Clear directions and examples

Time and again we face the challenges of appropriately directing clients to our doors, whether virtual or not. They barely ever make it there and those that do, sometimes don't dare entering or calling. The culprit? Ourselves of course.
We also wonder why, after a huge investment in resources to create literature and advertising (virtual or not) for our business, do not get the expected results… same factors.

I've experienced and seen people get to places they thought were the appropriate ones, only to start asking questions; confused and delayed on their plans, simply because the directions and/or instructions are not clear enough.
I've also experienced and seen people that loses interest in a particular article, pamphlet, post, advertisement or similar. Again, lack of proper thinking and planning on our part makes it difficult for the recipient to get the message we've invested so much in trying to convey.

3b) Take a look at these 3 comparison examples:

Address at the end of advertisement
1a) Please visit us at:
ABC Center, Inc.
1234 Main Ave
San Jose, CA, 98765
1-800-888-ABCC

1b) Please visit us at:
ABC Center, Inc.
1234 Main Ave.
San Jose, California, U.S.
Zip Code 98765
Toll free: 1-800-888-ABCC (1111)
To get there: take highway # 5 towards San Jose. Take exit # 67-B, which goes west. Drive for three blocks then turn left at Sun Ave. You'll see our logo and name right in front of you. Parking is free on your right.
For map click here


Magazine article
2a) ...so, in case the temperature has risen above 90 degrees, consider shortening your distance by 2 miles, or reduce your pace to 9'/mi for the second half of this exercise...

2b) ...so, in case the temperature has risen above 90 degrees (32 C), consider shortening your distance by 2 miles (3.2 Km), or reduce your pace to 10'/mi (5’ 40”/Km) for the second half of this exercise...


Solution
3a) It is always more difficult to try to explain something without examples. Incorporating more and better pieces of data in our communication will always provide better results. Try doing these simple changes and all efforts will be compensated and targets met.

3b) Take a look at these 3 examples (implicit here)


The messenger spends only a minute in creating a detailed set of instructions, and even if it takes more time, the messenger/recipient (m/r) time ratio becomes zero as more people gravitate to our doors.
Take the second example for instance: if such magazine has a circulation of 100,000 and 1 out of 3 readers does not understand the English system; without including the metric measurement units in the article leaves 33,333 readers manually or mentally calculating degrees, distances, and speeds. Suppose it takes an average of 60 seconds to convert the three units, that alone makes more than 555 hours of effective wasted time.
When the messenger includes such data, the m/r ratio here becomes 0.00003. As the magazine keeps readers happy and therefore attracts more, such ratio keeps decreasing.

With today’s technologies it is very easy to include not just extra text or a link to a map and such. Image, sound and video clips can be included in our communication to make it even better. Think about all the possibilities.


So, invest that extra time to communicate clearly, and your recipients will become captive clients for life.