The Sip Test

How do we make decisions? Do we make “snap” decisions or do we assess all the available information? You may think you make decisions logically – but do you?

Sometimes this will depend on our personality type and sometimes we just don’t have time available – we need to make a decision – fast!

You may have heard the story of the team fighting a fire where the team leader suddenly orders everyone to leave the building – NOW! The building collapses, but everyone is safe. At the time, in the moment, the team leader, who had many years’ experience of fighting fires couldn’t articulate what he “knew” – he just knew they had to get out. Later, with the benefit of hindsight, he could say what the conditions were that triggered the response – but only in the cold light of day.

Our brains are clever! The brain is continually processing information, and often we are not even aware of it. And years of training and experience means that the pathways are built strong and will lead us to the correct conclusion – with zero effort.

The Getty Museum purchased a statue – called a “Kouros” – for $10m. They were very proud of their acquisition, but when other experts viewed the statue (their own experts having pronounced it genuine) they “knew” there was something wrong with it. Years of examining similar statues meant that they were able to make judgements without even considering the different factors involved. (The debate rages on!)

But what has all this to do with our businesses?

Let’s look at some other examples of snap judgements!

The singer Kenna (no me neither) was hailed by music experts as being the next great thing! But when they played small excerpts of his music to members of the public over the phone they were unimpressed. Later on, listening to his music properly, they liked it!

What happened there? Why did the experts like it but the public didn’t – at least when they only heard a sample?

Who remembers the Pepsi Challenge?

People were invited to drink a small cup of “cola” – and compare with another. The audience overwhelmingly preferred Pepsi. This happened in different countries and with a very large sample of the population.

The people at Coca-Cola were appalled! They had been market leaders for years and now Pepsi were starting to catch up. They decided that what they had to reformulate – and so New Coke was born, much closer to the taste of Pepsi (sweeter apparently).

And here’s the thing – people hated it – and they lost even more market share to Pepsi!

So – what’s going on here? In the Coke Wars and with Kenna?

The thing is – we don’t just consume “small samples”. We drink a whole glass of cola, or more – and the taste of Coke is more palatable over a whole can or bottle. When you give people a case of cans to take home and drink “normally” then Coke wins!

When we listen to music we listen to a whole song, or series of songs, and we judge it differently to a small snippet of the music.

It is also worth noting that when a famous artist’s music is played in the same manner (as a small sample) they get better results!

Let’s think about how we are communicating with leads, prospects and customers?

If we do a short post on LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram then we are providing a Sip Test. Just like the Pepsi Challenge. Depending on what we are providing not everyone might love the content – especially if they are not already “fans”.

So we need to consider what content will appeal in that short “sip” – and who we are appealing to?

Then – can we provide a “take home” test – longer content in the form of blogs, articles, ebooks and videos (more than an Instagram reel) that really lets people “consume” us properly in the right setting!

I have spoken before about being “kind” and giving away content for free – think of how you can attract people with your “sip” test content and then give them some more content that they can peruse at their leisure – away from the doom-scrolling.