Hopefully I don’t need to break down the word as some will joke, however, we all assume too much. We assume people know what we mean, we assume people appreciate an effort or a message we share. We assume THEY know what WE are thinking. They don’t, so let’s be intentional about that.

I was reminded of it this morning as I drove to the airport and passed a commuter bus. They’re all over the Bay Area, and this one happened to be from Genentech—others are less public: Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. Normally, I ignore them or don’t even notice them go by. This time, I saw the sign on the back stating “Saving 120 cars on the road for you.” Immediately, I had a different appreciation for that company and even that bus! It was amazing the different thought process I had—an almost opposite view—because of one, short, listener-focused message.

How often do we create messages and forget to tell the audience what’s in it for THEM? As we at Decker do a good amount of message prep, we see it fairly often. Why? Because we assume that the audience or that person knows what’s in it for them. They usually don’t, so it can’t hurt to remind them. Get people excited, remind them of the ‘why’ – it’s simple and so effective. There are all-hands coming up, Sales Kickoffs, annual meetings and even reviews, be sure to get that benefit TO them in there. You will benefit and probably influence a little more than if you didn’t have it.

PS: There’s no way I would ever take a picture while driving, I’m sure a passenger did that for me.