“There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meeting them.” – Phyllis Bottome, Born May 31, 1884. There is a sales lesson here. Whatever you sell, you need to think of it as a solution to a problem. What difficulties does it help the lucky buyer to overcome? […]
Two Ways to Position Any Solution for Easy Sale Read More »
“I guarantee you that two directors that are any good can take the same story, change the name of the characters, change the name of the town, and make an entirely different picture.” – Howard Hawks, Born May 30, 1896. I think Hawks is selling himself short. Anyone who is good at spinning tales can
Why Stories Are Infectious And What Makes Them So… Read More »
“People don’t like the true and simple; they like fairy tales and humbug.” – Edmond de Goncourt, Born May 26, 1822. This quote might be easy to mistake for some pessimistic bullshit croaked out by a bitter misanthrope. But it’s really profound if you consider the statement as a commentary ON ITSELF. The thing is,
How to Use Humbuggery to Create Desire (And Not Sound Like a Sleazy Shill) Read More »
“If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues.” – Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, Born May 25, 1803. Someone who is perceived to be predominantly virtuous is going to be well-liked. Admired, even. But also, such people are secretly resented. Because people always resent their superiors, at least a little bit.
People Secretly Loathe Perfect Heroes, And Deeply Love Flawed Ones Read More »
“One of the purposes of life, and selfishly what makes people happy, is building things that are impactful.” – Dustin Moskovitz, Born May 22, 1984. I disagree with Dustin here, but only slightly, and I’ll forgive him because his audience are going to be “achievers”. People don’t typically want to build anything. Not most people.
Help Your Customers Feel Like They Matter When Buying, And Sell So Much More Read More »
“Emotion creates reality, reality demands action.” – Brian Eno, Born May 15, 1948. This is a really elegant way to explain the connection between emotion and behavior. If you can sufficiently tap into someone’s strong emotions, you can then use those to distort their perceptions and beliefs, and thus alter their subjective reality. Once you
Change a Person’s Belief By Using Their Emotions Against Them Read More »
“We’re the country of movie stars because the stars, like ourselves, represent a kind of extended infantilism, beauties waiting for the big chance.” – Jerome Charyn, Born May 13, 1937. This is real similar to how Steinbeck said no one considers themselves poor. We all fancy ourselves as temporarily dispossessed millionaires. But this is a
People Want to Be “Discovered” So Promise To Make Your Prospect Into A Star Read More »
“The metaphor is perhaps one of man’s most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic, and it seems a tool for creation which God forgot inside one of His creatures when He made him.” – Jose Ortega y Gasset, Born May 9, 1883. Persuasive writers are basically in the business of manipulating minds through metaphor.
Metaphors Make Manipulation Manageable Read More »
“Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure. Emotion is easily transferred from the writer to the reader.” – Joseph Joubert, Born May 7, 1754. Maybe Joe here was only intending to write things that gave people pleasure. In which case, I would agree with the first part of his statement. But is
Write From a Place of Emotional Truth, and Transfer That Emotion to Your Reader Read More »
“I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” – Edward “Duke” Ellington, Born Apr. 29, 1899. Hey, guess what? Everyone has problems. Big whoop. What do you do about your problems? Take them? Endure them? Or do you put them to work? As motivation. As fuel. If you’re not yet
Failure and Bad Feelings Can Be Burned as Fuel – and They Produce Powerful Work Read More »
