“I started doing ’30 Rock’ and started writing ‘Mystery Team’ at the beginning of that. While I was doing ‘Mystery Team,’ I started practicing stand-up. While I was doing stand up, I got ‘Community.’ It’s like I planted trees six years ago, and now they have fruit.” – Donald Glover, Born Sep. 25, 1983. Here… Read More →
No Message Stands Alone – All Communication is CONVERSATION
“An artist carries on throughout his life a mysterious, uninterrupted conversation with his public.” – Maurice Chevalier, Born Sep. 12, 1888. A business has a conversation with the market, and with its prospects, and with its customers. That’s what marketing and advertising and selling IS: a conversation. Social media and Internet-based marketing in general has… Read More →
How to Tell Stories That Sell (Without Going All Blah Blah Blah)
“You can’t tell any kind of a story without having some kind of a theme, something to say between the lines.” – Robert Wise, Born Sep. 10, 1914. “Storytelling” has been a buzzword in marketing for a few years now. I’ve taught two courses myself, focused on using story to sell. But this is something… Read More →
How To Talk to People So They Feel Like You’re Instantly Friends (And Then Sell Them Stuff)
“Candor is a compliment; it implies equality. It’s how true friends talk.” – Peggy Noonan, Born Sep. 7, 1950. In times past, social interaction required a facade of formality. Especially in a business context. Gentlemen wore suits of clothes, and exchanged handshakes and cards and engaged in small talk, followed by queries and responses about… Read More →
Your Memories Are Imaginary (And Easily Altered With This One Trick…)
“Recalling a memory is not like playing a tape recorder. It’s a creative process.” – Susumu Tonegawa, Born Sep. 6, 1939. This little secret Susumu shared above is one reason why persuading and influencing people like we do can be so dangerous. See, when you recall a memory, you’re not accessing a permanent record. You… Read More →
You Already Have a Built-in USP – You’re Just Suffocating It
“I have a different constitution. I have a different brain; I have a different heart; I got tiger blood, man.” – Charlie Sheen, Born Sep. 3, 1965. How are you different from every other boring jerk out there? What makes you unique? Your history? Your style? Your point of view? You need to know. Because… Read More →
What to Reveal and What to Conceal When Making an Irresistible Offer
“The greatest concubines in history knew that everything revealed with nothing concealed is a bore.” – Geoffrey Beene, Born Aug. 30, 1927. When it comes to sharing invaluable information with your audience, give away as much as you can. Ideally, give away what others try to sell. Drown people in quantities of quality… But always… Read More →
Let’s Presume You Are Already Good At Persuasion…
“If you treat an individual… as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Born Aug. 28, 1749. Here’s an easy trick that many persuaders and influencers overlook. Our kind of communication is very audience-focused. We… Read More →
How To Be Worth The Attention You Will Need To Succeed
“A creator needs only one enthusiast to justify him.” – Man Ray, Born Aug. 27, 1890. You can start with a very small audience. But if you don’t have one, you’re not justified in spending too much time creating anything. Not if you want to create work people will connect with. Note – I’m obviously… Read More →
How to Clown on Fools for Fun and Profit
“The minute you make people laugh, you get them to listen.” – Merrie Spaeth, Born Aug. 23, 1943. Aside from sharing an enemy, sharing a laugh is the quickest way I know to create rapport with a stranger. And it doesn’t have to be a belly laugh. It could be anything as simple as a… Read More →
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