Research shows that 80% of all interaction in the workplace is done with you communicating with some sort of technology.  Voice mail, email, etc.  So how do you “get through?”

I arrived to 36 degrees below zero temperatures.

When it I got up the next morning and started the car, the transmission was frozen.  I had to let the car sit in idle for 15 minutes before it worked.

Canada in March.  The coldest cold in my life.   I was there for a series of presentations over three days in various Alberta and Saskatchewan cities.

And then there was the shopping mall with it’s own indoor submarine.

The West Edmonton Mall, is the largest mall in North America.  Baby it was cold outside, but inside the shopping, amusement park, ice skating rink, massive wave pool and waterslide park were all complimented by the small lake that had it’s own submarine for the kids, a replica of the Santa Maria, and a seal show that would make Sea World proud.

If you are shopping mall . . .  how do you compete in indoor wave pools and submarines?  How do you make your email and voicemail get past the delete button response that is becoming the instinct?

Consider “pain” and “fix”.  You bang your head (pain) and you immediately rub it (fix).  Your customers have this knee jerk reaction in their world.

You need to understand the power of cook stoves and carrots?

Cook stoves are those items that burn you, that are hot to the touch.  They are the pain and problems.

Carrots are those rewards that entice, encourage and entertain.

The messages that get through are those that remind the customer of their cook stove issues (pain) and your “carrot” solution.  You set the customers attention with your voice mail and emails with cookstove/carrot statements.

• Your smoking habit that causes death can be fixed with our stop the habit gum.
• Your unreliable car can be fixed with our high quality, sporty and economical wonder.
• Your hectic world can be made manageable with our smart phone.
• Your frozen transmission can warm up with our remote start feature on your car.

The cookstove/carrot statements remind the customer of their needs, wants and pain.  Then your carrot, reminds them that you have a solution for their dilemmas.

So come in out of the cold with the warmth of cook stoves and  . . .