Carrot or stick - which works best for you?

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Just thinking aloud:

Which of these headlines works best for you:

How to impress your clients and win valuable new business
                 Or
How to avoid losing clients and missing out on opportunities

Phil Gott tumbled across my vision whilst researching how small-medium sized PSFs are making use (or not) of web2.0 technology.

PSFs are, for those who might have forgotten the jargon, Professional Service Firms, those bastions of the economy that management guru and personal hero Tom Peters has looonnng been saying are the saviours of the economy.

Tom has a great pdf [opens in new window] explaining his reasoning around this on his website, and ChangeThis! also have a shorter but aesthetically more pleasing version.

As Phil says, ‘the jury is out’ across the whole population, but concerning PSFs,

…in the excellent study Words That Change Minds Shelle Rose Charvet showed that approximately 40% of people have mainly a towards motivation (carrots) and 40% have mainly an away from motivation (sticks). (In keeping with Seth’s [Seth Godin and his book 'Small is the New Big'] mathematical rigour, the other 20% are motivated equally by carrots and sticks.)
However, when it comes to dealing with professional people I think Seth’s conclusion is absolutely right. They seem to be motivated more by fear than by hope.

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