Pushing the right buttons

'Heard the term "pushing the right buttons"?' asks Sarah Shafi. 'Well it’s true...the button exists!'

Hello hubbers!

I had the great privilege of meeting up with Christophe Morin, founder of ‘Neuromarketing’ who came over from San Francisco to launch his genius in the UK last month. Absolutely fascinating stuff!

So what‘s neuromarketing all about then?

What Christophe has scientifically proven is that there is such a thing as a ‘buy button’ in the brain...and what’s more, it’s actually relatively simple to find...once you know how!

So, how do you find it then?

Well, apparently the brain is made up essentially of three components: the new brain, the middle brain and the old brain.

The new brain is the ‘thinking’ part of our brain... where we make sense of everything through logic, reason and rationale.

And it just so happens to be the largest part of our brain, so it’s where practically every business on the planet formulates their strategy and rationalises their decision making (and we don’t always get it right do we?).

Well, apparently that’s because we are searching in the wrong place!

The middle brain is the ‘emotional’ part of our brain... where we process our feelings and emotional reactions to the world around us and inside us. However, that’s not the decision maker!

The key is in the old brain...often called ‘reptilian’ brain because it evolved earlier than the middle and new brain...and apparently all reptiles and animals have one.

While it is the smallest part of our brain, it is the place that’s singularly responsible for the brain’s primary function...survival.  

This is the place that instinctively sniffs out pain and fear in a less than a nano second and determines ‘fight or flight’...in other words ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

So why the hell is this really important to our businesses?

Well, don’t we all want our customers to buy from us...and quickly? We don’t want to wait 12 years for a deal to come off do we?

Think about the last time you made a decision to buy a product or service...what was it that made your choice attractive enough for you to buy. How long did it take you to decide?

Well, if a business gets its ‘message’ to hit the old brain square on, then the decision is likely to be a very quick one.

If the ‘message’ is hitting the other two parts of our brain instead, then the decision will probably take longer, perhaps with some confusion along the way.

Here’s how it works...

To reach the old brain, your ‘message’ to your customer needs to provide a visual contrast that quickly connects with the ‘pain’ that your customer needs to move away from.

The ‘message’ has to hit their agenda...not yours. ‘Before and after’ pictures can be really effective at this.

Pain? What do you mean by ‘pain’ I hear you ask.

Well, think about those seat belt adverts...when people are driving along merrily one moment and then the driver’s son smashes straight through the front windscreen to his death the next.

That visual is appealing directly to the old brain’s pain and it’s not even showing a seat belt.

It is showing you how you could lose life and cause death by not wearing one. That’s the pain I’m talking about.  

Check out www.salesbrain.com

Remember...no pain, no gain!

Till next time,

Sarah

You can also follow me on twitter @rudewoman

Sarah Shafi

Sarah Shafi is founder and managing director of the memorably named Rude, a company that sells leather goods and accessories designed by Sarah for the hairdressing industry. She set up her company at home in 2006 but, new to business and inundated with orders, moved to the Leeds Round Foundry.

After a flourishing start, the recession hit Sarah’s ‘luxury market’ hard. She took her business back home, but continued to use the foundry as a virtual office service. ‘From the outside world people see a big business,’ Sarah told us. And not one to give up easily Sarah, now going it alone, is breaking into a new market.. Workhubs Network is proud to trail in her wake!

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