I CAN CHAT WITH my husband and he’ll be unable to recall the entire conversation we had just last week with some friends. Yet, the same man can recall every detail about how Eric Davis had 30 home runs and stole 30 bases in the fewest number of MLB games or how one bat can eat 7,000 bugs in one night.
Seriously!?! But he can’t recall an hour-long conversation? I know it’s not just me who wonders how this can be. This is a common mystery for many wives. But I am not picking on husbands, this is a human thing.
Repetition and small memorizable “fun facts” are much more likely to remain in our brain than the details of a conversation. Think about it, he might remember excessive details of a specific all-star game because it was exciting, but mostly because he and his buddies recited those stats over countless beers and repeated them numerous times in their group text. Exciting and repeated. Think about pop songs. A 25-year-old one pops on the speakers and you know every single word. That’s because you had that song on your Hot Summer Hits mix and you played it on repeat. Exciting and repeated.
The same cranial magic happens when you hear a great joke, a gossip worthy story, an interesting fact, or a breathtaking stat. You hear it and get excited, then you repeat it, then boom it’s memorized. Without any effort at all.
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Reflect on the discussions from your last office meeting. Did your conversation with your team about focusing on the top selling frames resemble a long conversation or an all-star game?
This concept of utilizing human habits to better retain information is a method we use when teaching at Spexy. Here are two ways can you put this neuro magic to work for your optical sales:
1. Consider doing a little trivia about your unique frame brands during your next meeting. You could list a fun fact about a brand and have the team try to guess the brand. For example: “This brand is manufactured by hand in Slovenia and has bold looks ergonomically designed for superior weight distribution.” The answer: Laibach and York. At the end of the meeting, you repeat all the facts and see who can shout out the answer. Then tell everyone you will do it again at the next meeting. Exciting and repeated.
2. Or try “Naming the All-Stars.” This game has proven to be a hit with Spexy members. Select your top performing frame styles — frames, not brands — and have your team identify the name of the frame style, guess how many times it has sold in the past six months, how much it retails for, the colors it comes in, and two fun facts about the frame or brand. At the end of the meeting, repeat all the facts by asking staff, “Sally, how many times has the Prague frame sold?” Then tell everyone to report back if any of those styles sell before the next meeting. Exciting and repeated. To see this exercise in action, watch the video below.
Some in our industry might think this is a bunch of “rah-rah” that they don’t want to deal with … If that’s you, I ask that you reflect on the conversations and fun facts your significant other recalls. Nothing hits like when it hits at home.
You don’t have to change how you do everything, but I would love to hear the recollection your team has after these exercises and how it changes your optical sales. A little “rah-rah” is a proven method that is working for other independent opticals who are Spexy members. I’d love to hear how it works for you.
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