“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Born Jun. 29, 1900. One of the hardest ways to get people to do what you want… Read More →
If They Don’t Buy Into the Story, They Won’t Pay For the Product
“Great advertising, in and of itself, becomes a benefit of the product.” – George Lois, Born Jun. 26, 1932. What old George is saying here is that objects (like products, for example) all have a story. They just do. Someone invented those products, for some purpose, to solve some problem, to sell to some person,… Read More →
Help Your Customers Feel Like They Matter When Buying, And Sell So Much 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…. Read More →
People Will Buy Ways To Work Faster So Invent Some Shortcuts To Sell
“An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore.” – Edward de Bono, Born May 19, 1933. If you want to be perceived as an expert in your field, the way to do it is not by actually accomplishing things… Read More →
How to Sell By Telling People What They WILL NOT Get When They Buy
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” – Sigmund Freud, Born May 6, 1856. But Siggy, what if people could have freedom, but WITHOUT the burden of responsibility? Wouldn’t that be the greatest thing since sliced bread? What would people pay for that kind… Read More →
Don’t Sell Objects – Sell Results, Outcomes – Sell THE FUTURE
“When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life.” – Christopher Morley, Born May 5, 1890. And so it goes with everything. You aren’t selling the action you want the mark to take. Whether it’s buying, subscribing,… Read More →
Create Valuable Unique Information You Can SELL – Just Stop Learning and Start Doing
“Theories are always very thin and insubstantial. Experience only is tangible.” – Hosea Ballou, Born Apr. 30, 1771. If you want to shift from being a consumer of information to a producer and seller of information – positioned as an expert in your chosen topic, learn this. Take whatever you’re consuming, learning, reading, watching –… Read More →
Failure and Bad Feelings Can Be Burned as Fuel – and They Produce Powerful Work
“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… Read More →
The Art of Sinking Your Persuasive Fishhook Right in Your Prospect’s Face
“For to tempt and to be tempted are things very nearly allied – whenever feeling has anything to do in the matter, no sooner is it excited than we have already gone vastly farther than we are aware of.” – Yekaterina Alexeyevna, Born Apr. 21, 1729. If persuasion is a fishing pole, emotion is the… Read More →
The Ugly Difference Between a Buying Brain and a Selling One…
“We imagine that we want to escape our selfish and commonplace existence, but we cling desperately to our chains.” – Anne Sullivan, Born Apr. 14, 1866. This one is going to be really uncomfortable. Ready? See in that quote where she says “imagine”? That imagination is why we can sell people stuff all day long… Read More →