Sales and Marketing vs. Humans and Human Brains
I came across two things yesterday that reminded me how much people don't want to be sold to and how even biology helps us resist the impulses that marketers, advertisers, and sales-folk wish to unleash within us.
First, on my "iGoogle," I'm pushed a "How to of the Day" from wikiHow.com. Yesterday, one of the featured "How to's" was this: "How to Resist a Sales Pitch." The recommendations are wise and vary from "Buy Nothing" to "Know Sales Tactics," though the most interesting one to me was, "Avoid getting the sales pitch in the first place."
Now I realize that there is a difference between sales and marketing, but this is a strong reminder that people want to actively avoid your "messaging," one way or the other.
Secondly, thanks to the Experiential Marketing Forum, I received this article on neuro-marketing which highlights what they call a "Don't Buy" button in the brain. Turns out that, since avoiding sales pitches altogether is not always possible, nature has taken care of us by fitting out our brains with a mechanism in the dorsal fronto-medial cortex that puts the brakes on impulsive behavior. The scientists involved say that, while it might not be proof of "free will," it is proof of "free won't."
Lesson 1: Advertising and "impulse-inducing marketing," my phrase for "sales pitches," are viewed by the general public with suspicion and provoke conscious avoidance behaviors. Moreover, these sorts of tactics run smack up against hard-wired impulse controllers in the brain.
Lesson 2: There's got to be a way for us to influence and manipulate people to behave according to our wishes that they don't instinctively avoid. Any ideas?
Image courtesy of Gaetan Lee.
