The Follow Up
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Make Prospects Pay Attention

Make Prospects Pay Attention

The Hammock Effect: Where prospects are paying attention

September 12, 2024

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In today’s Follow Up:

Getting prospects to pay attention 👀
A sales question about growth 🗣️
Sending SDRs to a conference? 🤔
Sales jobs, LinkedIn & a meme 😂

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The Hammock Effect: How to Keep Someone’s Attention

If you’ve ever felt like your prospects aren’t paying attention during your pitch, it’s likely because they aren’t.

As technology becomes a larger part of our lives, attention spans are shrinking faster than a commission check after taxes. It’s estimated that the average human attention span is just 8 seconds today, while it was 12 seconds back in 2000. (for reference, a goldfish’s attention span is 9 seconds).

In short, it’s getting harder to get people to pay attention. Especially during a sales presentation…

The Hammock Effect explains why this is, and gives insight into how you can hack your pitch or presentation to make it memorable for a prospect.

Let’s dive in. 👇️

What's the Hammock Effect?

The Hammock Effect illustrates the amount of attention people give during a presentation or pitch. Attention peaks at the start of the pitch, nosedives during the middle, and then peaks again at the end.

If your pitch was a hammock, the beginning and end would be taut and sturdy, holding your prospect's attention. But that middle part? It's sagging, and your prospect's focus is swinging in the breeze.

The Numbers:

Prospects give roughly 70% of their attention at the beginning of your presentation and 100% at the end. But during the middle, a prospect’s attention is only sitting at about 20%.

Why It Matters

If all of your pitches look like this, you're not just losing attention – you're losing deals. The important details you saved for the middle of your pitch are getting buried and forgotten.

The Real Cost:

Wasted preparation time.
Missed opportunities to address objections.
Key selling points lost in the void.

How to Fight the Sag

Start with a Bang

With attention near its highest at the beginning of the pitch, you need to explode out of the gate. Open with a shocking stat or a provocative question that challenges their status quo.

Use this attention to peak their interest, and keep them listening as you transition into the middle of your pitch.

End with a Boom

Near the end of the pitch, attention is at an all-time high. So you need to use it wisely. Prospects know that the pitch is almost over, and they’re listening for the things they’ll take away.

Think about the most important thing you want your prospect to walk away with, and make sure it’s repeated at the end.

The best endings to a pitch feel like a cliff-hanger that leaves them wanting more.

Get Spiky in the Middle

During the middle of your pitch, attention will naturally be at an all time low. But that doesn’t mean you should write it off.

The middle of a pitch is the perfect time for a pattern interrupt, or what we’ll refer to as ‘spikes’.

Spikes are unexpected moments that pull your audience back into the pitch, and come in many different formats such as:

A surprising fact.
Unexpected anecdote or quote.
An activity or poll for the audience.
A switch-up in your voice, delivery, or format of your pitch.

The TLDR:

Attention spans are decreasing, which means it’s getting harder to get and keep the attention of prospects.
The Hammock Effect illustrates how much an audience is paying attention at the beginning, middle, and end of a pitch or presentation.
Attention is highest at the beginning and end of a pitch, with the lowest points in the middle.
Combat the lull in attention by implementing ‘spikes’ or pattern interrupts into your pitch or presentation.