At 284 pages and 64 chapters (do the maths) you instantly get idea of how the book is written. It's the perfect book to pick up and out down. Pick it up, read a couple of ideas, put it down again.
The Snowball Effect: Table of Contents
This section breaks down the 64 techniques (chapters) into five sections. This makes it easier to wake up one day, anticipate some kind of communication challenge and flick to the right place, do some homework and "go practice".
A book to get messy
It's one of those books that I know is going to live on my desk, not on my bookshelf (see photo right of my home library). It's also a book you should be prepared to deface. Both my parents were schoolteachers and if they saw me dog-earing a page in a book, then I was spoken to. However, this book now has 32 dog-eared pages, to mark things that really resonated with me and on which I need to work. In addition, my black pen got a real work out underlining sections of those pages to re-read/practice/apply.
Some of my favourite bits
- To receive less emails - send less emails. Phone people more often. Tell others in your email that a response is not required.
- Proof points - case studies, testimonials, references. Everyone needs to get more of these in most cases.
- A winning proposal or sales pitch - don't write proposals too early. Ask better questions. Qualify harder.
- Grab people's attention - write better subject lines in emails/presentations/reports. Use sub-headings to flesh out your eye-catching subject line/headline.
- Eye-catching introductions - the 4Ws. What they want. Why they want it. We can help. What I'm discussing.
- KITE - Keep In Touch Every…..day, week, month, year. Most of the time most people do not keep in touch enough with the right people.
- Brilliant presentations - remove the low-priority points. Start with a BANG. Use Powerpoint short cuts. F5 to start, 8 + enter to go to slide 8. B or W to get a black or white screen.
- To get documents read - short paragraphs, short sentences, lots of white space, minimal use of ALL CAPS, lots of relevant sub-headings, good graphics, congruent look & feel.
- To stop saying "no" too quickly - say "Yes if…" instead of "No because…".