How long does it take before your client decides that they like, trust, respect you and wants you to treat their pet or farm stock.
The answer will shock and amaze you – and also scare the pants off you! No kidding – it will.
And it’s all due to what’s called ‘THIN SLICING’
Read the transcript, watch the video or listen to the podcast and learn what Thin Slicing is and how it affects you.
Podcast
Transcription
The Importance of Thin Slicing
Hi, it’s Diederik Gelderman here, and today I want to talk about a concept called Thin Slicing.
Let me go back to a study, it was done by a gentleman called Frank Bernini; he had professors teach college classes for a whole semester.
At the end of the semester, there were rankings done on various aspects of those teachers, of those professors, the way they taught, their friendliness, their professionalism, their knowledge, etc.
At the same time as these classes were being taught, the classes were being videoed. Dr Bernini independently had another group of students rank these videos.
The videos were of the whole semester and were then cut down to a 20-minute precis or condensed version of that whole semester.
Dr Bernini wanted to know whether the rankings at the end of the semester by one group of LIVE students, how they ranked or how they compared to a ranking by another group of students who had never met these professors and who had only watch the 20-minute videos.
Interestingly enough, the rankings from the 20 minute videos compared perfectly with the ranking of the students who had been with the teachers for the entire semester.
He then cut these videos down to two-minute videos and did the study again.
A new group of students assessed the professors based on a two-minute video versus a twenty-minute video and versus the whole semester. Again, the rankings matched up.
- I think you can probably see where this is going.
The videos next cut down to a twenty second video clip; again the rankings matched up.
This is the concept of thin slicing…..
AND…you can actually take that concept down to a to a two second slice.
In Summary
We make instant decisions, we make instant judgments.
And when we meet someone, how long does it take you to form a first impression?
YEP, a first impression is quick; it’s two seconds or thereabouts.
The Reason
Think back to caveman days.
- If you saw a strange caveman wandering up over the hill or coming out of the forestry, did you want to spend minutes thinking about whether that was a foe or a friend, or
- Whether the rustling in the bushes was nothing to worry about and was just the wind, or was it due to the sabre-toothed tiger which was about to leap out and have you for lunch?
You had to make snap decisions, you had to make instant decisions, and that happens really quickly; i.e. instantly. So, that’s this concept of thin slicing.
Remember, our brain is a prehistoric brain which hasn’t had a software upgrade for many millions of years, so we’re running on a very, very, very early version of DOS in our brain.
How does this apply or affect you or me?
Here’s the thing….
When we meet someone, that other person will make an instant decision about whether they like us, trust us, respect us, want to do business with us, etc. etc., and typically, it’s before we even open our mouth.
This decision is made (almost) instantly and has nothing to do with what we say….
I mean, you’re going to walk into a room to meet a bunch of people, clients, potential clients, whoever it is, and before you even open your mouth, maybe before you’ve even had time to put your hand out, they’ve decided whether they want to work with you, whether they like you, trust you and respect you.
This is instant, this is snap, this is Thin Slicing.
This comes down to your body language, how you stand, how you walk, how you walk in, your presence – you’ve got to ensure that you get this RIGHT – every time.
- The first thing they’re going to notice about you is hands, open hands…
Again, go back to caveman days. If someone was walking up to you with their hands behind their back, maybe there’s a spear or a club or a rock in those hands so that’s why you look at the hands first.
- Second thing you look at is the smile – a genuine smile is VERY hard to fake and can be seen from up to 300 feet away.
- And then the third thing is the eyes.
So when you’re walk in to a room, make sure you walk in with your hands visible; no shawl or scarf or clipboard or computer tablet in your hands, no gloves on.
Walk in with your hands, exposed and open.
Walk in with a genuine smile on your face that also lights up your eyes. We’ve talked about this on the other videos, walk in head up, shoulders back, erect, great posture and the ‘thin slice’ that the other person sees of you when you do all that will show that you’re someone to be respected and trusted and someone that they want to do business with.
See you on the next video.
If you enjoyed the tips and the clues and the strategies in this video, and if you’re a practice owner or practice manager or an aspiring practice owner, may I suggest that you go to my website www.turbochargeyourpractice.com. And, register there to receive my newsletter, and in that, you’ll regularly receive more tips, strategies and ways of running and really improving your practice, and they’ll be delivered straight to your inbox every week.