Saturday, January 31, 2009

What's In a Name? Plenty!

Can the name of your product or service influence whether people with similar names will like it?

Absolutely, says renowned social scientist Robert Cialdini. People even tend towards certain professions based on their name.

And in "Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive" he offers data to back up his claims.

Dentists are 43% more likely to be named Dennis than statistics would anticipate. Geologists have an above average number of Geoffrey's and George's.

People even tend to disproportionately move to states similar to their names (Flo to Florida, Lou to Louisiana).

And so, Cialdini indicates, let's say you're pitching a big project to Ethan Edwards at Eliot Engineering.
You might want to label it something like the "Energy Exchange Edict"

Personally, I think it's this whole theory is ridiculous and I'm simply not buying it.

- Charlie (career: computer programmer, consultant, copywriter).

2 comments:

Rev. CMOT TMPV said...

I liked this post -- made me laugh.

(Go Panthers?)

Charlie Byrne said...

Glad to hear it Eric. I hope the next one makes you laugh too. :-)

Go Panthers! (I knew as soon as I gave up my season tix they'd start winning).