Negativity that works in headlines has to do with our brains “hardwired” inclination to look for problems. But rather than me blabbing about this, I’ll just direct you to the single best primer on headlines I’ve ever come across: Sean D’Souza’s Psycho Headlines. It’s a free PDF he offers when you sign up for his newsletter over at Psychotactics.com. Great stuff.

-Jeff

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