“Recency/Primacy Effect” - the tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series best and the middle items worst.
In television advertising, the practice of putting commercials at the beginning and end of a station break is called “trapezing,” and this concept applies to almost any set of data that a person is exposed to.
Generally speaking, we are really good at recalling the “first” of something and the “most recent” of something, and considerably worse at remembering things that come between. This concept can apply to our businesses in a number of ways.
When we are working on training or education with our teams, get to the most critical part first, or save it for last. If there is a foundational safety rule in your operation that must be adhered to, start the training with that, and then circle back around to it at the end as well.
When it comes to advertising, being first and being consistent are key. Advertising to new homeowners in your target area and getting in front of them before anyone else does is a good way to achieve primacy, and mailing to them again during your prime selling season maintains top-of-mind awareness for your business. If you’re interested in targeting new homeowners, please contact me directly. We would be happy to help.
Hopefully one of these two applications can help you this season. I only included two, because you would have likely forgotten anything that came in between them!