BLINK

At the top of this week’s New York Times Bestseller List is BLINK, by Malcolm Gladwell. The author of "The Tipping Point" (great book by the way) explores the importance of hunch, the power of first impressions, and how instinct influences the workings of the mind.

The minute I delved into chapter 1, titled The Theory of Thin Slices: How a Little Bit of Knowledge Goes a Long Way,I immediately correlated Gladwell’s theory on how impressions can be as reliable as data to affiliate partner marketing.

The main point Gladwell conveys is that each relationship has a DNA, or an essential nature. It’s possible to take a very thin slice of that relationship, grasp its fundamental pattern and make a decent prediction of its destiny. Gladwell says we thin slice all the time – whether it’s going on a date or meeting a potential client- we judge the given situation. “We take a small portion of a person or problem and extrapolate amazingly well about the whole,” according to Gladwell. Through this process we have the capacity to sift huge amounts of information, blend data, isolate telling details and come to astonishingly rapid conclusions, even in the first two seconds of seeing something.

So I ask you this- based off of your initial conversations with your partners- could you predict if it was going to be a long lasting affiliate partnership- or just a one time zip code offer here or a two time email submit there?

Gladwell writes about how psychologist John Gottman ran a research group on married couples and measured that at only three minutes of a couple talking, one can predict with fairly impressive accuracy who was going to get divorced and who was going to make it. The truth of a marriage can be understood in a much shorter time than anyone ever imagined.

Depending on the kinds of partnerships you want to develop, it is imperative that you get an initial ‘feel’ from your partners. Do you get the feeling that they are shady (if so- it is advised that you cease business dealings with them- remember- what goes around comes around). Or, do you get a good sense that you will be entering a solid and mutually beneficial affiliate relationship? As Gladwell says “Decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately.”

So- here are some affiliate partner marketing takeaways from Blink that I hope will help gauge your business relationships:

• The Concept of Thin Slices: the idea that the information we process and the decisions that we make can be broken down into sequential slices, and that often the most important information and the best decisions come from that first slice.
• It’s all about those first two seconds.
• First impressions do count- whether its in person, AIM, email, or phone.
• Decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately.

Blink.

Care to chat? Drop me a line. [email protected]