Today, we’re seeing a sea change in how people respond to information.
Everyone feels swamped by the sheer volume of email and communication – people talk about drowning in communication, with the result that they’re incredibly pushed for time.

As a result, it’s become harder to get peoples’ attention and harder to keep their attention – that’s true in face to face meetings and it’s even truer on the phone or in writing.

So if we want to communicate effectively we have to change our approach – via email, over the phone and in person.
    
Getting emails opened

Compared to the past, people today are much less likely to read anything you send them.

And if they do read, it’s because you’ve grabbed them with a catchy subject line or headline and What you’ve sent them is short and punchy.

In fact, the most important part of any email is the subject line, followed by the first two sentences.

Subject lines need to be short and tight, getting the recipient’s attention and ideally intriguing them a bit, so they’re prompted to click to open the email.

Remember, you either grab people when they glance at the subject line or risk losing them entirely.

 The three second rule

The battle for attention doesn’t end when someone opens your email.

I recently heard an interview with a music executive who said that years ago songs would     often open with an introduction and then get into the main melody several seconds in.

Today, you have three to five seconds to grab your audience’s attention or you lose them –  some of the most popular songs of late grab the listener right off the top, with no introduction at all.

As an example, he used the song Tik Tok by Kesha, which set the records for most downloads ever  by any female artist.( People may be familiar with the song from its line “Brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack.”)

This exec said that one of the reasons the song is successful is that there’s no intro at all before getting into the body of the song.

Once someone has opened your email, use the first two sentences to really sell the benefit of continuing to read – and clearly identify why you’re sending them that email, why they should read it and what you’re going to do or ask them to do as a result.

And once you’re done that, try to keep everything short – short sentences, short paragraphs.

Use subheads in italics or bold to break it up.

And if it’s going to be more than one screen so that people have to scroll down, understand that you lose some people

Having  articles read

I’m a big fan of sending third party articles from credible sources – for example an article from  the Wall Street Journal  or the New York Times on Warren Buffett’s recent investor meeting in Omaha.

Remember, though , that fewer and fewer people are reading what you send them carefully – they may scan it but fewer are reading it in depth.

A better solution might be to send clients and prospects a link to part of the interview Warren Buffett did on CNBC the Monday after his investor meeting.

Video is the big growth area on the internet – Cisco estimates that by 2012 video will make up 60% of Internet traffic. And advisors have to reflect this in how they communicate.

Getting voice mails returned

The same principles apply to leaving voice mail messages – short, tight, benefit focused, creating a sense of urgency in terms of responding and returning your call or acting on your message.

One way is to take ten seconds  before placing the call to jot down the key points you want to make.

Once you hear the beep, it’s too late to start thinking about what you want to say – we’ve all heard long winded, meandering messages on our voice mails, and we all know that those are not motivating for us to act on.

When it comes to voice mails, what you say is obviously  important – but just as important is your tone in how you deliver your message. You need to convey a sense of energy and a sense of urgency.
    
Keeping people focused on the phone

Even if you’re fortunate enough to get a client on the phone, the problem with many telephone    conversations is that people are distracted.

They hear you but often they’re looking at their computers or their minds are wandering, so they’re not really listening.

As a result, on phone conversations it’s critical that you involve clients or prospects and get them talking.

The other thing to consider is using web meeting software where you email clients a link that they click on. When they do that, you take over their computer screen, can show an agenda, show client statements and walk through key points.

The other key thing this lets you do is use visual support – charts and graphs – that will help hold     your listener’s attention.

A number of companies offer this - the top three are Citrix Go to Meeting, Webex and Microsoft Live Meeting.

Effective face to face meetings

When meeting in person, the impact of short attention spans is less pronounced compared to mail, email and voice mails.

That said, it’s still important to adapt how you communicate to the time pressed world we’re operating in today:

        Keep presentations as short as possible.

        Be sure to involve our client.

       If you’ve got a proposal or a financial plan that’s ten pages, have a one page executive summary

       at the front.

       And again, use charts, graphs and visuals to support your key points.