You Have 8 Seconds to Impress

Dr. Stan Fine, author of the book, Business Boot Camp for Woman, says women in business don’t have a lot of time to waste when it comes to pitching an idea to a potential prospect.

Here’s another tidbit from my business guru:

Excerpt from Business Boot Camp for Women:

Do I really have to tell you that decision-makers avoid letting others waste their time? Must I actually point out that executives spend no more than a few minutes each day going through their mail? Yours is not likely the only letter on the prospect’s pile, so at most you have …

Eight seconds before the decision-maker will make the first yes/no decision about whether to crumple and toss.

It probably took you four seconds to read that last sentence, which has 19 words. So, at most, you have about 40 words with which to deliver your first compelling message, and thereby avoid the crumple-and-toss response. Then again, one compelling point is probably not enough to get your prospect to invest the time to read the entire piece, but a great opening can “buy” you …

Eight more seconds before the prospect makes his or her second toss/don’t-toss choice. That’s only 40 more words to make a point so compelling that the prospect will make the conscious decision to read the entire letter.

The second 40 words are probably the most critical of your letter, because they will either cause it to get tossed for good, or “buy” you …

One additional minute – the average amount of time most decision-makers will invest before making their final crumple and toss decision.

If you don’t make your first compelling point in 40 words, your next compelling point in another 40 words and keep your entire letter at 500 words or fewer, your letter won’t survive the prospect’s three crumple-and-toss decisions.