In the best of times and in the midst of crisis, customer connectivity is core to business success.  That means we need to focus on helping them as real people, not clicks, and dollar signs.  An Empathy Lesson I Learned Early I spent over 20 years in the spa industry offering skincare and cosmetic tattooing. […]

The motivator response in our brain triggers us to take action and rewards us with a dopamine rush. It's a surge of good feelings following a pleasant experience. It's as old as man himself.   A key part of survival, the primal brain includes a series of triggers that make us take action. When we take […]

While avarice and greed have negative connotations the concept of getting a good deal is hardwired. We love bonuses, rewards, and discounts.  We love to feel we got great value for our investment. The value doesn't even have to be ours My sister has physical dexterity issues, so when she mentioned she needed a new […]

Pain has many faces. Physical pain, anguish over a loss, or fears of emotional pain. We, humans, are hard-wired to stop or flee all forms of pain.  Everything from an embarrassing moment to a stabbing level eight agony.   Just like the rest of humanity, I’m a pain avoidance specialist.  I used to love horses. I’d […]

The RAS or reticular activating system in the brain alerts or arouses us. When selling something, tapping into and activating the RAS system is a key way to trigger sales. Think back to your last car purchase… I’ll not quickly forget mine. My 20-year-old car was starting to have reliability issues. While still okay as a […]

Have you noticed that everything is on sale right now?  Businesses are trying to recover from lost revenues. So many are focusing on slashing prices and having sales. It's a bonus for everyone right now, but are sales training your customers? I don't know about you, I’ve lost count how many sales emails I get daily.  […]

The key to successful marketing is focusing on the client’s pain points.  In today’s chaotic world that’s the 3 Sisters...physical pain, anxiety, and inadequate sleep.  Each of the three feeds of the others and accelerates the client’s problem into a vicious cycle. About ten days ago I woke up to stabbing pain from my lower […]

Your subject line determines the fate of your email. You only have seconds for your reader to decide. This system used by marketers in the know can raise your open rates by 300%. If your email inboxes look anything like mine there can be 30-100 new emails each one waiting for attention. It’s enough to […]

Your customer-focus could be the biggest key to getting and retaining customers. How well you focus on the user, your customer is the most important aspect of business success today.   Beware being business-centric I remember the weekend I decided to do something about chronic pain. I’d had hip pain for months, stabbing with every step […]

Business problem solving depends on the power of questions. When you’re trying to develop a new product, improve your customer service, or increase sales, the questions you ask are critical. Journalists, doctors, and investigators are trained on how to ask questions as an essential skillset.  Others from executives down don’t think about questions as a […]