The Unusual Reason Listerine Is So Successful
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How many times have you gotten this within 2 seconds of hitting a new website or page?
How bad is that?We just met!Now you want me to upgrade? I haven't even used your product yet!
The first interaction someone has with you, your service, or your product, should be positive.
The first thing that should happen is that they get something. They feel good for making the decision to hit your page, buy your product, or hire you for the job.The first thing they need is a hit of dopamine to reinforce their behavior.Sounds a little mechanical but that's how brains work.
Stimulus. Behavior. Reinforcement.
EXAMPLE:Listerine doesn't need to be painful.But the marketing team found out that when consumers got "feedback" from the product, they felt like it was "working."They continued to use the product.You have to make your own ethical decision about whether the ends justify the means, but that's up to you.All I can share is what I know works.
2 Minute Action
What's the first interaction someone has with you, your brand, or your product?An email? A cold sales call? A welcome desk at your office?It only takes 2 minutes to come up with something small you can do, offer, or say within the first 2 minutes of meeting a new customer to make them sure that they made the right choice.Lollipops for their kids.A cold bottle of water.A cable to charge their iPhone.It's little things like these that your customers, clients, patients, or students will remember and then tell others about.
One Reason You Should Avoid Productivity
You might be making one of the biggest mistakes you can make.Please don't think productivity is the same as happiness.Checking off boxes may feel good, but it's not the fuel for fulfillment.Do not presuppose that being productive with your time will create sustainable, long-term happiness.
- No job in the world is going to make you happy unless you're already happy.
- No work in the world is going to make you happy unless you're already happy.
- No partner in the world is going to make you happy unless you're already happy.
If you truly think being productive is the source of your happiness, please take time to zoom out and observe your own narrative.What's good about being productive?Usually, it's the hit of dopamine from checking off a box.Groceries? Done.Dry cleaner? Done.Birthday card? Done.You get the point.
2 Minute Action
Are you willing to forego happiness in exchange for output?Set a timer for 2 minutes and give yourself the space to consider what you want to focus on, today.Turning gears faster in a gearbox is a great way to make more widgets, but it's also a great way to let the world pass by.
Mankind Was My Business
Is it too early to talk about the reason for the season?
Just a quick reminder about why we do anything at all:
“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
'Business!'cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again.
Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
It held up its chain at arm's length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.'At this time of the rolling year,' the spectre said 'I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!'"-- Jacob Marley, Stave 1 - Marley's Ghost, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
I know you've read my thoughts on the death bed principle--the idea of actively staring down the days we have left and taking action on ideas that reduce the likelihood of regret. Well, there's also another way to combat regret, and that's by focusing on happiness.It turns out that happiness (serotonin) and temporary pleasure (dopamine) are completely different in our brains, yet we conflate them all the time.The words of Jacob Marley haunt me every year and I'm so grateful. Let's spend more time focusing on others, because as Scrooge inevitably learns: it's those around us who give us meaning.
2 Minute Action
What is one crucial ingredient for true happiness?Is it an object? Is it touchable, sense-able, or visible?How much time are you spending on developing that thing, bringing in more of that thing, or finding a way to lose less of that thing?However hard it is to focus on doing that, amid the other distractions of living our lives, it's worth it.