Anybody who knows me knows that one of my mantras is that we are all looking for relationships in a transaction-based world.  Now, I’m not saying that I want all businesses to become my best friends (or even most people for that matter!), but I do believe that all of us want to be seen as more than a wallet. We all have our hopes, fears and dreams and while you don’t need to become my new BFF, you do need to recognize that I have these just as you do.

The thing that I enjoyed the most in talking with Mike was that you can develop a relationship with your customer without having to go deep into traditional relationship-building techniques.  By creating an atmosphere of caring in your establishment, you are showing your customers that you actually do care about them as people, even if you don’t know their personal hopes, fears, and dreams.

At the very least, by designing a well-thought out customer experience you are acknowledging that people do often want more than just the product:  we want to feel that we are listened to as well!

Anyway, if you are interested in this topic, listen to the re-broadcast of my talk with Mike here.

Now, while I actually don’t think that groundhogs are meteorologists, I do believe that people are actually optimistic by nature and that everything else being equal will tend to look for a positive solution rather than a negative one.  Marketers know this and in fact will often do the marketing two-step on you.  Namely, we will first make you feel pain with your problem and get you to the brink of hopelessness, and then throw you a lifeline.  So, while we have been having a pretty nasty winter the Groundhog prediction gave us a ray of hope that it would soon end.  Because, even though you can’t get somebody to buy you if they don’t recognize they have a problem, they also won’t buy from you if that is all they think about.  People typically buy from a positive place.

Bottom line for you when you sell or buy.  You are probably more influenced by your emotions than you think you are.  You won’t likely buy if you are happy and don’t see the problem, or if you are depressed and don’t see a solution.   If you “feel the pain” of winter but see the light of impending spring, then you are well-poised to purchase.  So to all of my readers out there, if you are going to make a major purchase, be sure to check that it is not your mood affecting the decision rather than the logic.  If you just want to get yourself an ice cream cone though, well, enjoy and try not to drip on yourself!