Sergiu Simmel » Learning+Teaching http://sergiusimmel.com/blog On STRUCTURING Business, Marketing, Learning, Teaching, Technology and Life Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:46:10 +0000 en hourly 1 Sergiu S. Simmel and Clepsydra Systems, Inc. Sergiu S. Simmel On STRUCTURING Business, Marketing, Learning, Teaching, Technology and ... Life Clean No 2004-2009 sss@sergiusimmel.com (Sergiu Simmel) sss@sergiusimmel.com (Sergiu Simmel) 1440 http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg Sergiu Simmel http://sergiusimmel.com/blog 144 144 Business, Marketing, Learning, Teaching, Structure and Life Sergiu Simmel Sergiu Simmel sss@sergiusimmel.com no no The Structure of Persuasive Communications http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/12-12-the-structure-of-persuasive-communications/ http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/12-12-the-structure-of-persuasive-communications/#comments Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:29:26 +0000 SergiuSimmel http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/?p=432 [#1] Every persuasive communication has a structure—the order in which every part builds the argument. Experience has shown that this structure is not random: some structures create much more persuasive communications than others. A few are so powerful that they have become the "secret weapon" of the best, most successful communicators out there, such as marketers, educators, trainers, coaches, public speakers, and others.

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]]> http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/12-12-the-structure-of-persuasive-communications/feed/ 3 0:05:16 [#1] Every persuasive communication has a structure—the order in which every part builds the argument. Experience has shown that this structure is not random: some structures create much more persuasive communications than others. A few are so power[...] [#1] Every persuasive communication has a structure—the order in which every part builds the argument. Experience has shown that this structure is not random: some structures create much more persuasive communications than others. A few are so powerful that they have become the "secret weapon" of the best, most successful communicators out there, such as marketers, educators, trainers, coaches, public speakers, and others. [#2] My good friend, teacher and business mentor Alex Mandossian teaches such "secret formula." It's a 7-part structure, constructed around 7 core questions. The 7-Question structure is pretty universal: you can apply to interviewing experts, to teaching via a teleseminar, to writing an article, to promoting a product via a webinar, to creating a marketing video, and the list goes on and on. [#3] Here is Alex himself, quickly explaining this structure in 5 minutes and 15 seconds, from his recent London trip: . SergiuRecommends.com/TSS ← This is The Link [#4] Now imagine that you could master this technique (and many others, at least as powerful at this), and turn your professional (even personal) communications into productive, valuable events. Imagine the impact on your business, on your revenue, and on your personal income? What could that lead to in 6 months, in 12 months, or even in 3 years? But how do you move from a communication structure, like the one you just learned about from Alex, to more successful internet marketing campaigns to substantially more revenue? There are essentially 8 main questions you need the answer to: Now imagine that you could master this technique (and many others, at least as powerful at this), and turn your professional communications into productive and highly valuable events. Imagine the impact on your business, on your revenue, and on your personal income? What could that lead to in 6 months, in 12 months, or even in 3 years? [#5] Question is: How do you move from a communication structure, like the one you just learned about from Alex, to more successful internet marketing campaigns to substantially more revenue? There are essentially 8 main skills you must master: How to win more sales faster How to build a highly responsive list of prospects How to persuade more prospects to buy How to inspire more prospects to show up at your virtual events How to consistently craft content that sells How to create and nurture valuable joint ventures with experts in your field How to influence your listeners to buy on command How to offload busy work to reliable vendors [#6] The strategy I and several thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide have used to learn and perfect each and every one of these skills was to follow Alex Mandossian's Teleseminar Secrets tele-course diligently, carefully and most important of all, practically (by doing what he taught me). Not coincidentally, his 8-module course is structured exactly along these 8 core topics. In fact, I've done one better: I've studied & learned this material carefully enough to be able to mindmap it all for rapid recall and rich application. I now share all of these mindmaps with everyone who joins Alex's course through me. [#7] So, when I say: SergiuRecommends.com/TSS ← Absolute Truth I truly mean it: I highly recommend it, or at least I recommend you watch the 22' movie at the other end of this link, and see for yourself what I am talking about: SergiuRecommends.com/TSS ← Video Here How are you thinking of using this 7-Question structure in your next professional communication? (Share in the box below.) . P.S. Look back at this blog post, and observe its structure. You'll recognize something very familiar… Hint: Follow the trail of [#n] markers. Learning+Teaching, Marketing sss@sergiusimmel.com no no How To Read Well-Structured Mindmaps http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/11-30-how-to-read-well-structured-mindmaps/ http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/11-30-how-to-read-well-structured-mindmaps/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 01:44:59 +0000 SergiuSimmel http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/?p=330 Well-structured mindmaps help you absorb, review and apply rich business training content, for maximum productivity. What is a well-structured mindmap? How do we read it? Here is a quick introduction:

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]]> http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/11-30-how-to-read-well-structured-mindmaps/feed/ 0 0:06:47 Well-structured mindmaps help you absorb, review and apply rich business training content, for maximum productivity. What is a well-structured mindmap? How do we read it? Here is a quick introduction: . Didn't catch the mindmap of this present[...] Well-structured mindmaps help you absorb, review and apply rich business training content, for maximum productivity. What is a well-structured mindmap? How do we read it? Here is a quick introduction: . Didn't catch the mindmap of this presentation, shown at the end of the movie? Click below for… … and now Right-Click (Windows) or Ctrl-Click (Mac) HERE to download the mindmap. Have you encountered mindmaps in your business continuing education? Do they make sense to you? Have mindmaps helped your understanding of the material? How about review and recall? I invite you to ask questions or comment below about YOUR experience with reading mindmaps. Learning+Teaching, Productivity sss@sergiusimmel.com no no What kind of business learner are you? http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/05-11-what-kind-of-business-learner-are-you/ http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/05-11-what-kind-of-business-learner-are-you/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 00:01:14 +0000 SergiuSimmel http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/?p=64 Understanding how we tend to learn is important for each of us if we want to become more productive. If I gain a deeper insight into how my "learning mind" is wired, I can try to emphasize those ways that get me there faster, such as choose between a lecture and a book, a hands-on workshop versus a user's guide, this teacher against that one, etc.

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]]> http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/05-11-what-kind-of-business-learner-are-you/feed/ 0 Training and Marketing with Mindmaps (Part 2) http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/04-27-training-and-marketing-with-mindmaps-part-2/ http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/04-27-training-and-marketing-with-mindmaps-part-2/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:26:28 +0000 SergiuSimmel http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/?p=55 TRAINING & MARKETING WITH MINDMAPS

Content Mapping for Success

Part 2: Reaching All Instead of Some (WHY)

In Part 1 of this series, we explored two major challenges in delivering effective training and learning-based marketing content:

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]]> http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/04-27-training-and-marketing-with-mindmaps-part-2/feed/ 1 0:07:47 TRAINING & MARKETING WITH MINDMAPS Content Mapping for Success Part 2: Reaching All Instead of Some (WHY) In Part 1 of this series, we explored two major challenges in delivering effective training and learning-based marketing content: Challeng[...] TRAINING & MARKETING WITH MINDMAPS Content Mapping for Success Part 2: Reaching All Instead of Some (WHY) In Part 1 of this series, we explored two major challenges in delivering effective training and learning-based marketing content: Challenge #1: Time-Linear Delivery Challenge #2: Detail-Oriented Delivery Don't forget: each of these challenges in delivering stems from a challenge in consuming the information. If you haven't yet, you can read or listen to Part 1 here. Let's now look at two more. With the advent of relatively inexpensive ways of creating & distributing audio recordings and videos, lots and lots of trainers, teachers, gurus, and thought leaders have aggressively moved to these new media, and away from print. This has had enormous positive impact on both the consumers and the creators' pocketbooks. One reason is that sound (and sometimes video, too) is so much better at communicating emotion, and emotion is a highly necessary (and often ignored) ingredient in rapid learning and in quick purchasing decisions. Establishing an emotional bond between the teacher or the marketer and the learner or consumer leads to a much better quality learning and–in the case of learning-based marketing–a higher likelihood of action. Another reason is that audio can be consumed while doing something else, thus it is an excellent medium for busy people. We, of course, knew that already from many decades of experience with radio: You can learn while driving, walking, exercising, cooking or doing many other activities. I often listen to short business classes while doing mindless activities, such as cleaning up my desk or shredding useless papers. So now we get almost everything in audio and video. Here is our third challenge: Challenge #3: Auditory-Dominant Delivery Depending on which study you rely on, anywhere from 30% to almost 55% of all people are visually dominant. Some more so than others. No matter how convenient or compelling audio (or even most video) content is, visually-dominant people NEED to look at something in order to consume it. They need either text (if they are strongly left-brained) or pictures (if they are strongly right-brained) or both (for most of them). So what does a visually-dominant learner do when faced with content coming solely in, say, audio form? Well, it depends on their level of motivation. If the motivation is low, they are likely to retain little and move on to the next thing. If there is some motivation, they may partially consume it, but the results may not be what you would want. If the motivation is high, they may spend a lot of time taking notes or drawing notes. In all cases, if the communication medium does not match one's learning dominance, there is a certain amount of pain inflicted. Depending on the level of motivation or emotional bond, some people may put up with it, but most will not. Dividing learners into visually-dominant, auditorily-dominant, and kinestetically-dominant is an important matter to keep in mind any time we communicate, but not the only useful classification. Challenge #4: Unbalanced-Wh Delivery A while ago, David Kolb created a model that classifies modes of learning, and by implication learners themselves, into four categories. A highly simplified way of describing his model is to refer to learners (people) as the Why-, the What-, the How- and the WhatIf- people. The Why-people need to be given or to easily construct "the big picture." They need to understand why is it that they should pay attention to you. The What-people need to be given or to easily construct "the organization, the components" of the topic. They need to understand what is in there in order to pay attention to you. The How-people need to be given or to easily construct "the process, the steps." They need to understand how would this work in practice in order to pay attention to you. The WhatIf-people need to be gi[...] Learning+Teaching, Marketing sss@sergiusimmel.com no no Training and Marketing With Mindmaps (Part 1) http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/04-20-training-and-marketing-with-mindmaps-part-1/ http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/04-20-training-and-marketing-with-mindmaps-part-1/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:17:14 +0000 SergiuSimmel http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/?p=21 TRAINING & MARKETING WITH MINDMAPS

Content Mapping for Success

Do you communicate for business?

Ha! Of course you do.

Then keep reading, and you'll learn no fewer than 4 challenges most of us face in doing so, how mindmaps can help, how to go about using them, and where to start.

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]]> http://sergiusimmel.com/blog/2010/04-20-training-and-marketing-with-mindmaps-part-1/feed/ 6 0:09:29 TRAINING & MARKETING WITH MINDMAPS Content Mapping for Success Do you communicate for business? Ha! Of course you do. Then keep reading, and you'll learn no fewer than 4 challenges most of us face in doing so, how mindmaps can help, how to [...] TRAINING & MARKETING WITH MINDMAPS Content Mapping for Success Do you communicate for business? Ha! Of course you do. Then keep reading, and you'll learn no fewer than 4 challenges most of us face in doing so, how mindmaps can help, how to go about using them, and where to start. Part 1: Balancing Time-Linear Detailed Content (WHY) Whether you deliver your training or conduct your learning-based marketing campaigns live (classroom seminar, teleseminar or webinar), time-delayed (podcast, audio/video blog) or packaged (CD/DVD, book), your students or prospects receive a stream of information in time-linear form. Let's take, for example, an audio tele-course, such as Alex Mandossian's Teleseminar Secrets. This is an 8-module, extremely rich, highly sophisticated training in the art and science of creating profitable teleseminars for marketing and training. Students consume over 150 hours of audio content. Even the preview session is over 3 hours long. Add to that hundreds of pages of action guides, module summaries, and spectacular presentations. Diligent students will go through the entire material once, perhaps twice. (Many people may not even be that diligent, in spite of having spent thousands of dollars to attend.) Let's take, as a second example, a no-cost promotional series such as Mark Harris' and Jay Abraham's Thought Leader Secrets Mini-Course. This is an 6-part series of short but very rich and powerfully impactful materials, delivered as a combination of audio, video, teleseminar and text. Even the first lesson, a 10-minute animated video, is rich in insights. In this case, a diligent student must spend a few hours for each run-through, and it will take several such run-throughs to really get all its value. What do these and numerous other resources have in common? Challenge #1: Time-Linear Delivery The are all time-linear. What does that mean? Simply put, you receive the information over time. Yes, you can “jump in” at any point (e.g., read from page 22 of the transcript, listen to segment 3 of the audio stream, watch from slide 65 of the Spectacular Presentation, read only items 5-7 on page 4 of the Action Guide), but to really get what you’ll need (and often paid for), you’ll have to listen or read over some time period. Depending how well indexed the content is, that “time period” may be longer or shorter. It’s never really quick! But there is a second issue you're faced with. Challenge #2: Detail-Oriented Delivery This one is much subtler: they tend to be detail-oriented. What do I mean by “detail-oriented?” Simply put, when consuming this material, you are more likely to see each tree (or even each leaf), but less likely to view the entire forest or an area of the forest. When you listen to a replay, you’ll hear every single word, every time. When you watch a video lesson, you’ll view every single frame and hear every single word, every time. When you read a page of a transcript, you’ll see every single word on that page, every time. So what? The problem is that we are all time-constrained, yet we need to learn, absorb, act, and re-learn. The question is: How do we mitigate our time limitations with our limited capacity to learn? Past Solutions: The Software Industry Have we done it before? I started my career in the software industry. In the old and not-so-old days, for every software product we built, we used to produce two manuals. One was a User’s Guide, and the other was a Reference Manual. They both contained roughly the same material, with a huge difference. The User’s Guide was meant to be read like a novel: from the beginning to the end (or to however far into it one had the patience to get!). It was pedagogical, starting with simple things and evolving into more advanced topics; it had a story. In other words, it was designed to be consumed in a time-linear fashion. The Reference Manual was meant to be read like a cookbook or an encyclopedia. You read what [...] Learning+Teaching, Marketing sss@sergiusimmel.com no no