You’ve said it a thousand times.
But people still tell you they didn’t get the memo.
Well, you might have fallen into the (in)frequency trap.
Frequent to you, but infrequent to almost everyone else.
Take my book, for example. To me, it feels like I speak about nothing else. I’ve certainly spoken about it more than a thousand times. And yet, I often meet people who are surprised to learn that I’ve written a new book.
On second sight, it makes sense. Actually, until last week I had posted about the book twice. Only twice.
But my mind circles around it all the time for almost a year.
I have conversations around the book all the time.
With my production team.
With my launch team.
With my friends.
With colleagues.
With podcast hosts.
With journalists.
With clients.
I’ve spoken about it much more than a thousand times.
But that doesn’t mean that anyone in my audience (and most of the people I mentioned above) has heard me speak about it more than a handful of times.
It might be the same in your team.
You think the message is clear.
You think you’ve mentioned it a thousand times.
(And you actually did mention it a thousand times.)
But it was in 1:1s. Each time to a different person.
In the board room meeting. Again different people.
During the strategy retreat. Perhaps some overlap
At the conference. Completely different audience.
In the zoom call. First meet-and-greet with a new person.
At home. No overlap to the above.
To your partners. Perhaps a partial overlap.
In the sales meetings. Again, a different audience.
In most of these situations, most of your team wasn’t present.
Actually, almost no-one (except for yourself) has heard you mention it more than a handful of times.
That’s the (in)frequency trap.
Your mind is circling around your big idea all the time.
But not that of your team.
It’s an often overlooked angle on repetition.
You need to repeat your message so that everyone gets a chance to hear it.
And embrace it.
And recall it.
Even if you’re tired of it.
Even if it almost feels embarrassing to you.
It’s not. It’s necessary.
Have you fallen into that trap?