01CICYM
14/1/07
6:27 pm
Page 78
No gobbledegook? No thanks! Not sure whether that uncomfortable feeling is my heart sinking or my hackles rising. But I do know who’s to blame. It’s yet another bank expensively relaunching itself on a ‘no gobbledegook’ platform. There it is in my paper this morning, taking two full pages to inform me that it has three mortgage types which can be adapted to my situation – and which they will be happy to explain ‘in language that actually makes sense’. Is there anything special or different about their mortgages? No, or they would have told me. All they have to offer is a promise that they won’t use any long, confusing words that might make my head spin. How breathtakingly patronising is that? A bank that communicated clearly and comprehensibly with its customers, in a way that treated them like intelligent adults, would have a genuine point of difference. Not so a bank that spends millions noisily congratulating itself on its alleged communication skills. ‘You must be the change you want to see in the world’, said Gandhi. For our purposes, that should read: you must be the change you want to make in people’s minds.
78 PERSUASIVE PRINCIPLES