Almost every morning I get up somewhere between 6 and 7 o’clock. No matter how much I’d like to sleep in, for whatever reason, most of the time I’m upstairs in my office with a fresh cup of coffee at my desk just when the sun’s coming up.
I live on a lake, literally. My grassy backyard slopes down into a beach that’s less than 50 feet from my door. And in one of the shallow beds of sparse grass, about two feet into the water, and 20 feet away from my boat house, every single morning a large fish (say, 18 inches long) gently flips and flops around in about 8 inches of water, sometimes for up to 20 minutes.
I don’t know what kind of a fish it is. It’s too light in color, and too narrow in width to be a bass… and it’s way too small to be a carp. It actually looks like a small gar, because of what looks to be a pointed snout, but I don’t think it’s a gar, either. I haven’t seen any of them in this lake, although you will catch a mudfish once in a while.
Because it’s always there, if I was one to live in fantasy-land, I’d say the fish is coming to see me, or trying to deliver some sort of a message to me. A harbinger of some sort.
Although I have to admit, some days I miss the fish, because I am deep into my work and I didn’t glance out through the doors into the lake, at the precise moment the fish came over, and I wonder if he was upset I didn’t see him that morning.
Sounds bizarre that I’d even consider that, doesn’t it?
That’s because human nature is all about habits. What you think about, you usually do… and what you do, over-and-over again, becomes your habits. And your habits become who you are.
That’s the simple structure of human nature, so memorize. Thoughts turn to actions, actions turn into habits… and habits define your essence.
So for example, because I’m so used to seeing this fish every single day (my habit), when I don’t see the fish, it begins to feel strange — out of the ordinary and unusual.
Here’s one way to leverage the habits of human nature in your marketing, and in your sales copy.
See, when you’re selling someone something that’s going to cause them to “break” their regular habits, their conventional ways of thinking and doing things — you’re looking at an uphill battle.
That’s why your best buyers aren’t people who “need” what you’re selling, they’re people who’ve already demonstrated a propensity to WANT what you’re selling, by having bought similar products before.
This is why most inventors don’t make much money. They are so consumed with coming up with the next iPod, or eBay, instead of, perhaps… just stopping that noise the toilet makes after you flush it, or quieting your computer’s printer, or making the grass greener in your front lawn, or something like that.
Selling to an existing marketplace is FAR easier than trying to create a new marketplace. Your likelihood of success is much higher this way, and you’re enhancing existing habits, instead of trying to create new ones. Trying to create a new habit, for the most part, is like trying to move a mountain.
Making things run easier, faster, smoother… giving short-cuts, avoiding headaches, cutting through red-tape… and eliminating existing anxiety and frustration is far easier to sell, than coming up with a new “vertical” bed to sleep in — even if it does reduce spinal cord stress.
Use the existing habits of your prospects to HELP your sale, not hinder it. Play to them and you’re chances of success goes up, dramatically.
Oh, before I forget, I just want to say “Happy Birthday” and “I love you,” to my oldest son, Nick. He turns 18 today and we all wish him nothing but the very best.
Gotta go.
Now go sell something, Craig Garber
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