I want to share a funny story with you – a few weeks ago I launched my DIVINE Partners affiliate program and the first email I sent out to my new affiliates had the subject line “Remember that Old Wella Balsam Commercial?”

This commercial was really good at illustrating the point of how just by telling a few friends about something the news spreads and expands exponentially – I wanted to remind people about the power of “telling two friends” and use the reference to this old commercial as a tool to inspire my new affiliates to begin promoting the preview call that initiated the launch of my big fall event the 6 Figure Speakers Summit

So the funny thing is when I set up this email and sent out I figured everyone would “get” it and appreciate the intent in sharing it – well imagine my surprise when – a week later I was talking with my summit support team and half the team had never even heard of the commercial! In fact one of my team members wasn’t even born yet when the commercial was made and aired! Boy was I surprised and I really got a big AHA about my marketing and my communications with my Divine Partners.

1^st AHA – Never assume that people know what you are talking about – so here’s the link to the commercial so YOU will know what I’m talking about :  Faberge Wheat Germ Oil & Honey Shampoo

2^nd AHA – Never assume that your people have the same frame of reference that you do (corollary to 1^st AHA)

3^rd AHA – Be clear on what your intent is and communicate it in a multitude of ways (It would have served better if I had shared the video link in that first email instead of assuming that people would know)

4^th AHA – Never “date” yourself or your materials – try to communicate in a compelling way but be “evergreen” with your message so that no matter who reads it they are going to get it.

5^th AHA – This commercial was actually at the time demonstrating a concept that has since been translated into a powerful tool for communicating your message (Social Media) so it was actually modeling a concept that became a future trend (the commercial was also at the very beginning of the “organic” movement.

6^th AHA – Make sure your team is also on the same page with you before you send something out – so you are all clear together on the intent of the communication and the team is also prepared to respond if there are customer service or partner issues

7^th AHA – remember that you can always use a “boo boo” to your advantage – I ended up sending out a followup email that included the commercial AND gave me the opportunity to have another round of communication with my Divine Partners to encourage them to start promoting again for this week’s Preview Call # 2 on Thursday.

8th AHA – I was able to see that my business is moving to the next level now and so I need to be even more clear, more intentional, more precise and more attentive to my messages.

9^th AHA – I learned a lot from this experience – and am able to share it with you!! – I can continue to harvest gold and wisdom that generates valuable content that serves my community! Ahhhhhh AHA!

Hope you enjoyed this post – comments are welcome! And I’d really be overjoyed and delighted if YOU “told two friends….”