“We’re living in primate heaven. We’re warm, dry, we’re not hungry, we don’t have fleas and ticks and infections. So why are we so miserable?” – Steven Pinker, Born Sep. 18, 1954. Why not, Steve? Because we are all damned with the inescapable knowledge of our own eventual demise. It’s a pants-shitting fear that constantly… 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 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 →
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 →
When People Are Driving in Circles, They’ll Pay a Toll to Take Your Exit
“As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears.” – John Locke, Born Aug. 29, 1632. People are not that different. We all think we are unique snowflakes, but humanity is a blizzard. While there are always exceptions, we are built the same way, and we have similar lives. Routine…. 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 →
Stories Allow Us Safe Exploration Of Dangerous Futures
“Human beings love stories because they safely show us beginnings, middles and ends.” – A. S. Byatt, Born Aug. 24, 1936. The key part of this quote is the word “safely”. What we allow people to do with persuasive communication is a bit of virtual reality. A bit of lucid dreaming. We allow people to… Read More →
How To Create Fear and Use It To Guide People’s Choices
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H. P. Lovecraft, Born Aug. 20, 1890. There’s a cognitive bias all humans have called “the Ambiguity Effect”. Fancy science says: It describes our tendency to avoid choosing options for which missing… Read More →
Warping Time to Persuade People With Ghostly Voices From the Past
“The past speaks to us in a thousand voices, warning and comforting, animating and stirring to action.” – Felix Adler, Born Aug. 13, 1851. All decisions are made in the present moment. And we are deciding our future. But if you can make a decision feel like a culmination of the mistakes and lessons of… Read More →
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