Terry Wogan said:
"I don’t see 8 million listeners. I see them as individuals – the man listening in his lorry, the woman getting her children ready for school, the husband in the car."
So he knew that, although he presented to millions, each of them listened as an individual.
So he didn’t communicate in a one-to-many way – “HELLO EVERYBODY.”
Instead, he treated it as many one-to-ones – “Hello there.”
And we should also do this when we’re sending one-to-many comms.
For example, when you email your team, if you start with a one-to-many “hello everyone”, each reader knows it isn’t personal to them. So they disengage a bit (totally?)
Or when you give one-to-many actions – “we all need to get better at this” – it doesn’t feel personal. So they don’t do what you want.
It’s easy to fix. Just use ‘121’ phrases.
So, start emails with “good morning”, “hello there”, etc – these sound 121.
And when you’re giving actions, allocate them to individuals using their names.
In some ways, this feels petty.
But it isn’t.
After all, it’s hard enough to engage people – without switching them off with your first words!
Which is why I don’t start every Tuesday Tip with “Hello, you lot”…
Action Point
When you next email, start and end it using words that sound ‘121’ to the reader.