Nobody wants your widget!
They don’t want your idea. They don’t want your product. They only want what it does for them. If we would like to start receiving more buy-in, we need to understand some basic psychology.
You’ve probably heard before that we make decisions emotionally and justify them logically. We can all find this to be true if we just look at the physical pathway for emotional processing in the brain. It all starts in the spinal cord, then the senses must travel from the spinal cord to the front of the brain (frontal lobe). Before the senses are processed logically in the frontal lobe, they must travel through the limbic system, which is where emotions are experienced…
So, how do we use this information to win more buy-in? Well, selling anything (yourself, your idea, your product) is directly correlated to motivation. What is motivation?
My Definition of Motivation = Motive Activation. Meaning to motivate someone, you need to activate their individualized emotional motive(s). To do this, we first need to know what their motive is, then we need to tailor our communication to appeal to it.
Examples of Possible Emotional Motives:
- Life Insurance = Peace of Mind (Less Cortisol)
- Hiring Someone For Your Team = Easier Life (Less Cortisol & Increased Oxytocin)
- New Car, Luxury Watch = More Self Confidence (Increased Dopamine, Serotonin)
Action: Start thinking about how your audience emotionally benefits from buying your idea. Your improved outcomes will thank you for it.
Final Thought: “We don’t value the thing. We value our relationship to the thing.” -Jack Butcher
-CK