Fun with statistics! Keep talking folks.

[Melodybe]

I was talking to the repub that owns our appartment complex, and even though we weren't talking politics I downloaded it in that section of my mind.

She said that in her statistics class in college she found out that if one person give a product a negative review then that person will convince 10 people who have never even tried the product to avoid it and/or give it a negative review (even if they haven't tried it).

What is a politician other than a product of a society? Well folks get out and get talking, talk to people in elevators, talk to people at the grocery store, we can not shut up this time.

Martin Luther King said that "Our lives begin to end the moment we are silent about the things that matter."

So please, coming from someone who does nothing but talk, open your mouths, I can't talk to everyone.

[ConsAreLiars]

1. Your message is right on

"Each one, tell 10"

But the stat prof was feeling silly or running some scam or your landlord missed something. Otherwise any negative opinion about anything would be universally accepted after a couple dozen iterations.

This is why when progressives capitulate to intimidation and remain silent, whether the speech is via conversation or writing letters or bumper stickers or marching in the streets, they preserve (and serve) the status quo.

[kurtyboy]

2. I think the stat is that

One person, having experienced a negative situation, will tell ten cohorts (but the jury is out on whether they are persuaded, as it is in the following cases).

One person, having a positive situation, will tell only three cohorts.

One person, having a negative experience which is then resolved to her satisfaction, will inform at least seven cohorts.

The message is this: If you must screw up in providing customer service (and we all do), correct the situation, and the word-of-mouth will be outstanding. (The underlying message, though, is that it is better to screw up initially, and later correct.)

I don't have a link for you right now, but these are the stats I have cited when teaching customer service classes for the last few years.

[ConsAreLiars]

3. I think the main point is worth repeating.

Stand up, speak up.

The numbers sound a bit like something out of a motivational seminar rather than a sociological study of opinion dispersal, but the points being made make sense anyway.