[clug] SFD this Saturday

[Alex Satrapa]

On 17/09/2010, at 11:41 , Stephen Walsh wrote:

> Also keep in mind that trying to show people why they are in the wrong will put them on the defensive.

Just from personal experience, I find it much easier to change my mind when people can show me there's a better decision I can make now, as opposed to ridiculing me for a decision I made back then.

Carrot & Stick is a decent motivational technique when neither the carrot nor the stick are related to a person's investment in ego. Every decision a person makes is an investment in their ego: *I* chose to use Microsoft Word. When you come along and rubbish Microsoft Word, you're ridiculing my decision, and thus me.

Go watch a Steve Jobs presentation, and notice how rarely he ever talks negatively about something. This is how the Steve Jobs RDF works. Always talk to the positives. Don't address the negatives, in any way shape or form. There is no room in the mind of a potential client for any negativity to be associated with your product or brand.

Once I started to realise this, I tried very hard to curb my Microsoft bashing. Not because I think Microsoft products are any better than they used to be, but because I realised that "X"-bashing when you are a "Y" champion is a great way of driving people away from "Y".

Alex