I’m not talking about the stuff that you are forced to care about through responsibility, or a false sense of caring to save the feelings of another person. I am talking about the information that you genuinely care about and look forward to receiving.

If your e-mail inbox looks anything like mine first thing in the morning it has at least a few unsolicited messages that I care nothing about. Actually it is more than a few – sadly it’s the majority. Most get deleted without my even having looked at them.

Personal messages aside, there are a few great messages that I do look at.

While reading Permission Marketing by Seth Godin the author had identified three characteristics of permission marketing:

1. Anticipated: People look forward to hearing from you.
2. Personal: The messages are directly related to the individual.
3. Relevant: The marketing is about something the prospect is interested in.

Although Permission Marketing applies directly to marketing, upon further reflection I found that it can equally apply across any communication. I will use e-mail as an example of the application of this idea because it is a forum that is widely familiar (and unanticipated, impersonal, irrelevant e-mail is a problem that many likely have) and e-mail is the first thing that caught my attention when rolling out of bed this morning. For more information on permission marketing refer to my article Asking Permission, or better yet read the book.

Yesterday in How To Sell Your Idea I had mentioned that in order to be receptive to your message the audience or consumer must care. But how do you make people care? How do you compel people to take action?

Easy – by making your conversation with the customer anticipated, personal, and relevant. Here’s how to do it.

Are You Anticipated Or Merely Tolerated?
There is a big difference between the answer to this question. Anticipation generates excitement and a positive call to action. Being tolerated induces a lackluster, if any response.

Communications that I request – such as a subscription to a blog or a request for more information about a newly discovered product or service is anticipated.

Personally I like the example of my Barnes and Noble e-mail which often contains a coupon towards a new purchase. In the overall scheme of things we are not talking huge savings here, but it usually prompts me to take a trip to the bookstore to make a purchase.

I am probably behind the times by being a blogger who still goes to a physical bookstore rather than an online store. However, I enjoy physically browsing through books, discovering new items, and just the overall experience.

This call to action makes the message – and therefore the communication is  anticipated.

Establish A Personal Connection
Personal relationships almost always get attention – this is, in my opinion, the most effective way to clear through the clutter. People care most about people with whom they have a personal, vested interest.

The same applies to business. You can have the best technical and business skills, however if the receiver of your message doesn’t like you it really doesn’t matter. This is an ugly truth that many attempt to deny, but people like to do business with people whom they like and have a personal connection.

Find a sincere, authentic rapport with the individual whose attention you are wishing to attract and the rest will take care of itself. Do not be tempted to establish a false rapport – that technique has the opposite, devastating effect.

Consider the e-mail example again. Other than coupons, I also receive messages which inform me of new books released by authors whose books I have purchased in the past with my membership card. This may seen intrusive to some, however I have given this permission – my interests and reading are varied – it would be quite a daunting task to keep track of my favorite authors. It’s nice to have someone do this for me!

Crafting a personalized, individual message for each customer gives them a personal stake in your message.

Is Your Communication Relevant?
Should I care about your message to me? Most times the answer is a resounding no. Many marketers and business owners are spammers – they purchase a list, draft a boilerplate message and send the message to the masses. Sure they get some nibbles off the line, but most really don’t care. Furthermore, the nibbles they do receive are not very strong – they are from the fickle bunch who will trade sides at the first scent of a better deal.

Consider the alternate approach. Carefully crafting a relationship built upon incremental permission built over time. True you will not reach as many prospects, or as large of an audience with this approach, however you will firmly cement personal relationships that are extremely strong over time and can withstand even the most trying of circumstances. These are the consumers who will not leave you for the next big thing – they value the relationship because it’s personal and relevant.

Keeping it relevant is tough. It’s tempting to move off track and send non-relevant information to your customers in the hopes of a random sale. However, if your communications are consistently relevant you will gain credibility over time and your messages will be anticipated which will have a more profound result over time.

A Circular Relationship
Upon thinking about the theory of permission marketing I believe this relationship to be circular in nature. One aspect affects the other two. Each action in each category either further builds or cripples the other aspects. This continuous feedback creates a circular relationship of sorts among the various entities whose attributes I represent by questions above.

Providing your audience with consistent, relevant information over time will gradually increase your permission level to provide more information. Your credibility increases, and with it your shared perspective on market trends, products, and services.

The personal nature of the relationship provides a strong foundation which can withstand turbulent conditions – both personal and economic. Personally involving the audience gives them a personal stake in your message and as a result increases their attention.

Continually providing your audience with relevant information with a grounding in a personal relationship will lead to anticipation of your communications which will increase the likelihood of positive action which will be beneficial to the both of you.

Anticipated, personal, and relevant communication will get you the right attention!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

You’re not alone.

The good news is that I’ve discovered a solution while reading Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside. Regardless of what you are trying to convince someone of – perhaps your next big idea, a small project, or a new direction – I believe this concept will work and change your perspective on how to sell and package your ideas.

In How To Find Your Your Free Prize we had discussed how seemingly unimportant changes can have a large impact on you and your business. This free prize can be extremely valuable – high profit at low cost. But how does one find their free prize? In the last article we had talked about using edgecraft – today I will discuss another important method of leveraging your ideas – the Fulcrum of Innovation.

The Fulcrum Of Innovation
Check out the picture at the beginning of this article – it’s the Fulcrum of Innovation developed by Seth Godin. This fulcrum does what fulcrums do best – apply leverage, which will ultimately get you and your idea off the ground.

Remember the seesaw on the playground as a child? You’re using your weight to lift another on the other side by using a board over a pivot point. This device applies leverage and allows you to perform a feat that you would not otherwise be able to accomplish on your own. This is the idea behind the Fulcrum of Innovation as well.

Late in business school and early in business I had found that to most individuals and businesses, it matters least what is written, what matters most is leverage. This is not to say you shouldn’t honor your word – you most definitely should. However, leverage is a powerful tool and in general, vastly understated and overly employed.

The purpose of the Fulcrum of Innovation is to serve as a leverage point that magnifies your efforts and your ideas and turns them into reality. No man or woman is an island. As we’ve discussed in our previous partnership articles working with others is vastly more effective than working alone.

The fulcrum forces you to ask three questions and provide the answers to others when attempting to convince others:

1. Is it going to be successful?
2. Is it worth doing?
3. Is this person able to champion the project?

Whether you are asked these questions directly or not – you must realize that people are considering these questions – especially if you are asking for an outside investment.

If the answer to any of these questions is no, you should revisit and refine the idea until you get a yes – if you do not believe or cannot defend the idea others will not believe in it.

Let’s explore each question in greater detail.

Is Success Guaranteed?
Success is never guaranteed and the more certain success appears to be likely, the less likely it is to occur. Most truly remarkable ideas come out of nowhere. The difficult part is that you need to convince others that your project or idea will be a smash hit!

Is It Worth Doing?
Obviously to you the project is worth doing, but is it worth doing to others? This is where knowing your audience is critical. What do the people you are trying to sell care about? Who are you selling to? Your boss? Investors? Teammates? Know your audience and tailor your pitch accordingly.

An attempt should be made to maximize benefit to the audience while maintaining the integrity of your idea. Make people care by giving them a compelling reason to do so.

Are You The Champion?
Before you answer with a resounding yes consider the perception that others have of you – especially those who you are selling the idea to. Does your audience believe you can take your idea through development and final execution?

You can have the best idea in the world, but if the audience doesn’t believe in your ability to pull it off the sale is dead.

Of course championing a project requires you to wear many different hats.

First, you need to have, or have access to the technical abilities to pull off the idea. You also need to manage the implementation of the idea and assure it meets schedule and cost limitations placed upon you and your team. Finally, you will need to keep motivation high and be the biggest cheerleader throughout the duration of implementation, even when times are tough.

The details of how to become a good champion are outside the scope of this article. Seth Godin provides some excellent advice on how to improve the perception of you as a champion for a groundbreaking idea in Free Prize Inside.  For more on how perception relates to reality and how to manage this complex relationship refer to my article Perception Vs. Reality.

Leverage Is Key
Leverage is the key to selling your idea to your audience and making it become a reality. Leverage is attained by applying the Fulcrum of Innovation which  leads you to consider and convey your likelihood of success, the value of your idea, and your ability to champion the idea.

Successfully applying leverage by means of the Fulcrum of Innovation will greatly increase the likelihood of others accepting your idea and ultimately your idea will see the light of day.

Sell your idea by applying leverage!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

It can be a bit confusing to send packages to our soldiers overseas, so I’ve broken down the process in simple steps. In this article I’ll tell you what I did, where I got my supplies, and how you can also send a care package.

First, my pictures….

Here’s the food I sent. Easy to cook in a microwave (which the troop I selected does have). They specifically requested beef jerky, EasyMac, Hot Sauce and individual drink mixes for water.

I Double-bagged the peanut butter and Hot Sauce in case they leaked.

Since it is too hot to send chocolate or candy, I picked up some Betty Crocker Warm Delights. They are simple to make in the microwave, just add water to their little single-serving plastic container and zap for 30 seconds. You get an instant chocolate cake. I knew the guys didn’t have measuring spoons so I put a little note on each box letting them know that 4 plastic spoonfuls of water is the equivalent of what the directions call for, although I’m sure they would have figured that out…

I bought 3 boxes of Propel drink mixes. I decided not to waste valuable room in the box by leaving them in their boxes, so I combined them all in a ziplock bag. I wanted to cram as much stuff as possible into my care package.

Here is my box (and customs form) from the Post Office BEFORE I stuffed it.

And here it is AFTER. Wow! 10 pounds!

Now for the steps;

1. Go to Anysoldier.com and read through the listings on this page. You can choose a specific branch of the military if you’d like. John and I chose to send a package to Marines since John served in the Marines himself.  We selected a unit of 8 men who were primarily requesting food items. The post said that 2 of the men where from Massachusetts and that was one of our deciding factors in selecting them, as we have something in common. One of the most important things our troops want are letters from home. John and I each included a letter in with our care package and it made it easier to write because from their listing we knew we had several things in common with them.

2. Get the address. Once you’ve chosen a troop to send your care package to, you’ll need to email AnySoldier.com for the mailing address. This is a security measure as addresses are not publicized on the website. However, you will get it via email within 5 minutes. Don’t request an address until you’re really committed to sending a package so that a troop doesn’t get neglected.

3. Make a list of what you’re going to send and go shopping. Keep a few things in mind when sending your care package;

*Don’t mix food and toiletries in the same box. It could be a disaster if a can of shaving cream leaked all over the boxes of crackers!

*Try not to send items that could melt, like candy or chocolate. Your package could take 3-4 weeks to be delivered and when it is delivered remember that it’s HOT over there.

*Send foods that won’t spoil and are easy to store, cook and eat. Most listing requests on AnySoldier.com will tell you what their living conditions are. If they don’t have a microwave, then don’t send foods that need to be cooked (like EasyMac and Ramen Noodles). If they don’t have a can opener, don’t send canned goods unless they have a pop-top. It is easy to forget these things because we are accustomed to the comforts of our home where we have all the basics. The unit we selected said they didn’t have a can opener, so not only did I not send any canned goods, but I did send them a can opener. There is always a chance the can opener could get confiscated in customs though, so I didn’t want to assume they’d have one and send canned foods they couldn’t eat.

*Double bag any bottles or jars in heavyweight Ziplock bags. If it can leak, it probably will.

*Try to think of things that accompany the food you’re sending. Soldiers may not always think to ask for things like plastic utensils and plates.

4. Go to your local Post Office and ask for (free) FLAT RATE Priority Boxes, Labels and Customs forms. If you plan on sending care packages on a regular basis (like John and I do), then you can go to usps.com and order Priority Boxes to be shipped to your house (completely free of charge), so you’ll have them for the future. Very important, be sure to only use FLAT RATE boxes. You’ll see why in a bit. Also, Thanks to the US Post Office, boxes shipped to an APO or FPO address cost the same as domestic shipments. This will save you some bucks.

5. Gather your supplies. Make sure you have your priority Boxes form the P.O., plus Customs forms, Priority Labels (all free from the P.O.) packaging tape, a couple standard envelopes, a pen and paper to write a letter to enclose with your care package, ziplock bags, extra newspaper or shopping bags to pad the box, and your items to send.

6. Box up your food (or toiletries, whichever you’re sending). Pack everything in tight. Write a letter to send with it (if you’ve got kids helping you with this project have them draw some pictures to send too).  Include a couple self-addressed envelopes, paper and pens so the soldiers can write back to you. You are much more likely to get a response if you include the self-addressed envelopes. Ask them if there’s anything else they need. Include your email address too. Put the letter, envelopes, paper and pens in a ziplock bag on the top of the food and close up the box. Seal it well with packaging tape.

7. Fill out the Customs form. This is simple. Just your address, their address, what is in the box and how many of each item. Ignore all the other fields. Then sign and date at the bottom.

8. Address the box. Using the free Priority Mail labels provided by the P.O., address your package made out to the Soldier’s name who will be the contact person, then under their name put “ATTN: Any Soldier”, and then the address that was emailed to you from AnySolider.com. If the package you are sending is specifically for female soldiers, then fill it out the same way, but put “ATTN: Any Female Soldier” after the contact person’s name.

9. Head to the P.O. and mail your care package! A Flat Rate Priority Box will cost $11.95, no matter how heavy it is. When we shipped ours it weighed 10 lbs 7 oz. The clerk in the P.O. said it would have cost $32 to ship if I hadn’t packaged it in the Flat rate box! Very important to use the Post Office’s FLAT RATE boxes!

10. Smile all the way home knowing you’ve made a difference to our troops.

Something I thought of after I’d shipped our first box, if the troop you pick says they have a microwave, then micro popcorn would be a great thing to send. It doesn’t take up as much room in the box as other crackers and chips and they can pop it to have a warm, salty snack. I’ll be sending some in my next box for sure.

That’s it! It’s easier than you think and if you shop the sales at your local market or target you can fill up a box for under $20 and make some soldiers very happy!

-Amy Stevens Adams of Cape Cod Branding