DR. MICHAEL GERHARZ
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Posts in Tag: of course effect

Does it sound smart?

A big irony in communication:
the more you try to impress, the less you usually do.

The fancy ads, the larger-than-life promises, the forced storytelling … how often have you found yourself quickly skipping over those, feeling totally unimpressed, indifferent even.

Tangible beats sensational.
Relatable beats fancy.
Every time.

The confusion is perhaps that it’s never about the communicator being smart. You want your audience to feel smart.

Simple, true stories often achieve this better than fancy, larger-than-life stories.

That’s why the “of course effect” I spoke about yesterday is so powerful. The “of course” happens in your audience’s minds—they’ve realized something so true, so obvious, they can’t believe they didn’t see it before.

That doesn’t happen when it sounds fancy. It happens when it’s clear, relatable, and tangible. “Can they see it?” is a much more helpful guiding principle than “Does it sounds smart?”.

How could no one have thought of that?

Did you know that until the 60s, soda cans didn’t have a pull tab to pull them open?
You needed a separate tool to poke a hole (or better yet, two) so you could drink out of them?

Now, imagine the first time you’re holding a “new” can with that pull tab in your hand. Imagine being able to just pull it open instead of having to poke a hole in it.

Almost certainly, you would have been blown away.

Almost certainly, you would have thought: “Of course it’s supposed to work that way! How could no one have thought of that before? How could it take so long to invent that?”

That’s the “of course effect”!

It’s one of the most powerful effects in communication.

I mean, did you ever experience a speech that created an of course effect for your? Where you sat there and thought “oh my gosh, of course it’s supposed to work that way! How could no one have thought about that before?”

Wasn’t that an incredible feeling? Incredibly powerful?

That’s what you want to create for your audience!

Did you ever create an of course effect for your audience? I’d love to hear about it!

(Also, I would love to collect some more examples! Would you reply to this mail and share some examples?)

Of course

The most compelling “aha moments” create an “of course effect”.

It’s that sudden realization or enlightenment you experience once you see a solution or idea that seems incredibly obvious in hindsight.

It feels like a blend of surprise and certainty.
A sense of simplicity and inevitability.

“Why haven’t I thought of that? It’s so obvious!”

To create one for your audience, the insight itself is not enough. You need clarity in your communication, too.

Can you lead your audience to that moment of realization where everything suddenly clicks into place and they experience the of-course effect?

Consider the of course effect

In chasing the “wow effect”, many businesses overlook the “of course effect”.

The of course effect is what makes it a no-brainer to choose your product. It’s what makes people wonder why no one else had that idea before.

The of course effect makes people get accustomed to a product so quickly that they would miss it after the first use should someone dare to take it away from them.

The central locking system on cars was an of course effect. The skip intro button on Netflix was an of course effect. The double click to zoom on iPhones was an of course effect.

Of course effects are way stronger than wow effects.

What’s the of course effect in your offering?

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