Beware the impending lunch break
After five years in prison, Kamal Abbasi was about to face the parole board. Over his years in prison, he had learned the strategies he would need to employ to secure parole – focusing less on his professed innocence and more on providing evidence that he was not a threat to the community. Kamal worked hard with his lawyers to present the evidence required to ensure that the parole board would see in him that he was not a risk to the community.
Kamal put his case articulately, but was, alas, unsuccessful. His parole bid was denied.
What Kamal Abbasi needed to know, however, is that his bid was doomed from the moment it was organized, regardless of the quality of his submission. You see, Kamal was scheduled to make his submission just before lunch, and almost no submissions made immediately before lunch were ever successful. Research has found that in most cases, irrespective of the case's merits – applications made for parole immediately before lunch are rarely successful.
Research by Shai Danziger et al. found, from the examination of 1112 cases, a success rate of 60% for the first parole submissions each morning and a steady decline hour by hour after that. Similar findings have been found in other studies addressing parole submissions and other decision-making. It is postulated that this results from increasing tiredness, hunger, and mind wandering as the morning goes on. The longer the morning goes on and the more tired hungry and distracted the assessors become – the more likely they are to reject a parole application regardless or merit.
A similar finding has arisen from studies of criminal trial judgement. Guilty judgements have been found to be more common in the period leading up to lunch. Penalties after a guilty judgement have been found to be more severe if delivered just before lunch.
This and several studies just like it addressing business suggest that - if you are going to make a pitch or presentation – avoid the pre-lunch timeslot. Do what you can to secure the first timeslot of the day. If you are going convince a prospect to buy your product – avoid the period just before lunch.
The behaviour of human beings is dramatically impacted by what is known as the ‘core effect.’ The ‘core affect’ is an aspect of subjective emotional experience. It is a neurophysiological state consciously accessible as simply feeling good or bad, energized, or quiescent. Their core effect impacts the behaviour of all human beings. Time of day impacts an individual’s core effect.
D. John Carlson – Marketing Consultant Perth.
Maximising performance through ethical customer centric marketing, branding, and communication.
Advisor – Director – Mentor.
Consumer insights - strategic planning - marketing consultancy - branding consultancy – communication consultancy – culture consultancy – strategic marketing advisor.
www.djohncarlsonesq.com