We like to believe we’re rational buyers. Yet, emotional economics says otherwise. We assume we weigh our options, analyze the facts, compare the numbers—and then make a smart, logical choice. But neuroscience tells a different story. Emotion, not logic, drives most of our purchasing decisions.In fact, research shows that feelings play a central role in […]
Remote selling isn’t just selling in a different location—it’s selling in a different mental environment. When you’re not in the same room as your buyer, their cognitive biases—the brain’s mental shortcuts—play an even bigger role in shaping how your message is received. In virtual settings, distractions are higher, attention is lower, and trust is harder […]
Understanding how the brain responds to change (what we call Change Barriers) is one of the most important tools a coach or leader can have. You’ve seen it before. A leader walks out of a workshop fired up about new strategies. A team leaves a coaching session with clear goals and fresh motivation. But a […]
It seems as if I’ve been seeing more and more articles advising us to avoid electronic devices in bed or at bedtime. Because I’m a word-game junkie, because I play Zen Word in bed on my i-Phone to help me relax before falling asleep, and because after I complete a level in the game, I […]
Why do two people hear the same sales messages—and only one buys?It’s not always the product. It’s how the message was framed. Framing is one of the most powerful tools in sales because it doesn’t change the facts—it changes the context. And context is everything to the human brain. A product framed as a solution […]
Jason lit up when we talked about the team win. Not because it meant hitting quota. Not even because of the recognition he received from leadership. It was the look on his team’s faces—the pride, the momentum, the belief that they could do it again. “You know what’s weird?” he said. “I didn’t think I […]
The Neuroscience of Social Proof: Using Testimonials to Drive Conversions In a world overflowing with information, buyers don’t just want to hear that your product works—they want to see who else believes it. That’s the power of social proof, and it’s more than a marketing buzzword—it’s rooted in neuroscience. When used well, testimonials, reviews, and […]
A while ago, I wrote a post in which I referred to a woman for whom I once worked as the Queen of the Malaprop. For those of you who might not be familiar with the term, a malaprop, which is short for malapropism, is the use of a word or phrase in place of […]
Carla always came to our sessions prepared. Bullet points. Status updates. Action items. On paper, she was crushing it. But under the surface, something wasn’t landing. She was moving fast, executing well, but repeating the same leadership patterns that were burning her out, holding her team back, and giving her the same coaching outcomes. Halfway […]
It was a Wednesday morning in Chicago, in a quiet suburban office just off the highway. I had flown in the night before, grabbed a protein bar from the hotel lobby, and walked into a training room where 50 seasoned leaders sat in folding chairs with their arms crossed and their skepticism fully activated. We […]
