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Touring Paris in My Red-Hot Ferrari Eating Chocolate Truffles

Ever walk into a store with the intention of just looking and walk out with an expensive purchase? By the time you got to the car you were wondering, “Will I even ever wear that?”

Why did you buy it? Blame it on the brain’s release of dopamine – an activity in the brain that increases in anticipation of different types of rewards. Dopamine activates the emotions to override logic. And buying decisions are made with emotions.

When it comes to branding your company, services, and products, find words that release the dopamine. Words that excite the brain like chocolate, ice cream, Paris, Ferrari, Powerball, frenzy, and love. (Tell me the title of this article didn’t get you a little excited.)

Dopamine makes buyers want to buy. Logic causes them to second guess when they get to the car.

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:01:30 +0000 Sales Posse Blog

Trigger, Twitter, and The Hog

The goal of branding is simply to be the name that customers think of immediately whenever they, or anyone they know, need what you sell.

Companies brand themselves. Harley-Davidson, Virgin Atlantic, and Twitter. Products get branded. Legos, Starbucks, and BlackBerries. But can individuals create their own brand?

Sure. Jay Leno has his chin. Paul McCartney his voice. Stephen King his terror. Willie Nelson for Trigger (his guitar). What do people remember about you? Is it your New York accent? Your wise counsel? Your persistence? The courage you show? Your volunteerism?

What can you do to get people to remember you? How do people refer to you? That’s your brand. Build on it if it’s the branding you like. If it’s not, change your brand. Just make sure that when customers think of buying what you sell, they think of you first.

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:00:26 +0000 Sales Posse Blog

When All Cows Look Alike

The 1880’s XIT ranch in the panhandle of Texas took up portions of ten counties and three million acres. According to the XIT Museum, the XIT brand didn’t stand for “Ten in Texas”; it was a brand to thwart cattle rustlers. Not all cows are the same.

What does this have to do with sales? In one word, branding. Successful companies are able to brand their services and products to differentiate themselves from the competitors.

If you have competitors who sell the same products (cameras, tires, computers), what’s your brand that makes you different? For example, thousands of companies sell mobile phones. Which do you remember better: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Radio Shack? Pretty boring names, huh?  Names and logos don’t brand you because they don’t excite you. But what about Car-Toys? What picture does that put in your mind?

To brand today, you have to excite. Boys and their toys.

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:00:50 +0000 Sales Posse Blog

A Stained, Ragged Piece of Cloth

Digging through my great-great-grandfather’s attic to find you a birthday gift, I find a stained, torn, black cloth. Perfect.

You open it, puzzled at what it is.

“Nice,” you murmur as you set it aside, “thanks.”

But what if I tell you that’s from an old Brooks Brothers overcoat from around the Civil War era?

“Wow. Thanks.” You really mean it this time.

I add something else. “That stain is actually blood. That coat was worn by someone who got killed protecting the Union at the time.”

Now the coat has more significance. You really appreciate your gift now.

“Oh, one more thing,” I add. “That’s the lining from President Abraham Lincoln’s coat he was wearing that infamous night at Ford’s Theater.”

That’s what branding does. We took an old ragged piece of cloth and made it invaluable by telling the story behind it. Does your company have a story?

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:00:04 +0000 Sales Posse Blog