I did something last week that is still making me laugh when I think about it. I have to face facts: I need reading glasses. I had a meeting with someone with whom I may be embarking on a joint venture, and I asked to see examples of projects he’s created. He named one as he flashed me the Internet on his phone. Being a visual person, I focused on the image in front of me rather that the spoken word and was delighted to see it was, as he said, to do with Christmas. I smiled at the illuminated reindeer pictured galloping in the header.
Returning home, I tried to find the website on my laptop, but with no luck. I attempted many variations of the company name (including, of course, the keyword ‘Christmas’) but with no luck. Eventually I gave up and emailed him.
How he laughed! He hadn’t said ‘Christmas’ at all; he’d said ‘Chrysalis!’ I was so focused on the excitement of upcoming festivities that my brain heard what it wanted to hear. Or, more technically, it selected the most closely associated word to the sound that matched the picture. That was no Rudolph on the screen, but an outlined person glowing with the aura of a metaphorical rebirth; hence the chrysalis! When he emailed me back I actually laughed out loud, and I’m still laughing. No doubt he was so impressed with me he’s rushing to set up our proposed joint venture right now… Well why wouldn’t he?!!Now I’m wondering what other pictures I may have misinterpreted lately. If you’ve sent me one it might be a good time to resend it, and I’ll view it with my purple reading glasses on! I suppose it’s akin to proofreading – and I definitely wear glasses for that. Whenever I’m copywriting anything or creating a website to tie in with a social media package, I obviously ensure it’s word perfect before emailing over to clients.
People need documents proofread by someone else, that’s a fact. Our brain knows what it expects to see, so completely misses little mistakes. I include a section on proofreading in my Plain English Business Writing training, so people love to tell me the worst example they’ve seen. The best has to be a council in Essex where a woman sent a mailshot to 30,000 residents with the title: ‘You can count on us.’ No one proofread it. No one saw it before she pinged the send button. Lots of people saw the replies though… There should be three ‘O’s in that sentence. There were only two. (You can work it out…) That made me laugh too, even though it’s very rude.
Luckily I could see perfectly well on Tuesday when I trained two companies to use LinkedIn more effectively in their businesses. So many people register on LinkedIn, set up a basic profile and connect with others they know, but completely miss the huge array of possibilities that this fantastic social network opens up to them. Just like in the ‘outside world’ where businesses thrive on referrals, introductions and networking – so the same is true of this amazing platform. You can source and target the people you need without leaving your chair, whenever it suits you and wherever they are in the world.It’s a hotbed of opportunity that’s there for the taking if you just know how. As I feel so passionate about this, between now and Chrysalis I’m offering six REDUCED PRICED one-to-one LinkedIn training sessions – completely focused on helping you achieve your business goals. If you’re based in London (or happy to travel here) and you’d like to take advantage of this short-term offer, sign-up here and I’ll contact you within 24 hours to arrange a convenient date and time.
As Bananarama said (not the one time I sat with them in a café in Carnaby Street): “It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it; that’s what gets results!” Want results? Book here for starters. And, as always, it’s lovely if you follow me here: @WeekendWitch.
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