Bottom Line Up Front

A philosopher back in the 17th century, apologizing for the length of his letter, wrote: “I would have written a shorter letter if I’d had more time.” (Blaise Pascal) When you’re delivering a message someone’s brain must use energy: whether it’s yours to make your message clear and concise, or your audience’s trying to make sense of the message.

Scientists tell us the way the brain uses energy is predictable and there are moments of power – moments when the brain pays attention and when we are more likely to successfully engage with them.   Attention Spikes at the beginning of any event and Spikes again at the end of that event… therein lie two natural moments of power in any interaction. The start and end of our day, of a meeting, of a phone call, of an email… of a movie… are all moments of power.

We use the term BLUF – bottom line up front: share the bottom line of our message with whoever we’re engaging with in the moment when they’re paying the most attention. 

The brain looks to conserve energy unless there’s change in the environment; change creates what scientists call a pattern interrupt. Every time we change the way something is displayed on a screen or when we tell a personal story we create a pattern interrupt. There are hundreds of different kinds of pattern interrupts. They are SIGNALS that something is changing.

When you say “The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing… or… the TOP THREE THINGS…” you are SIGNALING that YOU HAVE DONE THE WORK so that THEY DON”T HAVE TO. You’re helping their brain save energy.. by SEQUENCING and SIMPLIFYING:

• Ask yourself. “If I could only show one thing, what would it be?” 
• Make it Easy. Concise. And focused on the Outcome.— Change the SEQUENCE and Simplify your message. Put yourself in their shoes and ask “What will they be asking?” answer it before they ask
• Think of yourself as a Search Engine Optimizer.. they are asking WIIFM make sure you tell them in a moment of power.