At the
top of this week’s New York Times Bestseller List is
BLINK,
by Malcolm Gladwell. The author of "The Tipping Point"
(great book by the way) explores the importance of hunch,
the power of first impressions, and how instinct influences
the workings of the mind.
The
minute I delved into chapter 1, titled The Theory of
Thin Slices: How a Little Bit of Knowledge Goes a Long Way,
I immediately correlated Gladwell’s theory on how
impressions can be as reliable as data to affiliate partner
marketing.
The
main point Gladwell conveys is that each relationship has a
DNA, or an essential nature. It's possible to take a very
thin slice of that relationship, grasp its fundamental
pattern and make a decent prediction of its destiny.
Gladwell says we thin slice all the time – whether it's going
on a date or meeting a potential client- we judge the given
situation. “We take a small portion of a person or problem
and extrapolate amazingly well about the whole,” according
to Gladwell. Through this process we have the capacity to
sift huge amounts of information, blend data, isolate
telling details and come to astonishingly rapid conclusions,
even in the first two seconds of seeing something.
So
I ask you this- based off of your initial conversations with
your partners- could you predict if it was going to be a
long lasting affiliate partnership- or just a one time zip
code offer here or a two time email submit there?
Gladwell writes about how psychologist John Gottman ran a
research group on married couples and measured that at only
three minutes of a couple talking, one can predict
with fairly impressive accuracy who was going to get
divorced and who was going to make it. The truth of a
marriage can be understood in a much shorter time than
anyone ever imagined.
Depending on the kinds of partnerships you want to develop,
it is imperative that you get an initial ‘feel’ from your
partners. Do you get the feeling that they are shady (if so-
it is advised that you cease business dealings with them-
remember- what goes around comes around). Or, do you get a
good sense that you will be entering a solid and mutually
beneficial affiliate relationship? As Gladwell says
“Decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as
decisions made cautiously and deliberately.''
https://www.lynxtrack.com/signup.php
So-
here are some affiliate partner marketing takeaways from
Blink that I hope will help gauge your business
relationships:
-
The Concept of Thin Slices: the idea that the information we
process and the decisions that we make can be broken down
into sequential slices, and that often the most important
information and the best decisions come from that first
slice.
- It’s
all about those first two seconds.
- First
impressions do count- whether its in person, AIM, email, or
phone.
- Decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as
decisions made cautiously and deliberately.
Blink.
Care to chat? Drop me a
line.
Elizabeth@yfdirect.com
Elizabeth M.
Lloyd
Director, Partner Marketing
The YFDirect Trust Network
Elizabeth@yfdirect.com
