You know the old saying, “Knowledge is power”? I’ve got a better one: “Emotion is power.”
I was talking with a prospective client recently who said he felt like he was selling root canals — he’s a business consultant, and works with clients to help them with their financial and operational procedures and tracking. It’s all about systems and accountability. His clients desperately need him, and they know it. He can make a big difference in their businesses, and he can show them the huge positive effect working with him can have on their bottom lines.
But they don’t want to do it. They’re not motivated. Ouch.
Neuroscientists and psychologists have proven that the more rational a message, the less likely it is to trigger the emotional circuits in our brains that activate behavior and decisions. Rational messages and logic have to work a lot harder to move people, while emotion is one of the most powerful sources of motivation to affect human behavior.
Somehow, this guy needed to find a way to reach his clients with an emotional message, so his clients’ brains could make the connection.
When having conversations with clients, sure, we want to be focusing on results — the logical, rational part. But we want to make sure we’re framing those results in the most powerful way, using emotion, so the client can really “hear” the benefits and the ways they or their business will be transformed by them.
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