Beware the dreaded curse of assumption

When IBM was in its prime their offices used to have a plaque bearing one word.

That word was Think.

Now a lot of people, because of the joys of the internet, think they don’t have to think - but they do.

One thing they should think about - but don't - is making false assumptions about who they are writing to.

The Curse of Assumption is a phrase used by one of my heroes - the late Murray Raphel.

He ran a brilliant retail business called Gordon’s Alley.

Retailers find out faster than anyone else what works and what doesn’t; so he quickly became a direct marketing expert.

(Why should you care? Because every on-line message is direct. So every time you try to persuade or sell, you are marketing directly.)

So here is an example of Murray's Dreaded Curse Of Assumption.

Recently my partner Gerald bought something from Pretty Little Thing for a girl. Here's how they said "thank you":

Gerald is 50, and since he joined me he has aged twice as fast as he used to.

By no means a doll. And certainly not a Pretty Little Thing.

And neither he nor I know what our OOTD needs are.

The moral of this story is simple.

For goodness sake, if you want to succeed, think.

If you can’t be bothered to think, or you’re too busy to think, or you don’t have people who think well for you, we’re happy to do it.

97.5% of our clients are happy with our thinking.

That's because it makes money for them

And we know they’re happy because if they’re not they get their money back.

So drop me a line and let's discuss how we can help you do better than you’re doing at the moment.

God knows you’ll need it after the current catastrophe.

Best,

Drayton