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Feelings for me, facts for them.

That seems to be most people's approach to decisions.

We ask ourselves, does this feel right? Does what I’m hearing make sense? 

Then, to convince others, we turn to facts. We think logic will persuade.

After all, that’s what people say they want, especially in B2B. Facts. Reason. Logic. 

But it’s not the facts that persuade. 

It’s feelings about facts.

That’s what you need to influence.

Want to know how?

Haptics is the information we seek and gain through touch.

It’s why we reach out and feel the fabric of a garment, or run our hand over a piece of furniture. 

We see haptics put to use in the film What Women Want, where the marketing team are given a box of products to play with, spurring their imagination.

But does touching a product actually work?

Yes.

It does two things: 

1. Increases ownership, making your customer feel it’s theirs.
2. Fuels imagination, helping...

^{In short: Research reveals how customers use a mix of prior knowledge and guesswork to determine whether your prices are fair. Here's how to help them make a positive assessment.}

How do customers determine whether your price is fair?

There are two scenarios when it comes to how your prices are perceived. The first is when your customer has no concept of whether your price is fair, and the second is when they have preconceived expectations.

Let’s look at how...

The gap between

who you are and

what you’re doing

is the cause of angst on bad days

and aspiration on good ones.

When you know how to change behaviour, you can change your world.

There’s only one reason why your customers aren’t buying.

Status Quo Bias.

Which means I have some good news and bad news for you.

The bad news? For them, doing nothing is better than doing something. Choosing not to proceed is better than proceeding.

The good news? Now that you know that we can do something about it.

Take this ad from Apothecary, for example. They’re trying to replace using wine to wind down with their herbal remedy.

So, what are they doing well,...

Have you noticed?

When someone does what we want, it’s because we are genius communicators. We credit ourselves for knowing how to convince people to change their behaviour.

When they don’t do what we want, we blame them. They don’t get it. They’re stubborn. They don’t listen to reason.

This is the fundamental attribution error: Blaming (or crediting) the person rather than the context.

Let’s be clear, though.

Influencing someone isn’t a...

To the passerby, all cows look the same. To the farmer, each is unique.

Your products are like this. 

You can see how each is special. How they are different from your competitors.

But to your customer, are they just looking at a field of cows?

Learn how to stand out through the science of influencing action.

Whether it’s your phone vibrating, a rumble of your car’s engine, the tingle of your minty toothpaste or the bubbles in your drink, products come with sensory signals. Some are inadvertent, some are deliberate.

For example, advances in build quality meant the engines of modern day Mustangs were too quiet. They just didn’t sound “Mustang-y” enough. That’s why some models use speakers to generate tones that mimic the sound of a V-8 engine. 

Part...

“One morning, one of us ran out of the black, it was the birth of Impressionism.” - Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Perhaps a poetic, revisionist take on the start of a new style of art, but Renoir speaks to unexpected blessings of constraint.

When something you’ve relied on is taken away, a vacuum is created.

A creative vacuum.

The modern day challenge, for many of us, is not absence but abundance.

Abundance is confusing because it requires discernment. Decisions are...

A safety blanket that smothers us.

That’s how I think about email and channels like Slack and Teams.

We all complain about the volume of messages and meetings we have to wade through, but honestly, I think they are our safety blanket.

Because input is easier than output.

It’s easier to respond than create something new.

When I get frazzled, bored or overwhelmed, for example, you know what I do? 

I turn to social media. For more input.

Because input is easier than...