Loud & Clear

STRATEGY 1

PROBE: Targeting Your Audience

“The only normal people are the ones you don’t know too well.”

—Rodney Dungerfield

 

While Rodney Dangerfield was looking for laughs with this quip, there’s actually a lot of wisdom in it. It hits on something of which we’re all guilty most of the time: assuming who others are. We assume that they’re just like us, and we deal with them on that level, never getting to know who they really are. When you deal with others without first getting to know their agenda and what they need to hear in order to motivate them, you’re only going to get one place with them: nowhere.

This brings us to my first strategy: Probe. Remember that when I use the term audience in this book, I’m talking about anyone to whom you ...