Pony Of Prey Blog

An interesting thing happened last week. Upon launching our new
website www.superhot100.com we
decided to undertake a survey of 100 financial services
companies. It makes interesting reading… There was a broad
spectrum of companies surveyed, firms such as mortgage brokers,
IFAs, estate agents, accountants,etc.

Of the 100 firms, 21 didn’t have any web presence at all.

Of the 79 remaining, an incredible 38 firms had not updated
their sites for at least 6 months!

Out of 41 left, 31 of them do not do any promotion of their
sites at all although they do update their content regularly

The 10 remaining sites do actively market their sites and
refresh their content on a regular basis.

I don’t know about you but to me that makes staggering reading.
How often are we told that content is king?
It is a crime not
to have an online presence in 2005 but it is also completely
unacceptable (in my humble opinion) to launch a site and then do
nothing with it!

So remember, it is not enough just to have a web presence, you
must promote,publicise and have fresh, relevant content. This
way means that you can try and increase your website traffic
without having to resort to PPC.
Financial Services companies
must realise this if they are to gain their share of direct to
consumer business from the internet.

You probably know this already, but there are generally held to be four main personality types, which I call: Extrovert, Amiable, Analytical and Pragmatic .

Let’s take a moment to consider each of them in the workplace.

Extrovert: someone who probably has a messy desk; who leaves projects 75% completed then gets distracted by new, ‘more exciting’ projects; someone who communicates their ideas with enthusiasm and charm; makes instant decisions; hates ‘paperwork’ and the ‘dull routines’ of life, such as filling in order forms, checking bank statements, etc.; is usually ‘fashionably late’ to meetings, events and parties (and they love entertaining clients!); always has interesting screen savers.

Amiable: someone who is the ‘peacemaker’ in the office; is always striving for a ‘win-win’ in everything in life; someone who probably isn’t terribly ambitious and striving, but is very happy to support and encourage others who are; someone who cannot say “No” very easily and so are probably on every committee going (whether they actually want to be or not); is more likely to make a decision on the spot if only to stop you ‘hassling’ them, otherwise will take weeks to make a decision (if at all, as they prefer others to make the decision for them); like to know what others are doing (in case they themselves are doing something inappropriate or foolish).

Analytical: ‘GadgetMan’ - has multiple PDAs in case one fails; has several computers for the same reason; adores punctuality; when they tell you they recently bought something they won’t round the number up but will tell you to the exact dollar and cent how much they paid; loves playing with spreadsheets, charts and projections; will never make a decision on the spot; will buy a car based on fuel economy, servicing costs, resell value, depreciation and other factors, never ‘because it’s a lovely shade of blue’.

Pragmatic: a ‘take charge’ person; their view is the way things will probably get done; they listen to others’ points of view out of courtesy or intellectual curiousity, but will still do things ‘my way’ ; doesn’t take business rejection personally; not interested in how ‘exciting’ a project might be, only interested in how much money it will cost/make and how soon it can be implemented/built; very often the Pragmatic likes the colour ‘ Red ‘; doesn’t have any photos of family or friends on their desk (too unprofessional); has a neat, organised desk.

Now, sales trainers have for years been pushing the line that we ‘buy with emotion, and justify that purchase with logic’. But having seen a few Analyticals in my years I don’t actually believe that to be the case. An accountant friend of mine in England never purchased anything because of emotion - he always poured over spec sheets from various manufacturers, weighed up the costs involved, considered his options. And because he was also part-Amiable he then let his wife make the final decision, based on his input.

Which raises an important point. No one is ever a ‘pure’ type. We are all a mix of the four personality types to some degree or other. Yet we also have a strong preference for one particular type.

I’m an Extrovert with a leaning towards the Analytical. I couldn’t begin to count the number of my own marketing projects that I have half-completed here in my office; each one almost ready to roll but just in line behind the latest ‘more exciting’ idea I’ve just had. Yet I also love getting deep into Dreamweaver and working out how to tweak my website pages for greater speed, better search engine optimisation, tidy up loose bits of code, and so on.

But that’s beside the point…

The real purpose of this page is to let you know that your business communications - whether they are email, web page, pdf brochure or even initial word of mouth introduction - need to appeals to the different needs of the four personality types.

How do you do that?

By making sure that your communication has a reasonably equal amount of the following:

* Facts and figures to appeal to the Analytical and Pragmatic

* Enthusiasm and excitement to appeal to the Extrovert

* Testimonials to appeal to the Amiable

Get that right and you have a greater chance of getting your message across.

---

When you match consumer psychology with effective communication
styles you get a powerful combination. Lee Hopkins can show you
how to communicate better for better business results. At
Hopkins-Business-Communication-Training.com you can find the
secrets to communication success.

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2. Avoid Smoking

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3. Fitness

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Your face tends to conform to the position or expression that you carry most of the time. If you often frown or scowl you skin is more likely to develop lines or wrinkles between the eyes, down turning lines at the corners of the mouth, or other lines or furrows that conform to the frowning facial expression. a smiling, pleasant, relaxed expression is goof for your face and will help keep you looking younger.

5. Sleeping Positions

Sleeping on your face can cause sleep wrinkles. Sleeping in the same position most of the night for years can permanently crease your skin. With a small pillow under the lumbar (lower) spine, it is possible to sleep on your back comfortably without causing wrinkles on your face.

6. Skin Care

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9. Brown Blotches

Brown blotches occur on the skin with age. These include freckles, liver spots (lentigines), and uneven pigmentation (melasma) which usually occurs in women because of a combination of sun exposure and estrogen type hormones either naturally or in birth control pills. The Phaze 13 Pigment Gel, or NuCelle® Mandelic Serum 10-15%, and prescription medications can both help. Laser treatment, dermabrasion (skin sanding), chemical peels, and liquid nitrogen freezing can also improve these pigmented blotches. These procedures are performed by dermatologists and plastic surgeons.

10. Other Skin Blemishes Show Your Age

Waxy scaling yellow, brown bumps (seborrheic keratoses) and fleshy tags (skin tags) occur with age and make the skin look older. Enlarged oil glands and small cysts commonly appear on the face with age. These small skin lesions are easily removed by a dermatologist using simple office surgical procedures, liquid nitrogen freezing or lasers. A clear complexion without all of these little distractions, gives a much younger look to the skin.

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