In a previous post we looked at the role our emotions play in making most decisions of significance. As human beings, we are a strange creature – making very important decisions based on what we want at the moment rather than what we know is really best for us.

Yes, before we rationalize (tell ourselves rational lies) with logic, we make decisions based on many types of emotions.

But here’s the key:

All emotions – perhaps all human action – can be boiled down into the following:

The desire for pleasure.

The avoidance of pain.

We decide what actions to take (buy or not buy a product, service, concept, idea, opinion, etc., and even like or not like a person) based on those two factors; pain and pleasure. They are what “make people tick.”

Let’s talk about those two major “emotions” because this subject has everything to do with the topic of positive persuasion or – as I often call it – “Winning Without Intimidation.”

What kind of pleasure do we as human beings pursue?

We know about physical pleasure, such as sexual plea­sure or the pleasure of eating something mouth‑water­ing such as your favorite flavor of ice cream or – dare I say; a morsel of delight from one the many fine establishments known as, that’s right…Dunkin’ Donuts?

What about emo­tional pleasure – enjoying family and friends and the fun of doing fun stuff like vacationing, going to a ballgame, buying cool toys? The list is endless.

Then there is the emotional pleasure of power when dealing with people. Ahhh, now that is part of the ego. The ego THEY have.  (Oh no, not us; Heaven-forbid.)

In fact, it’s at this point that the ego steps in as star of the show. And, we’ll discuss that in Part Two.

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Years ago, a brilliant visionary said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

Those famous words, spoken by Mr. Zig Ziglar have been repeated so many times throughout the years they’ve almost become a battle cry for those who desire to add great value to their world while living a life of abundance.

It’s difficult for me to imagine two things:

1. A saying that could be a greater example and finer embodiment of The Go-Giver philosophy and…
2. A bigger thrill for both John David Mann and me than having the opportunity to present Mr. Ziglar with the First Annual Go-Giver Lifetime Achievement Award.

This we had the honor of doing last Friday at Thom Scott’s and my 4th annual Extreme Business Makeovers event in Orlando, FL.

Halfway through Zig’s appearance — as he was sitting between his lovely wife, Jean (“The Redhead”) and his son, Tom (CEO of Ziglar) — John came up on stage and together we presented the 83 year old legend with an engraved crystal bowl…and our extreme thanks!

Zig Ziglar; a great man, a true Go-Giver!

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Back from an amazing weekend; our fourth annual Extreme Business Makeovers event. Not quite sure how it surpassed last year…but it did. The presenters were superb, and so were the attendees. The giving spirit throughout the weekend was evident.

One huge thrill was presenting the great, Zig Ziglar with our first annual Go-Givers Lifetime Achievement Award. More on that in an upcoming post.

In this week’s Endless Referrals Video Brief (see the previous two here), we continue our look into asking for referrals in such a way as to provide the proper context that will assist your potential referrals source into bringing forth high-quality names.

We’ll continue this process in next week’s Video Brief.

A Facebook reader, in response to my article on The Go-Giver.com blog on misunderstanding false premises regarding being a Go-Giver asked:

Don’t you just sometimes wonder if people are really thinking?

Thank you for your question. Here’s what I believe happens:  As human beings, our minds are programmed from an early age (through a combination of upbringing, environment, schooling, news media, television/movies, etc.) to see the world – and certain aspects of the world – in certain ways. And, we tend to make decisions and form conclusions based on very, very little information, and always in alignment w our learned belief systems.

While this can, at times, serve us, it often really messes up our thought process (or, “non-thought” process, hence the question of “wondering if people are actually thinking”) And, when you now add to the mix the very emotional topic of money…wow, it can confuse a lot of people!

Something I find fascinating is when posting a quote and providing my interpretation of that quote, and then receiving reader feedback and comments. While most will have an opinion of the quote, and either agree or disagree with my interpretation, we appear to be looking at the same quote.

Others, on the other hand, will reply in a way that – if I didn’t know better – I’d think they were responding to an entirely different set of words. However, when dissecting their response, it’s obvious they are seeing the quote and/my interpretation through an entirely different lens; something very, very specific to them. Not being able to read minds, I don’t know exactly what that would be, but it’s obvious it is coming from a very personal, unique and individual place.

In answer to your question, sure, it frustrates me when I feel people don’t think things through as “I” might like them to. But, I also understand that human nature is human nature. And, that more often than I’d like to admit, I’m guilty of doing the same thing when it comes to my belief systems and personal biases.

Thank you so much for your very “thought-provoking” question.

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Continuing our look at “Know, like and trust” and other factors involved in the sales process, let’s take it in one more direction.

As a quick review, we’ve looked thus far at the following:

1. “All things being equal (or even close to such) people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust.”

2. There are times when things are so far from equal in certain areas that “know, like and trust” simply are not enough to bring in the sale.

3.  Sometimes, the product or service and all other aspects of it are fine, yet you are hearing “no” consistently and much too often. In that case, the issue is most likely you.

Now, let’s look at one final possibility. This was brought up by my friend, Networking Authority Beth Bridges, who said,

“I think that ‘know, like and trust’ is enough the vast majority of the time…It is ‘enough’ so much of the time that you would be foolish to ignore or discount it. Then, once you find yourself well-liked, appreciated, and trusted but still not making the sales you think you should, then examine your product/service.”

Excellent point. Of course, as pointed out in the last article, be careful not to blame the product or service and other factors as being the cause, if they are not.

However, if they are, you now have a choice.

1. Keep doing what you’re doing, not say anything to management, not sell a whole lot, and feel badly when you do sell because you don’t believe in what you’re selling. {obviously, not the correct choice}

2. Approach management and get some changes made.

3. Find a product or service you feel so good about that you know in your heart of hearts  that, whenever you help someone own it, they will be receiving much more in value than what they are paying for it, while you and the company you represent will make a healthy profit in exchange for the great value you are providing.

Before choosing any of the above three, just make sure that your trouble really “is” the product or service. Any question about it, please refer back to the previous article.

So, have you ever experienced the above? Where a change in product really was the difference? I don’t think it happens as much as needing to change ourselves, but it certainly can happen from time to time. Agree? Disagree?

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