Not everyone is looking for an answer.

When people turn to you, sometimes all they want is a response.

Here’s the difference:

When you give answers, you fix.
When you give answers, you offer advice.
When you give answers, you try to be right.
When you give answers, you add unnecessary value.
When you give answers, you dominate the discussion.
When you give answers, you impose your own direction.
When you give answers, you rob people of the learning experience.

IN SHORT: You speak from a place of information.

But.

When you offer responses, you dance in the moment.
When you offer responses, you acknowledge their truth.
When you offer responses, you leave people feeling heard.
When you offer responses, you practice emotional restraint.
When you offer responses, you let people learn things on their own.
When you offer responses, you reflect people’s immediate experience.
When you offer responses, you get out of the way and give people space to process.

IN SHORT: You speak from a place of affirmation.

Here are a few ways to respond – not answer – someone who turns to you:1. Respond with reflection. I once dated a woman who was undergoing a career transition. One afternoon while complaining about her idiot boss, I defaulted to coach mode and starting dispensing answers. Huge mistake. She interrupted and exclaimed, “I don’t need you to help me – I need you to bitch with me.”

So I did. We had a bitchfest. And admittedly, it was kind of fun. Almost like a game of improv. Point being, even if complaining isn’t your preferred method for dealing with problems, if it’s the response people need most, you have to honor that request. Otherwise your desire to fix, be right and look smart becomes a barrier to being helpful. Are you a human mirror?

2. Respond with nothing. Don’t turn from silence – it’s the gateway through which life’s most profound insights enter. Next time someone comes to you, be careful not to talk just for the sake of talking. Sometimes the best thing you can say is nothing at all. Sometimes the best response is to hold someone’s hand, look at her with compassionate eyes and remind her that she’s not alone.

In that moment, silence serves as a permission slip. It creates the space people need to slow down, process their thoughts and examine the nuances of the story they’re telling. Are you willing to accept silence as a normal, healthy part of your conversations?

3. Respond with wow. Not saying the wrong thing at the wrong time is equally as important as saying the right thing at the right time. Especially in highly emotional situations, the last thing you want is to make the other person think, “You’re not helping.”

Instead of dispensing bumper sticker platitudes, rote responses, disrespectful minimizers, empty promises or false empathy, just say, “Wow.” It’s the most versatile word in the English language. It acknowledges people’s emotions. And it buys you time to think of what to say next. Are you short-circuiting people’s emotional realities?

4. Respond with questions. Some questions aren’t questions – they’re matches. And often times, that’s what people really need: Someone to infect them with just enough fuel to uncover their own answers. Someone to pump up the volume of the voice they most want to be quiet. And someone to help them connect the dots, see beyond what is, and feel a greater sense of self-achievement.

Just be sure not to ask too many questions. Otherwise you’ll override people’s mental motherboards and smoke will start coming out of their heads. Next time someone turns to you, don’t overlook the value of asking one disturbing question – and shutting up. Are you a question mark?

5. Respond with paper. Taking notes respects people’s thoughts. It shows them their words have weight. And it honors the profound human longing to be seen and feel heard. What’s more, it’s the most expressive, honest and organized way to respond to someone without dispensing advice. Especially if you physically hand someone your notes after a few minutes of listening.

Let them see their own words reflected back to them. It’s an affirmation, confirmation and validation of their personal truth. Because paper doesn’t lie. Plus, now you have a record of the conversation just in case a person does. What did you write today?

REMEMBER: Just because you’re a good listener doesn’t you leave people heard.

Next time someone turns to you, try offering a response.

Because not everyone wants an answer.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Can you practice enough emotional restraint to respond instead of answer?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “7 Ways to Out Experience the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

Sick of selling?
Tired of cold calling?
Bored with traditional prospecting approaches?

Buy Scott’s book and learn how to sell enable people to buy!

Pick up your copy (or a case!) right here.

If you want to reach the world.
If you want to make a name for yourself.
If you want to win with the people who matter most.

You have to use your hand, and you have to use your heart.

And I know what you’re thinking.

Great. Is he going to get all touchy feely now?

Yes.

That’s exactly what’s going to happen, because that’s exactly what people crave.

To feel like they’ve been touched.

How many of your people don’t feel touched?
How many of your people don’t feel at all?

AND JUST SO YOU KNOW: I’m not suggesting you start hugging everyone you meet.

Nor am I suggesting you formulate a touchpoint strategy for managing the customer experience that aligns with the brand promise. Excuse me while I vomit.

Being touchy feely is much bigger – and better – than that. It’s about leaving people feeling seen, heard and essential. Today we’re going to talk how to make yourself, your brand and your organization more touchy feely:1. Give people the experience of psychological visibility. You look with the eyes, but you see with the heart. And if you want to assure that you leave people feeling seen, try these ideas. First: Instead of going out of your way to make people feel invisible, make a conscious effort to love, honor and acknowledge them. When they get you, give them all of you.

Second: While engaging with people, resist the urge to check your email. Stop looking over their shoulder to see if there’s somebody more important to talk to you. Just be with the people you’re with, right now. Third: When someone comes to you with their problems, understand that they’re not looking for advice – they’re looking for understanding. Don’t dispense answers when they’re looking for affirmation.

Nothing touches people more than your willingness to be a mirror. When was the last time you slowed down and noticed people?

2. Be open to all levels of intimacy. I recently read the classic article in Harvard Business Review that first called customer intimacy a “key value discipline.” Their research proved that organizations that align their entire operating model to serve that discipline are the ones who become market leaders. Are you pushing yourself relentlessly to sustain it? If not, you’ll never touch your people in the way they need to be touched.

After all, each of your relationships – from customers you’ve known since day one to prospects you’ve known since this morning – is an ongoing laboratory of learning how to love. And it’s more than memorizing a few pieces of personal information. Intimacy is about sharing vulnerability, showing feelings and showering acceptance. It’s about weathering storms together, experiencing meaningful connection and creating emotional closeness. What would be different if that described the relationships you had with your customers?

3. Slow down. You can touch what you can’t catch. And you can’t feel what you can’t follow. If you want others to have a warmer, richer experience when they’re around you, learn to pump the brakes. Shift into neutral if you have to. Otherwise you’ll continue borrowing from approachability to fund velocity. And whatever meager dividends remain will leave people feeling untouched.

A helpful question to ask throughout your day is, “Why am I rushing?” Odds are, you won’t come up with a good answer. You might not slow down right away. But this friendly mental disruption will create a newfound awareness. And before you know it, communicating with you will become a more relaxing experience. Remember: When people come into contact with you, it should be emotionally rewarding – not physically draining.

Haste doesn’t make waste – it makes people feel ignored. What elements of your daily routine could be slower?

4. Bring people center stage. I love hearing the word no. Not because it’s an opening to sell, but because it’s an opportunity to hear somebody’s story. Because sometimes that’s all people want – an audience. Someone to champion their humanity. Someone to gather with them and say, “I’m here. I’m with you. I’m part of this.”

The secret is: If you truly want to touch someone, it’s not enough to request their story. You also have to receive it, respect it and retell it. Otherwise they may as well be winking in the dark. That’s what I love about blogging: It provides a public forum where I can bring other people’s story center stage. Often without their knowledge, but never without their acknowledgment.

In my experience, this is the perfect way to use technology for getting touchy feely. As long as you treat people’s truth accurately and respectfully, they’ll never feel untouched. People can’t live without a story to tell. How often you handing them the microphone?

5. Hold up your homework. When my friends Laszlo and Kelly got married, they wrote their own vows. Their words were beautiful, romantic and heartfelt. Not a dry eye in the house. But the collective heart of the entire room stopped beating when Laszlo made the following announcement right after they kissed: “Ladies and gentleman, we’re going to take a ten minute break before the reception starts because, frankly, those vows took everything we had.”

And rightly so, too. Doing something that touching isn’t easy. But the lesson learned is: When something takes everything you have, tell people. Not to boast about how strong you are. But to offer validation that they are people worth caring about, showing up for and giving yourself away to. When was the last time you went out of your way to tell someone that you went out of your way?

REMEMBER: Every day our world becomes less humane in our treatment of each other.

I know touchy feely isn’t easy.
I know touchy feely isn’t for everybody.

But it sure beats avoidy ignory.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Who are you touching?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “7 Ways to Out Experience the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

Sick of selling?
Tired of cold calling?
Bored with traditional prospecting approaches?

Buy Scott’s book and learn how to sell enable people to buy!

Pick up your copy (or a case!) right here.

Money can’t buy everything.

Currency, on the other hand, can.

And if the struggling economy is making life difficult, you might consider seeking out alternative forms of exchange.

Today we’re going to explore a collection of currencies to help you buy what you need:1. Respect buys loyalty. If you want make employees stay, make customers buy, make suppliers sell and make competitors drool, respect them enough to be radically honest. Respect them enough to build expectational clarity in everything you do. Respect them enough to create a climate of joy. And respect them enough not to waste their precious time.

That’s the easiest, cheapest and smartest way to earn people’s attention – respect. The irony is: While it costs nothing to give, it could cost everything to neglect. So just make sure you bother to bother. Make sure you dare to care. Because if you can help people feel more honored and more respected every time they deal with you, they’ll stick around forever. Who are you accidentally disrespecting?

2. Class buys referrals. Customers are nice – but repeat customers are necessary. If you want to earn those second, third and fourth time buyers, here’s a concept to consider: Build a bridge to your competitors. I know it sounds counterintuitive. But if it were just you, it would be hard to survive. If it were just you, there would be nobody to lean against.

Competitors – when treated like partners – can become your power source. What if you posted a handy list of your top ten major competitors and their offers on your website? Can you imagine the message that sends to your customers? Be willing to share in almost every direction. You’ll learn quickly that class is the new quality. How many referrals did you give this week?

3. Compassion buys forgiveness. Next time your customers or employees screw up; respond with a foundation of affirmation. Thank them for being vulnerable enough to be imperfect. Thank them for giving you the chance to love them unfairly. That’s what you call an act of spirit in a moment of struggle. And it doesn’t just make your people happy – it makes them more likely to forgive you when you screw up too.

Because you will screw up. Probably a few days after they do. As long as you’re not managing forgiveness like some corporate scoreboard, the reciprocation of compassion will be worth it. How are you creating an environment where people feel comfortable making mistakes?

4. Consistency buys credibility. Do something once, and that’s a treat. Do something twice, and that’s a trend. But do something every single day for a decade, and that’s a triumph. That’s what your customers are trying to teach you: That they don’t buy what you sell. They buy what you stand for; why you stand for it and the process you endured to make it.

They buy the belief that you will deliver on your promise to solve their problem. And they buy the faith that if their problem isn’t solved; you’ll work tirelessly until it is. That’s why consistency is far better than rare moments of greatness: Because anybody can be great for a month. How many days off did you take last year?

5. Flexibility buys longevity. Lack of flexibility isn’t a fitness problem – it’s a business problem. And unless you’re wiling to develop a predisposition to compromise, good luck staying relevant. The good news is, flexibility doesn’t make you weak or small – it makes you human and malleable. It also makes you more likable and less of a pain in the ass to work with.

There’s nothing worse that getting stuck with a company that suffers from terminal certainty. The point is, being flexible isn’t about touching your toes – it’s about touching people where they’re at. Because if you want them to spend, you’ve got to bend. Are you an expert at meeting people halfway?

6. Generosity buys heartshare. First, it was all about marketshare. Next, it was mindshare. Now, it’s all about heartshare. I define that as, “The level of emotional responsiveness your work commands.” And if you want more of it, you have to become a gift giver. Not bottles of whiskey. Not boxes of brownies. A gift is anything that leaves people altered.

For example, give the gift of art, or, solving a problem in a way it’s never been solved before. Give the gift of initiative, or, being willing to go off script and work without a map. Lastly, give the gift of elevation, or, helping people walk away feeling more in love with themselves. Those are the types of gifts that change the recipient. Who knows? You could even document each of those heartshare moments in a blog. People would notice. What gifts are you known for giving?

7. Visibility buys belief. Woody Allen is famous for saying that eighty percent of life is showing up. I disagree – I think it’s higher. More importantly, it’s not just about showing up, it’s about showing up when it’s hard. For example: Showing up when you’re tired, when you’re scared, when you’re not asked, when you’re not prepared, when you’re not expected, when you’re not being paid, when you’re not in the mood and especially when you’re not on the clock.

That’s the kind of visibility that matters. Both online and off. And if you can build it with the people who count, they will believe in you. Because in their eyes, just showing is a synonym for going out on a limb. Do you have a marketing plan or a visibility plan?

REMEMBER: There are some things money can’t buy.

But if you have the right currency, no price is too high.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What’s in your wallet?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “7 Ways to Out Experience the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

Sick of selling?
Tired of cold calling?
Bored with traditional prospecting approaches?

Buy Scott’s book and learn how to sell enable people to buy!

Pick up your copy (or a case!) right here.

At a recent White House tribute concert, Smokey Robinson shared the following insight:

“There are no new words. There are no new chords. And there are no new ideas. In my music, I just try to say, ‘I love you,’ as differently as I can.”

How does your brand say I love you?
And are you asking your customers to sing that song with you?

THAT’S THE HUMAN REALITY: Service, schmervice – people want to be in love.

You don’t need a focus group to figure that out.

And if that’s too touchy feely for you, too bad.

Companies who see love as a limited resource, as an endangered species, are never going to make it. But if you learn how to bring your heart to their ears, you’ll be around for a long time.

Today we’re going to focus on how your brand can love louder:1. Create an act of love in a moment of friction. The other day I was at a stoplight. Right before it turned green, an old man in a walker dropped his folder. Papers went flying all over the intersection.

Two people hopped out of their cars, picked everything up and walked the guy to the curb. Not a single car moved – even when the light was green.

That was act of love. And I wonder how many micromoments throughout the day your organization could create more of those. Take Southwest Airlines, for example. Most companies use employees as objects to leverage – they treat employees as people to love. And their customers have reached the point where it’s hard not to say I love you.

Matter of fact, Southwest actually has love as their stock symbol. And isn’t it interesting that they’ve been the only profitable airline since the early seventies. Looks like loving louder works. If your employees could give your company a hug, would they run across a field with open arms?

2. Be an expert in memory creation. Love earns you the right to a continued relationship. Love earns you the right to have customers tell your story. And love earns you the right to whisper to those customers on a regular basis. Your challenge is to give regular and unsolicited tokens of love. And I’m not going to bore you with a bunch of examples – that’s the easy.

What matters is that your love implies three things: First, that you’re willing to forego your own convenience. Second, that you’re willing to invest your own time. And third, that you’re willing risk your own security to promote someone else’s satisfaction and development. Do that, and love will not be far behind. Do that, and profit will not be far behind either. How are you rehearsing loving behavior daily?

3. Escort customers. Every day our world becomes less humane in our treatment of each other. In fact, it’s almost scary how many organizations suffer from a severely loveless mentality. Instead of treating people like people, companies treat customer like objects, integers, trophies, categories and commodities.

Retail is the worst. Every time you buy something, you end up standing at the counter thinking: I don’t need a bag. I don’t need a receipt. I don’t need to fill out an online survey for the chance to win a thousand dollars. And I don’t need to sign up for your crappy rewards program so you can spam my inbox with coupons that don’t matter. Just hand me the latte and nobody gets hurt.

If you want to love louder, meet the now need. Instead of treating people’s comments as inconvenient interruptions to the pre-scripted phrases you were forced to memorize in your employee empathy class, trying speaking human. It’s the only language that matters, and the only language guaranteed to be understood by all. Are you famous for the widgets you sell or for the way you love?

4. Be a better mirror. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall – who’s the fairest of them all?” Your customers, that’s who. If you want people to fall in love with you, help them fall in love with themselves first. Give them a front row seat to their own brilliance – and they’ll stick around forever.

The problem is, most people can’t see how smart they really are. They’re just too close themselves. And maybe what they need is a better mirror. If you want to love louder, you need to be that mirror. You need to reflect people’s realities in an affirming, respectful manner. Maybe by taking notes on their ideas right in front of them to make them feel heard, or by linking to their website from your own to make them feel seen.

It’s all about memorializing their impact on your world, then telling everyone about it. That’s the thing about recognition: Isn’t just an interactional gift – it’s an emotional release. If you want to create a world of delight, if you want to establish a memory that sticks in customer’s minds forever, be the mirror they keep coming back to. How are you helping people love themselves more when doing business with you?

REMEMBER: Giving away love changes the kind of person you are as well as the kind of brand you represent.

It’s time turn up the volume of your heart.
It’s time to make your brand worth singing about.

Because it’s not who loves you – it’s whose life is better because you love them.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you loving people who do not deserve it?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “7 Ways to Out Experience the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

Sick of selling?
Tired of cold calling?
Bored with traditional prospecting approaches?

Buy Scott’s book and learn how to sell enable people to buy!

Pick up your copy (or a case!) right here.

Not everything was built to be bigger.

Some things are best left unscaled.

Otherwise you end up with a bloated, unapproachable brand that people ignore.

BUT THAT’S THE PROBLEM: Organizations are treating scaling like fetish.

Computer networks, I understand. You have to expand to cope with increased use.

But when it comes to the human side of business, when it comes to treating people like people, keeping things small is more profitable in the long wrong.

Today we’re going to explore a lit of things you can’t scale:1. You can’t scale interaction. Engage with swift responsiveness, nonstop gratitude, unexpected honesty, exquisite playfulness and loving unfairness. Those aren’t just interactions – they’re social gifts. And they change the recipient. Are you in business to sell a product or to become known for a unique way of interacting with the world?

2. You can’t scale art. As soon as you bastardize something into a system, a process or a factory, it stops being art and starts becoming a commodity. Not everything can be comfortably quantified. And what can’t be measured, matters. Are you trying to compartmentalize something just to preserve your sense of control?

3. You can’t scale yourself. Why would want to? Small means nimble. Small means you can engage with customers directly and personally. Small means you can respond to changing needs immediately. And you can take risks without the pressure to remain tragically predictable. Are you aiming for bigness or greatness?

4. You can’t scale unity. Forcing employees from ten different countries to wake up in the middle of the night and attend a webinar just to meet budget is an insult. And it’s not the same, either. Outsourcing the human function fails. Do you need to conduct another sterile, boring and impersonal meeting with the people who matter most?

5. You can’t scale connection. If you want your interactions to reduce the distance between people, to enhance the personal bond you have with them, go analog. At least some of the time. Look people in the eye and talk to them with your mouth. Face to face is making a comeback. Will you hop on the bandwagon?

6. You can’t scale intimacy. Love is not something we do to each other love is what is present when there are not two. If you want touch everything around you, if you want secure a spot in people’s head, lead with your heart. Be touchy feely. It never goes out of style. What do you usually choose instead of love?

7. You can’t scale soul. Bringing intense humanity to the moment requires a deployment of naked personhood. It’s risky. It’s vulnerable. It’s scary. But that’s the only experience people will use to form an impression of you: How they feel about themselves when they’re around you. How much soul equity do you own?

8. You can’t scale contact. Sending mass emails makes people feel small, unseen and nonessential. Plus the obsession with open rates will drive you crazy. Instead of spamming the world, start a blog. Post daily as if you were having a conversation with to one person. The people who matter will find you. What did you write today?

9. You can’t scale charm. Magnetism pivots on the fulcrum point of better. It all depends on how you leave people: Alive? Believing? Breathless? Confident? Elevated? Faithful? Honored? Infected? Refreshed? Relieved? The choice is yours. When you walk out of a room, how does it change?

REMEMBER: If size mattered, the dinosaurs would still be around.

Scalability is highly overrated.

Stay small and win big.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do people experience you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “66 Questions to Prevent Your Time from Managing You,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

Sick of selling?
Tired of cold calling?
Bored with traditional prospecting approaches?

Buy Scott’s book and learn how to sell enable people to buy!

Pick up your copy (or a case!) right here.

When you substitute, you rob the customer.
When you substitute, you shoot yourself in the foot.
When you substitute, you demonstrate a lack of commitment.

Today we’re going to explore five substitutions that don’t work, along with what you can execute instead:1. Copy is not a substitute for care. Just because your marketing department whipped up a clever statement about security and smeared it all over your collateral materials doesn’t mean customers feel seen, safe and heard. Caring is a way of thinking, a way of speaking and a way of being that reminds people that you bother to bother, every single day. Does the brainless disclaimer at the end of your emails make customers feel safe or executives feel protected?

2. Passion is not a substitute for reality. That’s great if you love your product more than life itself. But if you want to make money, there has to be an intersection between your obsession and the marketplace need. If you want to make history, you have to solve a problem that’s real, urgent, pervasive and expensive. Otherwise you’ll be passionately irrelevant. Are you making something useful or just making something?

3. Information is not a substitute for interaction. Access to knowledge is nice, but access to each other is necessary. That’s what customers crave, come back for and tell their friends about: How interacting with you makes them feel. This is the core value that your brand delivers. And if you’re not making a conscious effort to deliver meaningful interactions in addition to helpful information, customers will view you as a commodity. How do people experience themselves in relation to you?

4. Celebrity is not a substitute for credibility. Just because people recognize your name doesn’t mean they see any promise attached to it. And just because your hilarious video went viral doesn’t mean you’re going to get hired. Credibility comes from creating an unquestionable knowledge base. Credibility comes from establishing a zone of trust around you. And credibility comes from building a consistent timeline of execution. What is affecting your ability to be taken seriously?

5. Strategy is not a substitute for execution. Instead of holding a meeting before the meeting to prepare for the deployment of your plan so you can formulate a strategy to start the initial stages of brainstorming for your pre-launch initiative, just go. Just start something. Stop planning. Stop talking. Take some initiative and ship something that matters. Even if you’re not ready. Even if the final product isn’t perfect. Forget about “ready, aim, fire!” and consider, “try, listen, leverage!” What are you waiting for?

REMEMBER: Substitution is the shortcut that actually takes longer.

Don’t buy into the lie that you can cut corners to save a few bucks or a few minutes.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do people experience you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “66 Questions to Prevent Your Time from Managing You,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

Sick of selling?
Tired of cold calling?
Bored with traditional prospecting approaches?

Buy Scott’s book and learn how to sell enable people to buy!

Pick up your copy (or a case!) right here.

Being human is always good for business.

And if you want your brand to stay alive, you have to leave traces of your humanity in every possible touchpoint.

After all, people buy people. Not products. Not services. Not companies. People.

Today we’re going to explore a collection of ideas to help you, your brand and your organization stay human:1. Friendly wins. When I started wearing a nametag everyday, I wasn’t trying to make money – I was trying to make a point: Friendly doesn’t cost anything. And yet, millions of people on a daily basis are working overtime to prove me wrong. They’re too focused on their own drama, their own company policies their own egos to see how easy it really is to be friendly.

The cool part is: You don’t need a nametag to be friendly.

Instead of waiting to warm up to people, skip the small talk and just jump right in. Instead of asking if there’s anything else you can do, ask if there’s anything else you can help them learn. And instead of asking for a referral, ask if everything was great. People will notice. How friendly are you perceived as?

2. Create random acts of humanity. People may love to buy, but they also ache to belong, crave to believe and long to hope. That’s what makes them human. That’s what gives them fullness of heart. Forget about customer service.

Service, schmervice – people want to be in love.

They want someone to touch them. Instead of trying to buy your way into their lives, instead of trying to hack your way into people’s hearts, give them a chance to buy into something that matters, and then share that with the people who matter. Because it’s not about the product – it’s about how people socialize around it. Are you selling a commodity or building a sharing device that allows people to connect with each other?

3. Create an emotional bonus. I once saw a sign outside of a flea market that read, “Business sucks, come in and deal!” That wasn’t just worth taking a picture of – it was worth telling my friends about. Not to mention, walking into the store and buying a few things.

And that’s the secret: Anytime your marketing creates a memorable, unexpected and jarring juxtaposition, you win.

I’m not talking about interrupting customers with ads so you can bother them into buy from you. Marketing is about designing your brand with a high degree of visual sophistication. It’s about making a first impression that creates a smile in the mind and demands further investigation. Are you providing the transaction of a service or the experience of an event?

4. Intelligently share your intangibles. Our economy rewards generosity. And if you’re willing to give yourself away, it’s unlikely you will go away. The secret is to find your daily gift to the world. Something simple and human. Something that fulfills your quota of usefulness. And something that builds up a huge surplus goodwill.

Take a blog, for example. That’s the ideal venue to deliver the intangible value of knowledge. To pollinate people with your ideas. Better yet, blogs that are written honestly have the power to give the gift of wakefulness. They create an act of inspiration in a moment of inertia. And if that’s not a gift, I don’t know what is. When was the last time somebody thanked you for your generosity?

5. Manage your story like an asset. Story isn’t just a skill; it’s a survival mechanism. Has been for thousands of years. And here’s why: Story makes it easier for people to believe. Story makes it easy for people to find and express meaning. And story makes the experience of being alive more enjoyable.

The trick is, you’re telling a story whether you want to or not. The question is: Is your story worth repeating? Is your story worth crossing the street for? Is your story connected to another story people already trust? And does your story give people hope about what they could be? I certainly hope so. Because if your story too small to repeat, it’s not worth telling. Who’s retelling your story to their friends?

6. Make a stronger last interaction. People don’t buy what you sell – they buy what you are. They buy the way they experience you. And they buy the way they experience themselves in relation to you. Everything else is merely an accessory to the sale.

If want to become known better to the people who matter most, start by becoming known for a unique way of interacting with the world. Like FedEx, who interacts with swift responsiveness. Like Southwest, who interacts with exquisite playfulness. Or like Zappos, who interacts with true care.

The point is, when you interact with people in a way that gives them the gift of social elevation, you get talked about. Are you a business people could fall in love with?

REMEMBER: Companies that lack humanity, leak profit.

Make a conscious effort to stay human.

Stick yourself out there today.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do people experience you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For a list called, “66 Questions to Prevent Your Time from Managing You,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]

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