I just finished reading Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki. Guy Kawasaki is the former chief evangelist for Apple Computers and co-founded Alltop.com. He is also the author of many other books.
After hearing about Guy Kawasaki and finding out he was the chief evangelist for Apple, I had to pick up the book. With credentials like that he had to know about enchantment.
At 184 pages, the book was a quick read. Guy Kawasaki’s writing style was easy to read and enjoyable. He broke down the art of enchantment into easily understandable and easy to digest sections.
During my reading, I took a copious amount of notes and would like to share my observations with you.
1. To enchant others, you must engage fast, many, and often: If you’re not constantly engaging your audience, you will soon fade from their memory. Connect with your audience through the various mediums that are at your disposal. Shoot off a quick email, post a quirky Facebook update, or construct a conference call for your audience. All of these could draw your audience closer to you and enchant them.
2. Give credit to other: One of the quickest ways to enchant your audience is to give credit to others. Giving credit and praises others will make you more likeable. It draws people to you because they feel you value others. Another benefit to giving credit to others is that they will be more likely to reciprocate and give you credit in return.
3. Get your first follower: Guy Kawasaki shared an example from the founder of CD Baby, Dave Sivers. During a TED talk, Dave Sivers showed a video of one person dancing. Soon a second person joined in. After that, a crowd joined in the dancing. Once you get a follower, this shows others that you have something to offer and that you’re worth following. Start your efforts by reaching out to the one and then encouraging the one to share his experience. Before you know it, you will have a crowd following you.
To fly we have to have resistance
–Maya Lin
4. Work for longtime enchantment: Instant enchantment rarely has a lasting effect. Start by getting your audience to slowly accept the change you are offering. Apple did this well with the iPod. Their first real small and portable device was the iPod. They gave it a great look and distinctive earbuds. When you saw the white earbuds, you knew someone was listening to an iPod. Next came the iPod Touch. Apple added a touchscreen and a few other new features but kept the same design style. People loved it and upgraded. Finally, Apple released the iPad. It is similar in design to the iPod and iPod Touch but much larger. It was an instant hit. Apple continuously built upon the enchantment of the iPod.
5. Find the bright spots that are working: Sometimes things don’t go as planned, this is the time to focus on the bright spots. Keep a running list of things that are going right or that your product does well. If you are able to show your employees or audience that there are things that are going well, they will be more willing to continue to follow you.
I highly recommend picking up this book and giving it a thorough reading. Given Guy Kawasaki’s creditionals and history, you will be able to take away some great pointers on how to enchant.
Question: Have you been enchanted by a product before? Why do you think you were enchanted? Please share your answers in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.