I met up with my friend and colleague Pauline recently. What I love about her the most is her sweet, no-nonsense demeanor and her tell-it-like-it-is dry humor delivered with such authenticity it’s inspiring. (I told her she was my beacon of truth and authenticity and she said I was a sweetie pie. That’s the kind of connection we have – I am so blessed to know her.) I hadn’t reconnected with her in a while, so we decided to meet up for a long overdue catch-up.

Amongst her many talents Pauline is a sales trainer and when her and I get together we always have the most interesting conversations. You see, Pauline sees the world from a sales perspective, and I typically view mine through a marketing lens. This makes for healthy debate!

Let me share some background info… historically speaking the roles of sales and marketing have been for the most part separated. More often than not, sales people often struggle to see the true value that great marketing brings to the role of sales. (In fairness, not all marketing is great, but effective marketing should actually drive sales if it’s done right.)

So, Pauline and I headed to a great little Italian place called Prego café and emerged with two matching hot pink bowls of strawberry sorbetto! Yum! Rather than sitting in the café, we decided to take a stroll along the marina; the weather was gorgeous.

As we walked on the boardwalk, I spotted a cluster of park benches up ahead. I pointed toward the benches and said to Pauline, “Here are some benches, do you want to sit for a while?”

To which Pauline replied… “Here? These benches look long in the tooth! And not very appealing to sit on!”

It took me a moment to remember the definition of “long in the tooth”…hmm…an idiom I vaguely recall from one of the stories in my childhood storybook Aesop’s fables.

It dawned on me that what she was really saying was the benches looked rather old. (And who would want to sit on a bench that looked so unappealing?)

I must admit they were looking a little dirty and potentially uncomfortable. I was second guessing whether or not I really wanted to sit there, since it was a small yet significant decision, which was about to shape our experience.

Every decision that we make has the ability to impact us in either a positive or negative way. (Unless of course you’re a total Zen monk in which case it doesn’t matter where you are, you experience complete bliss! But for us Monks in training, we still have human responses to things.) And we make our decisions firstly based on how we feel about something when we take it all in (with all of our senses), and secondly how we rationalize those feelings in our logical mind.

In effect, this is the correlation between marketing and sales.

Pauline took one look at the bench and within seconds she was already making her decision about whether or not she wanted to sit there.

Which of course led me to thinking about you, and your business.

Question: Why should someone choose to sit on your park bench?

It doesn’t matter whether you are selling benches or selling your coaching or consulting services. We live in a world of distraction, noise pollution and abundant choices. People have options and they will choose based on what your marketing is communicating to them – visually, verbally, emotionally, kinesthetically and physically. All of these factors make up your ‘package’ and how you present yourself and your business has a direct impact on your bottom line results.

So, now what, you may ask.

Well, here are a few things you’ll want to think about:

• Does the intention you are putting out in the world match the impact it’s actually having on your prospective customers?
• Do you have a brand image that represents who you truly are at your core?
• Are you communicating with words that are customer-focused rather than making it all about you and your product or service?

Remember that people buy based on a subconscious emotional connection first, and then justify their decision with their rational brain.

I challenge you…

What is ONE thing you can do differently in your marketing communication to appeal to your customer’s emotional brain?

Hint: Create an attractive AND compelling offering using all of the senses:

Smell — what fragrance do you want to create?

Sound — what do you want your tone of voice and words to sound like?

Touch — how can you create a valuable feeling?

Sight — how will others see you as exceptional?

Taste — what taste will you leave in your customer’s mouth?

If you just don’t have the bandwidth to learn the ins and outs of human psychology to improve your marketing communication, reach out to me. I can help you clarify and craft your message to better connect and communicate with your audience, so that you convert more clients and make more money – with ease. Contact me to schedule your 45 min. consultation.