Customers LOVE before and after pictures. But too many businesses get it wrong for one important psychological reason.

Using before and after imagery helps your customer understand the transformation that’s possible.

They work because they signal the “now” state. The problem state. 

And then help us imagine how life will be better once we’ve done what it is you’re suggesting.

Life used to be like this, now it’s like this.

Here’s an example...

When you eat a tomato from the supermarket it is unremarkable.Tasteless. Watery.

When you eat a homegrown tomato, it is vibrant. Sweet. Juicy.

It adds something to your day.

Guess which tomato most AI generated content reminds me of?

It takes more effort to grow your own, but goodness, what a payoff!

The future of work may be AI. Your future worth is not.

If you want to differentiate yourself and create real and sustainable value, you need to grow it yourself.

A tip when you are reading posts citing 'research' stats on what business leaders or consumers are doing.

Add "say they are" to most of the claims.

For example, "Nearly half of content marketers use AI to brainstorm new topics, and 46% use it to research headlines and keywords."

I'm guessing this stat is based on self-reported claims, so it should read: "Nearly half of content marketers SAY THEY use AI to brainstorm new topics, and 46% SAY THEY use it to research headlines and...

Healthy snacks in a vending machine can backfire, leading to more people choosing the unhealthy option.

This is an example of ‘vicarious goal fulfilment’, where doing a small thing makes us think we’ve done the big thing.

In this case, merely seeing the healthy option can be enough for us to indulge ourselves for our ‘good behaviour’.

McDonalds knows this. Sure, they have salads, but perhaps today you deserve the burger?

Vicarious goal fulfilment is...

People like hearing yes, they don’t like saying it.

Chris Voss, a world class negotiator, shared this pearl in the Nudge podcast with Phill Agnew.

His point is we shouldn’t push for ‘yes’ because it makes people defensive.

Instead we should aim for ‘no’.

Rather than “Can we do this tomorrow?”, ask “Would you be against doing this tomorrow?”

Rather than “Is this a good time to talk?”, ask “Is now a bad time to...

Adding one simple word can make you more persuasive.

In a famous 1978 Harvard University study, a researcher would attempt to cut in line to copy some pages at the library.

In some cases they said: “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”  

In others, they asked the same thing except for adding a simple word. 

And this simple word made it 50% more likely they would be allowed to cut the line.

Here’s what they said.

...

We only hear from people who succeed.

Even if they reveal a failure, it’s because they’ve made it through.

That’s Survivorship Bias.

We think they represent the average when in fact it’s strongly skewed.

And seeing so many others succeed, or seem to, can get disheartening.

Take comfort knowing that the average experience is not success. 

It’s struggle.

If you'd like to struggle less, get in touch.

Should you say something is due in 5 days or it's due on Wednesday?

When communicating timeframes we have to decide whether to include the date, the day of the week and/or the number of days to go.

The language we choose can significantly impact how our audience responds.

Do we want them to think it's a short timeframe or a long one? Do we want them to act with urgency or do we want them to relax?

That's what I reveal in this clip.

See Just Do This for more.

The easiest way to endure an ice bath is to stay still.

A thermal layer forms, protecting you from the cold.

But the lack of movement becomes a problem the longer you stay in because you aren’t circulating blood as well to your extremities.

In business we might feel fine in our thermal layer. Comfortable even.

  But this is a long game. You’ve got to keep moving.

To disrupt the status quo and keep your business moving, see how to influence action.

When you tell a customer something is 125% better, they’ll think it’s only 25% better.

This is the Off by 100% Bias.

That new Black & Decker vacuum cleaner that claims to last 125% longer? Its performance will seem underwhelming.

Telling people their energy usage is 108% more than other households? They’lll underestimate how much of a power hog they are.

Of course, increasing their prices by 110% is likely to be underestimated, too. That is, until they get your...