06. 10. 2011
Quiz
My contribution this month consists of a quiz. Try to answer the question correctly and KNOW the reason you gave the answer. In other words, don't just guess.
True story.
Three men doing time in an Israeli prison recently appeared before a parole board consisting of a judge, a criminologist and a social worker.
The three prisoners had completed at least two thirds of their sentences, but the parole board granted freedom to only one of them.
Guess which one and know the reason why.
CASE 1 (heard at 8:50 AM) An Arab Israeli serving a 30 month sentence for fraud.
CASE 2 (heard at 3:10 PM) A Jewish Israeli serving a 16 month sentence for assault.
CASE 3 (heard at 4:25 PM) An Arab Israeli serving a 30 month sentence for fraud.
A hint. There was a pattern to the boards decisions.
So what was your answer?
Here's the story behind what happened.
As I wrote above, there was a pattern to the boards decisions. But it wasn't related to the men's ethnic backgrounds, crimes or sentences. It was about timing. Yes, timing. Researchers discovered in analyzing over 1,100 decisions over the course of a year, that prisoners who appeared early in the morning received parole about 70 percent of the time, while those who appeared late in the day were paroled less than 10 percent of the time.
The odds favored the prisoner who appeared at 8:50 AM and he did in fact receive parole. But even tho the other Arab Israeli, serving the same sentence for the same crime -fraud- the odds were against him when he appeared at 4:25 in the afternoon. He was denied parole.
Why ? you may ask. The researchers found that the mental work of making decision after decision wore them down. Mental fatigue. Simply put, the majority of people are more positive in the early morning, and more negative in the afternoon.
And the next question is, how does this relate to selling radio advertising ?
The Answer and the Lesson:
If you are an owner, a sales manager, or a sales person, make visits to get decisions in the morning. Get out of the office and make eye ball to eye ball visits and get those clients closed and on the air.
You and your station will make more money.