Make quick decisions, by framing your thoughts ahead of time.
12 decision in 7 seconds… made into an acrostic FAT CAT (for easy memorization)
1&2) Friends or foe
3&4) Approach or avoid
5&6) Trustworthy or dishonest
7&8) Confident or weak
9&10) Able or Inept
11&12) Trending or repulsive
Quick 12 step frame to understand others:
The real source of this (like most good content shared… was a conversation. The concept of making 12 decision in 7 seconds sounds like there are too many options to even be helpful (on the spur of the moment). Even though this is true… it is also true that people make snap decisions every time you enter a room (just like you). Paying attention to their snap decisions (and adjusting how you present yourself) can change you life – literally.
Questions 1 & 2) Friends or foe
This type of prejudging is quick, common and not as accurate as we would like to pretent it to be. Body position and eye “squint” can be communicating that you are friendly or you are a foe.
Questions 3 & 4) Approach or avoid
Whether to approach or avoid is a little more subjective typically the reason a person doesn’t approach (or avoids) is based on a previous experience. There’s nothing you can do to adjust what others have experienced in the past but you can pay attention to people around who are warily looking you way. They may be thinking that you’re someone they should talk to… just you remind them of a bad experience. Go cure their misunderstanding.
Questions 5 & 6) Trustworthy or dishonest
What is it about someone’s presence. Some would say this is a part of our soul, but it includes our focus, our verbally and non-verbally communicated intent… and it’s something that you just can’t fake. You can try (and even get elected if you fine tune your acting skills enough… but the wearing on your face will betray what is really going on inside. We carry the scent of the fruit our life is producing and if we are are not trustworthy, we also carry that stench. Be trustworthy and assume others are trustworthy. You’ll know soon enough if they’re not.
Questions 7 & 8) Confident or weak
I like these two options placed after trustworthy, because we so often mistake the two. Confidence is a decision. Fear is crippling and leads to nothing but weakness. There was a wise man who once said, “perfect love drives our all fear”. It is true. The problem with confidence is that when we show ourselves to be confident, but don’t have the character to be trustworthy… our internal voice will tell us that we should assume that others are like us and that they are not to be trusted… which will lead you into relationships with people who are not trustworthy. It is not a good cycle.
Questions 9 & 10) Able or inept
Yes, being Confident and Trustworthy – being able. Ability is really what we’re looking for in others. We want to know when we stop thinking about something, we are willing to pay money for the peace of mind that it’s going to be taken care of (hopefully better than I could take care of it myself). That’s not always the situation. This ability/inept question is the what we all (typically) consider the end point of the sales cycle. This ability decision is not only a part of our snap decision we make in the first 12 second someone is walking up to us, but it’s also the marker of the final decision … when we’re signing the contract… it’s based on ability. When it’s not signed, it’s either because they think you’re inept (or that the value is not worth the cost – which is pretty much the same thing).
Questions 11 & 12) Trending or repulsive
The social media propelled societal shift that we’re all experiencing (that was fun to type). has added a step to our processing of judgement. Whether this entity is trending or repulsive. The negative words are designed to be overly negative, but it’s really one or the other. Every one of us, in our individual networks are either trending or we are repelling.
Real point – these are all here to provoke two thoughts:
- how am i processing those around me
- how am i presenting myself to those around me
Both of these are important to pay attention to in the business world, and I hope this list helped. I’d love to show you the system we have put together for connecting businesses online everything to their sales cycle. Contact Us