Eight (8) One Liners That Stick

from cap​i​tal​world​wide​trad​ing​.com

I got this one from Life­Hack, and I think these are all good ideas. How­ever, I still believe that good ‘ol integrity and sin­cer­ity does the job as well as these “tech­niques”. They’re good to know just the same though.

Mike St. Pierre
Mike St. Pierre blogs daily about pro­duc­tiv­ity and work-life bal­ance at www​.thedai​ly​saint​.com

One lin­ers are the stuff of effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tors and though we are sel­dom aware of it, each of us can use them to our advan­tage. The “art of deliv­ery” is not just for a skilled politi­cian who is run­ning for reelec­tion but can be mas­tered, over time, by just about any­one. A good one liner doesn’t click imme­di­ately but leaves its mark, silently accom­plish­ing what the deliv­erer has in mind– results.

Some­times these results are noth­ing more than mem­ory. I want you to remem­ber my car dealer and so I develop a tag line that accom­plishes my aim. Other times, I want to build rela­tion­ship with you and I use one lin­ers to get to know you and fol­low up with you. My one lin­ers are over the phone, in print mate­r­ial and in casual con­ver­sa­tion. They are effec­tive because they are used breathlessly.

The key of course is to fig­ure out which one liner works best and when to use it. Another key is to be gen­uine and sin­cere about your one lin­ers and not use it just to manip­u­late peo­ple. As it is though, these one lin­ers work really well.

What fol­low are some excel­lent one lin­ers that, if deliv­ered well, will make inter­ac­tions mem­o­rable and help you get ahead.

* Susan, Susan Thomp­son. The rep­e­ti­tion of your first name twice is very effec­tive. This sub­tle rep­e­ti­tion of one key name (and it might be your last name that you want folks to remem­ber) plants it firmly in the mind of the per­son you are shak­ing hands with or speak­ing to on the phone.

* I’ve heard some great things about you. We all like to be famous, even if it’s fleet­ing or with a small group of peo­ple. Let­ting some­one know that they’re liked by oth­ers is an impor­tant way of get­ting them to like you. They become instantly curi­ous as if to say, “Can I have a list of those great things?”

Of course, you’d want to be as gen­uine as you can when you say this. You don’t want the per­son to ask you, “Really, like what?” and you end up try­ing to make things up.

* I’m look­ing for­ward to that. Fol­low­ing up a con­ver­sa­tion is very impor­tant and one of the eas­i­est one lin­ers involves lead­ing your audi­ence towards a goal. If it’s a fol­low up lunch a week later, I’m look­ing for­ward to that. If it’s a nego­ti­a­tion before the end of the fis­cal year, I’m look­ing for­ward to that. If it’s a fam­ily gath­er­ing at the beach, I’m look­ing for­ward to that. This sim­ple one liner lets oth­ers know that you value rela­tion­ships over rou­tine acts.

* Leave your name and phone, speak­ing slowly enough for me to write it down. I’ve used this one in phone mes­sages for years and while it sounds corny, it works. Most peo­ple think they’re dri­ving in a Nascar event when they leave a voice mes­sage so you need to slow them down. This one liner does just that.

* I’m not sure about that but I think we can do this. The that-this dynamic is effec­tive not only because it acknowl­edges the other’s per­spec­tive but it gives them some­thing con­crete and doable. For exam­ple, I run into par­ents who want to nego­ti­ate a deal for a son or daugh­ter who is in some sort of dif­fi­culty. Rather than giv­ing in to an unrea­son­able demand for com­plete amnesty for their child, I offer them some­thing that is both attain­able and con­crete. I’m com­fort­able with it and they usu­ally warm to the idea. Just because some­thing isn’t a person’s first option doesn’t mean it’s a bad one.

* I think we have some­thing in com­mon. Noth­ing forms bonds bet­ter than some­thing held in com­mon. Food, geog­ra­phy, peo­ple, cars– what­ever it takes to find a con­nec­tion. Don’t go over­board with your fol­low up but let the other per­son know that you have some­thing in com­mon and it’s ok to briefly touch on it.

* Let’s strike while the iron is hot! Rather than a luke­warm offer to get together “at some point”, strike while the iron is hot and put it on the cal­en­dar today. Few things speak of pro­duc­tiv­ity bet­ter than some­one who can turn a wish into a work­able situation.

* Let me see if I under­stand where you’re com­ing from. You may find your­self in the mid­dle of a con­ver­sa­tion, a debate or even a fight– slow things down with this great one liner. It works every time because it tells the other per­son that you care enough to report back what you’ve just heard.

George Bernard Shaw once said that “The prob­lem with com­mu­ni­ca­tion … is the illu­sion that it has been accom­plished.” To be effec­tive at home and at work, the use of one lin­ers can get results, form deeper bonds and enable you to com­mu­ni­cate on a higher level.