Data
Delivers Credibility
Data Delivers
Credibility
By
Robert F. Abbott Copyright © 2003
Over the past couple of days I've been setting up
visitor counters, so people in another organization can
accurately count the number of people who visit their
event.
They got the idea (and the counters) from an association
I belong to, and they, too, are learning how data
delivers credibility.
I'm always impressed by how much respect I get when
speaking or writing with specific, solid numbers. For
example, when I talk about the number of visitors who
came through the gates of my association's event on a
specific night, I don't talk about "a lot" or "a few" or
"more than the night before."
Instead, I can say something like, "2,348 visitors came
through last night, compared to 1,852 the evening
before." That specificity makes a difference when it
comes to credibility, and if I propose a certain course
of action based on those numbers, I'm likely to get the
support I need from other members of the board.
Data, you see, represents very specific information, and
often, the more specific you can be, the more
credibility you have.
Similarly, direct marketing gurus encourage their
clients to use specific numbers in headlines, rather
than generalizations. That's why effective direct mail,
and now online advertising, uses claims like "Learn how
one sales rep earned $2,216.78 last week..." rather than
"Learn how one sales rep earned more than $2,000 last
week..."
By being specific, the headline writer converts a boast
("more than $2,000") into a conceivably credible claim.
What's implied is that it must be true or the writer
wouldn't use that specific figure.
You'll find other professionals get credibility in the
same way. For example, lawyers get it by citing
precedents. Rather than talk to a judge in generalities,
good lawyers cite previous case law and decisions by
other judges.
You also know the clergy gain credibility by citing
passages of scripture, along with the chapter and verse
numbers. And, how about the medical profession? For
example, physicians and others don't speak of "heart
attacks;" instead they speak of different kinds of heart
disease and conditions. By being specific they gain
credibility, credibility that sets them apart from lay
people.
The concept works for just about anyone, in any
profession or occupation. Suppose, for example, you're a
sales manager attending a budget meeting, and the
general manager wants you to increase your sales by 15%
next year, far more than you're likely to achieve. To
argue persuasively that the target should be lowered,
you might explain that the economy of your city is only
expected to grow 2% next year, that your main competitor
recently cut prices by an average of 4.5%, and that your
company's production will be just 5% greater next year.
Now, you've got ammunition when you argue for a lower
sales target.
In summary: Data, in the form of specific numbers or
references, adds credibility to messages. It's a
technique used by many professionals, including the
clergy, physicians, and sales people.
About the Author:
Robert F. Abbott, the author of A Manager's Guide to
Newsletters: Communicating for Results, writes about
communication issues in the free online ezine, Abbott's
Communication Letter
http://www.abbottletter.com.
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