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Inside This Issue...
                                                                                   •  8-Second Attention Span
                                                                                   •  Sales & Marketing Talk
                                                                                   •  Good, Better, Best
                                                                                   •  Sales Results through July 2017
                                                                                   •  Million Dollar Club Achievements
                                                                                   •  August Events




       Volume 79, Number 6                                                                                 August 2017


                          The Myth of the 8-Second Attention Span



      Microsoft   conducted    a   widely   Because    of   infinite  channels,   steps four and five combined have
      publicized study a few years ago that   marketing has changed as well. 15   gotten a greater number of new
      concluded the average American’s      years ago, if you didn’t get a good   patients than steps one, two and
      attention span is only 8 seconds -- less   response with your first marketing   three combined. All the steps have
      than a goldfish.                      pieces,  any  additional  follow-up  was   similar copy, and although I think
                                            unlikely to yield any additional results.   the last two steps look cooler, there
      This idea that no one can focus       Today, because it is so difficult to grab   isn’t an increase in the offer or some
      anymore has made its way into all     someone’s  attention,  you  may  not   other huge reason they should get
      areas of business and life,                                                           such a drastic increase in
      from 140 character tweets                                                             response. They just do.
      to the idea that no one will
      read long-copy sales letters                                                          My  best  guess  is  the
      or watch a video on their                                                             increase in steps four and
      computer longer than five                                                             five happen in part because
      minutes.                                                                              of procrastination caused
                                                                                            by infinite channels on the
      I call BS on all of it.  The                                                          dial.  When the prospect
      problem isn’t attention                                                               gets the fourth letter, they
      span;  the  problem  is  we                                                           realize it is the fourth time
      have an infinite number of                                                            they’ve meant to call and
      options to choose from.                                                               make an appointment. So
                                                                                            they finally actually call.
      Back  when  TV  first came
      out,  people  had  just  a                                                            How to Capture a Person's
      handful of channels to                                                                Attention
      watch. If you didn’t like                                                             Let's start with this: If you
      what was on, you had two                                                              start talking about the
      additional choices. Now,                                                              latest whiz-bang scientific
      you have 200 choices, plus                                                            report, you’re done. Boring
      whatever is on DVR, Netflix,                                                          never works.
      Amazon Prime, Hulu,  YouTube or       get  any response unless  you  follow
      elsewhere.                            up. It requires a much larger and     A combination of offline and online
                                            more complicated campaign to break    marketing works the best. If we
      If I have options and you bore me, it   through the noise.                  generate  a  lead  online,  we  want  to
      is easy to simply change the channel.                                       bring them offline ASAP. If that lead is
      Odds are I can find something that will   For example, I developed a five-step   generated offline, we want to connect
      amuse me, which means you have a      direct mail campaign designed to get   and bring them online immediately.
      very short period of time to entertain   new patients for dental offices. Since   We want the prospect to get our
      me or I’m off to the next option.     the campaign started six years ago,   message across platforms.

                                                                                                     8-Second Attention Span,
                                                                                                     Continued on page 3
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