6 Tips for Sales and Marketing Coaches and Execs to Grow and Thrive During a Downturn

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When times are tough, our need for security takes first priority. The primal brain will see to it that we do everything we can to survive. To that end, it can be highly reassuring to be proactive—taking measures to ensure you are doing everything you can be prepared. Focusing on positive action steps will garner your brain’s attention to help you move forward, while allowing fear or anxiety to dominate siphons the brain’s energy into a defense mode where creative forward movement stops.

Fortunately, with the benefit of the latest brain science, we know there are many things you can do to fortify your creative foundation, which greatly increases the odds of keeping your business afloat and even growing during difficult times.

Thrive in a Downturn Using SalesBrain Neuromarketing Science of Persuasion

Here are 6 top tips for Sales and Marketing coaches, consultants, and execs to grow and thrive during a downturn:

RETHINK EVERYTHING AND OPEN TO NEW POSSIBILITIES. When our primal brain gets stressed, it commandeers virtually all our attention and energy, limiting our capacity for creative thinking. If we allow fear and distress to take over, our brain starts shutting down to new ideas. If we get grounded and centered, new horizons open up.

GET TRAINING TO LEARN NEW SKILLS. Learning new, proven techniques in the brain-based science of persuasion and messaging will set you light years ahead of the competition for months and years to come.

CONDUCT RESEARCH ON YOUR CUSTOMERS USING BRAIN-BASED SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUES. Use your time wisely by surveying prospects online and find out what they’re really thinking when it comes to their needs and wants versus your current offerings.

REDESIGN YOUR WEBSITE & MARKETING MATERIALS. If you aren’t already integrating proven techniques like grabbers, contrasted visuals, and provable claims in your marketing campaigns, now is the time to invest in a compelling message that can’t fail to persuade.

TAKE A BOTTOM-UP BRAIN-CENTRIC APPROACH TO PERSUADING YOUR PROSPECTS
Create sales materials and messages that convince the PRIMAL brain first. This part of the brain pays attention to messages that speak to an urgent PAIN, which can be solved by provable CLAIMS, and emphasized by compelling proofs of GAIN.

GET CERTIFIED AS A PERSUASION SCIENCE PROFESSIONAL
New discoveries about the brain and it’s application to sales and marketing has been prolific in the last two decades since the advent of the field called “neuromarketing.” Learning to understand how to persuade the primal brain , the true decision-maker, will change the way you sell forever and give you the edge over your competition. Learn more about the world’s first certificate program in the Persuasion Sciences.

In the end, taking a proactive, creative approach to impending challenges allows you to tap into a kind of confidence that relaxes the primal brain and empowers you to be identify more creative solutions to your challenges.

Engaging the science of persuasion will increase your value to your clients if you are a coach or consultant, and help you close more deals. If you are an executive in a business, investing in your sales and marketing efforts using the latest discoveries in neuroscience may bring you the critical ROI that helps your company grow and thrive and brings you greater peace of mind.

What You Need to Know About the New Science of Persuasion: The Intersection of Brain Science and Marketing

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Even though the first neuromarketing companies appeared in the early 2000s—including SalesBrain, which I co-founded with my business partner, Patrick Renvoise in 2001—the field of neuromarketing is still considered to be in its infancy. While the popularity of research methods based on brain science has accelerated over the last five or six years, too many marketing research professionals continue to resist learning and/or adopting techniques that involve measuring and interpreting neurophysiological data.

neuromarketing research, persuasion science

On the other hand, no one would argue that continuing to trust that consumers can accurately and properly describe how cognitive and emotional impact marketing stimuli affect them is ludicrous. To be clear, I don’t believe that consumers are pathological liars. Rather, I believe that too much of the way we experience an ad or navigate a website is driven by factors that affect us far below our level of consciousness.

Whether you are excited or skeptical, if you are interested in gaining a practical understanding of neuromarketing research, you will appreciate a “down to earth” description of the pros and cons of the most popular methods.  You might also appreciate learning enough about each method to know what questions to ask future vendors so you can begin to benefit from the science when it comes to your own sales, marketing, and advertising initiatives. While increasing numbers of companies are offering neuromarketing services these days, few have gathered the experience and credentials to claim world-class status.

Advertising Effectiveness

When I teach the science of persuasion, including neuromarketing—whether to graduate students in my role as a professor, or to executives and sales and marketing teams as a seasoned executive myself—the first place I typically begin is with the neuroscience of advertising effectiveness. In fact, SalesBrain was the first company to publish and train executives in the neuromarketing space. To achieve the powerful and concrete results we have witnessed with the adoption of neuromarketing techniques grounded in the science of persuasion, we unveiled and taught a unique persuasion model we call NeuroMap™.

If you had lived during the California gold rush of the 1840s you might have succeeded in making a huge fortune digging or panning for gold if you got lucky enough to find the perfect spot. However, if you had had the advantage of a map that revealed exactly where to go looking, your success would have been ensured, with far less effort than those who lacked a map.

In the field of persuasion science, Neuromap™ is a critical tool that helps you to explain and predict the effect that ads, websites and even face-to-face presentation have on our brains. The decades of research, science, and theory behind Neuromap as a persuasion model offer an undeniable edge to persuasion professionals, whether your focus is on sales, marketing, advertising, social media, branding, or professional messaging of any kind. In fact, the science behind Neuromap can even help you influence your colleagues, peers, partners—not to mention your children—so they can each see and understand the value of your proposition when you are ready to state your case.

Collecting Neurophysiological Data and the Matter of Ethics

The second critical arena in understanding and integrating the science of persuasion in marketing research is focused on key methods of collecting neurophysiological data. Choosing the right method is challenging and often confusing, so it is vital to be attuned to the pros and cons of each method. In fact, using neuroscience is currently the only way I know of—succeeding well beyond traditional marketing research—to crack the highly complex code of what goes on in consumers’ brains.

Finally, if you are going to dip your toes into the field of neuromarketing, you must absolutely consider the ethical component. In the early days of SalesBrain, the question of ethics arose virtually immediately when it came to conducting research using neuroscientific methods. In the absence of good education on the subject, it is easy to target neuromarketing researchers and assume that they often violate critical rights of research participants. In fact, when I joined the board of the newly formed Neuromarketing Science and Business Association in 2011, I volunteered to lead the authorship on the first fundamental code of ethics for the fledgling industry. Today, all members of the NMSBA pledge to respect the code and no violation has yet been reported. While the risk is real, the practice of ethical neuromarketing research is safe and can meet the highest standards of research on human subjects.

In summary, if you’re still reading this post in hopes of gaining enough confidence and understanding to make the next move for your career or for your corporation, you’ve absolutely come to the right place. The field of neuromarketing, which I helped pioneer two decades ago now, is increasingly recognized and valued as being light years ahead of traditional marketing research, which was my original focus in my MBA which I earned when I was in my twenties. Neuromarketing is to marketing what quantum physics is to physics! The more we learn about the human brain and its decision-making processes, the more we understand that there are clear tools and techniques that help us appeal to the part of the brain that decides—the primal brain.

The art of making a deal, which used to be reserved for the select few to whom it seemed to come naturally, is now a science that can be learned by anyone who makes the decision to pursue it. This is not a coincidence! Persuasion science is the 21st century version of “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” If you find yourself wondering how you might persuade more powerfully, close more prospects, increase your income, and offer more value to clients, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

SalesBrain provides not only a suite of services from neuromarketing research, to sales training, to developing creative assets that set your brand apart, we now offer a comprehensive certification as a Persuasion Pro for coaches and consultants, empowering you to use a proven model of persuasion to produce predictable results.

 

 

 

 

Biological Basis of Behavior Explained: What You Should Know about Hormones, Peptides and Amines

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Hormones are chemicals produced by our body to regulate three critical functions: maintain a state of balance (homeostasis), control our reproductive organs and mediate our responses to stress. Hormones are produced by endocrine glands located in various parts of the body, namely the brain, the stomach, the intestines and the kidneys. Hormones affect cell receptors that are either on the surface or inside the nuclei of a cell. They excite or inhibit the activity of cells; therefore they can profoundly modify both our conscious and subconscious behaviors.

Because hormones use the blood circulation system, they are rather slow to act compared to neurotransmitters for instance. However, the reach of hormones is more global. In fact, some hormones reach beyond the body itself like pheromones, which act to influence another person or animal. Pheromones are processed by our olfactory system and are known to strongly influence our sexual behavior.

Homeostatic hormones
Homeostatic hormones have a direct impact on the internal balance of our body. To function properly, we need specific levels of vital components in our bloodstream such as sugars, proteins, salts, carbohydrates and water. Insulin is an example of a homeostatic hormone. The role of insulin is to regulate glucose levels in the blood.

Gondola hormones
Gondola hormones are responsible for giving us our sexual appearance as well as mediating many of our sexual behaviors. Testosterone is known as the male hormone because it is responsible for masculinizing the brain.

Stress Hormones
Stress hormones help us respond to situations that deserve immediate attention such as threats or states of intense arousal. The hormone controlling the fast stress response is norepinephrine which is triggered by a neural signal from the hypothalamus. Norepinephrine activates cells to provide more energy to the entire body. The slow response to stress is mediated by another hormone called cortisol. Slower to produce its effects, cortisol does impact many organs and cellular structures to help the body respond to stress.

How do Peptides, Amine and Steroid Hormones Differ?
Peptides, amine and steroid hormones differ primarily in their cell structures, by the way they are either reused or discarded biologically, and by the nature of the biochemical impact they have on our physiology. Finally, they differ by the speed at which they produce results. We discuss those differences next.
A peptide hormone is made by cellular DNA in the same way a protein is made. It influences cellular activity by binding to receptors on the cell membrane which then generates a second reaction. Once peptides are released, they are destroyed by enzymes and there is no reuptake or recycling. One of the best known families of neuropeptides is endogenous uploads. These peptides have powerful effects on our nervous system by acting on our pleasure and pain sensations. They tend to act rather slowly. Also because they are considered large molecule structures, synthesized peptides are not taken orally.
Amines constitute a group of neurotransmitters that are synthesized in the same way and produced in the reptilian part of our brain: the brain stem. Amines are small molecule structures that play a huge role in our nervous system. Unlike peptides, they act quickly in the synaptic cleft. They also can be replaced or recycled. Amines are made of components we get from our diet so when synthesized as drugs, they can be ingested to reach the brain. Dopamine, noradrenalin, epinephrine and serotonin are four of most critical amines we depend on to regulate attention, learning, mood, aggression, pain, appetite and many more vital aspects of our biological responses to stimuli.

A steroid hormone is a small fat-soluble molecule which directly affects the protein because it pa**** easily through cell membranes to reach the nucleus. It is synthesized from ch***sterol. Indeed, ch***sterol provides substance to many cells in our body. Some of the main steroids produced by our body are estrogen, cortisol, progesterone and testosterone.

Steroid hormones diffuse away from the glands in which they are produced such as the adrenal cortex in the brain, the gonads and the thyroid

.
How is Secretion Rate Monitored and Controlled?
The control and release of hormones is organized among the brain, the pituitary and the endocrine glands. Within the brain, it is mainly the hypothalamus that triggers activation of the pituitary gland which then secretes hormones that flood our entire body. Since most neurons have receptors on which hormones can act, the effect of hormones is widespread and profound. Testosterone for instance, can affect a cell at the genetic level because it reaches the nucleus where genes can be turned on and off. Because hormones travel through the circulatory system, they can reach any part of the body. Hormones are somewhat self-regulated because they also provide feedback back to the brain in order to alert our nervous system for the need to increase or reduce their levels.

From Neurons to Hormones: Understanding the Biological Triggers of our Actions

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The neural communication systems is built on billions of interconnected cells called neurons which communicate by exchanging chemicals, most of which are triggered through electrical stimulation produced by specific stimuli. The endocrine system provides another communication system which is carried by hormones synthesized by glands distributed in different places throughout the human body, one of which is actually in the brain: the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland secretes many hormones, especially some that actually control the production of other hormones. Both systems constitute the major ways by which our body is regulated. Both are interconnected and do interface in complex ways.

Both systems create a sophisticated web of responses that affect our behaviors and the body’s homeostasis. The neural system directly controls the production of many hormones. Likewise, some hormones act as neuromodulators which affect the nature of synaptic connections between neurons. There are, however, important functions that make both communication systems distinct and explain why one system may offer advantages or disadvantages over the other. We will discuss here four factors: structural design, speed, the length of impact and distance of action.

Structural Design
The nervous system is wired whereas the endocrine system is not structurally linked. In other words, neurons are connected through a logical grid; glands are not. This makes the neural network speedy and efficient. However, nerve cells must have a close anatomic connection with each other to communicate. Hormones can travel to any other part of the body. Though they are not as limited in that respect, they must find the right target receptors in order to produce any effect.

Speed
The neural system is considered fast and the hormonal is fairly slow in comparison. Reactions at a neural level happen in milliseconds. By contrast, the way hormones are secreted and travel through the bloodstream make them slow-acting once they bind with the appropriate receptors.

Length of Impact
The impact of a neural connection tends to be short and requires repetition to produce long-lasting effects. On the other hand, hormones can generate responses that affect the body even after the binding to the receptors has ceased. Specifically hormones that affect the production of proteins have longer effect than those that are just activating enzymes.

Distance of action
Though axons can be quite long in order to cover the distance between the brain and some of the most distant points of the spinal cord, the nature of neural transmission is that it is more local than global by design. By using the bloodstream as a channel through which it reaches target sites, hormones have more outreach than neurons in the way they communicate and impact the body.

As different as both systems may be on the issue of structural design, speed, length of impact, and distance of action, both systems support the way our body maintains a state of homeostasis when facing stress, external stimuli, and many other of life’s attempts to disrupt our state of balance.

Fast Company Features Patrick Renvoise

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Fastcompany features Patrick Renvoise in seminal article discussing the use of neuromarketing by major political candidates. For more, click here.

There are a multitude of reasons the Republicans regained control of Congress in Tuesday’s elections–unemployment, voter discontent, tea party-ism. But the one influential factor you aren’t likely to hear about is the use of political neuromarketing during the campaign…. read more.