The impact of Denominator Neglect
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2025 9:51 am
2. Personalize and prioritize your outreach to those you can help the most
Your target audience and the things they value may have changed quite substantially. That means curating your lead list and linking your solution to a specific challenge that customers in a given role or industry might be experiencing now is key! Not only does this demonstrate the degree of personalization and relevance that customers appreciate and expect, but the increased focus on the people you can help the most will:
create more empathy and affinity with your customers
boost your win rates and
help you execute with more passion and conviction (both intoxicating emotions in the science of persuasion).
What if I told you I had a vaccine for a potentially deadly virus. Would you take it?
Before you respond, what if I told you the vaccine carried a risk that 0.001% of people who took it will suffer a permanent disability.
How would you feel about getting vaccinated?
Setting those feelings aside for a moment, suppose I told you that one out of every 100,000 people like you who get the vaccine will suffer a permanent disability.
Have your feelings about getting vaccinated changed?
According to Nobel Prize winner and author of the bestselling book kazakhstan telegram data Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, they should!
While the two statistics cited in these examples are mathematically equivalent, the second one produces a vastly different emotional response because of the more vivid imagery it conveys.
Picturing 0.001% of anything is a difficult task for our minds. As a result, we tend to underweight the impact of the associated result and the risk appears small. However, picturing one person like you becoming permanently disabled is a far easier task for your mind. As a result, the imagery, emotional impact, and perception of risk is much greater.
The psychological principle behind this phenomenon is known as denominator neglect and its incredible impact applies equally to how you present data and statistics in your business case during the sales process.
Your target audience and the things they value may have changed quite substantially. That means curating your lead list and linking your solution to a specific challenge that customers in a given role or industry might be experiencing now is key! Not only does this demonstrate the degree of personalization and relevance that customers appreciate and expect, but the increased focus on the people you can help the most will:
create more empathy and affinity with your customers
boost your win rates and
help you execute with more passion and conviction (both intoxicating emotions in the science of persuasion).
What if I told you I had a vaccine for a potentially deadly virus. Would you take it?
Before you respond, what if I told you the vaccine carried a risk that 0.001% of people who took it will suffer a permanent disability.
How would you feel about getting vaccinated?
Setting those feelings aside for a moment, suppose I told you that one out of every 100,000 people like you who get the vaccine will suffer a permanent disability.
Have your feelings about getting vaccinated changed?
According to Nobel Prize winner and author of the bestselling book kazakhstan telegram data Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, they should!
While the two statistics cited in these examples are mathematically equivalent, the second one produces a vastly different emotional response because of the more vivid imagery it conveys.
Picturing 0.001% of anything is a difficult task for our minds. As a result, we tend to underweight the impact of the associated result and the risk appears small. However, picturing one person like you becoming permanently disabled is a far easier task for your mind. As a result, the imagery, emotional impact, and perception of risk is much greater.
The psychological principle behind this phenomenon is known as denominator neglect and its incredible impact applies equally to how you present data and statistics in your business case during the sales process.