What makes something cool?

It has something to do with being in the exact right spot between familiar and surprising. There is a fine line between trendy and looking ridiculous, and believe me I have crossed it.

This one guy, Raymond Loewy had it figured out. You might not know his name but you know his work. He designed a lot of very familiar things that you know such as the Coca Cola bottle, Lucky Strike Cigarettes, a cool car or two, Air Force One and he was even brought in to consult on Skylab.

Raymond Loewy had a simple formula to help him hit the sweet spot, and this formula can help you sell anything. MAYA. (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable)

Loewy had two rules which were that if you want to sell something surprising, make it familiar. Conversely, if you want to sell something familiar, you better make it surprising.

Makes sense? This got me thinking about the Serious Shift, and whether or not I’m making it familiar enough. How about you? Are you surprising enough? Too familiar?

The problem with bad habits is that they die really hard. Habits hang on, which is why it is such a benefit to develop some good ones.

A few months ago, I had a successful business and then it all ended. Suddenly, while I was standing in my kitchen 12 hrs before a flight to keynote a conference and speak to 400 people in Miami, I got an email and since that moment everything changed.

What I realized the other day is that I have the habits of a sports dynasty. I need to let those habits and that identity go and develop the habits of a team that nobody thinks deserves to make the playoffs.

I need to develop the mindset of a team that believes that they are capable of an upset and even more importantly, that an upset is necessary.

This requires new thinking, and new habits.

The King is dead.

Long live the New King.

There’s a difference. When you are buying something, you are meeting a need. You are buying something, and you probably already know what that something is.

But shopping is different. Shopping is about discovering you might have a need, and being interested enough to explore it. Successful shopping is about discovery.

What are you helping your clients discover?

When we buy stuff – like a trip to the drugstore to restock your medicine cabinet, we value time saved, we hope for a quick moving line so we get out of the store as quickly as possible, but when we shop it’s about time well spent, not time well saved.

When you focus on the shopping experience you are forced to consider the customer, and the goal shifts from getting them what they need, to helping them discover what they might want. And you do all of this not as quickly as possible, but in a way that is as satisfying as possible for your client.

So, what are you helping them discover?

Take care,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Most humans share the same social anxieties about showing up and in a place where you are the stranger, where you are unknown.

From an evolutionary perspective, strangers and strange places represent danger.

The opposite is also true. Strangers are also an opportunity, to learn, to connect and to make new connections, to create community that benefits everyone.

My experience tells me that what you find is what you seek. If you expect to find rejection and disinterest you’ll find it. Conversely, all I ever find are people who need me as much as I need them. That’s who I’m looking for.

The good news is it’s never been easier to get a conversation going, to convene a meeting and host an event and make a connection.

We’re waiting for you.

Thank you,Blog 124 Are You Finding What You’re Looking For?

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Not what you do, or what it does but the idea itself.

Do you love your idea so much that your excitement and complete enthusiasm is infectious? What is it about not what you do, but how you do it that you know people are going to go crazy for?

Before everyone loves it, you have to love it and everyone else has to know it.

Love is all in.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

When you’re in a rush, an uber driver with local knowledge and a convenient short cut is worth the extra tip.

When you’re in a rush, a quick-thinking waiter who can seat you and serve you and quickly get you back out the door is worth the extra tip.

Seems to me that saving time is worth some money.

But are we missing something important?

When you’re worried about someone you love in a hospital, the extra few minutes are worth a lot.

When you are working with your teacher, who is helping you understand something important, the extra attention is worth a lot.

When you’re a father, and your daughter lets you hold her for a few extra minutes, it changes your morning.

Maybe you’re paying too much attention to saving people time, and not enough attention to being worth the time.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Does it feel like you’re on a Game Show?

My kids like watching a reality tv show about making desserts. Like all game shows this one follows a predictable pattern with all the bakers facing off on a series of competitions where they not only compete against each other, but they also compete against the clock.

And like all game shows, there can be only one winner.

This got me thinking … We are not living in a game show. We hyper celebrate the people who get it right while we ignore the people who admit mistakes and try again.

When we find ourselves in trouble, rarely is it because of one big event such as CV19. Instead, we are in trouble because of the compounding nature of decsions. Make enough good ones, you’re golden but if you make enough bad ones … trouble.

When given the choice – keep going or admit you’re wrong, each of us would pick “admit I’m wrong.”

The good news is that admitting you’re wrong isn’t that hard.

The bad news is that telling everyone is.

Getting it right takes courage.

You’re got this.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

When your clients leave your office, where do you want them to go?

This was the question I asked an advisor the other day who is struggling with his “why.”

They should be so motivated to do what? Go home? Go to lunch? Go take a nap? Go back to work? Go wait for you to call in 90 days? Go watch the business news and market commentary? What I’m really asking is … What do you inspire them to do? Who do you inspire them to become?

When you know where they should want to go, you’ll know what business you’re really in.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Do you need an office or a stage?

Most of us have settled into a new work routine from home. The early jitters have mostly settled themselves down and based on my very unscientific research which is almost entirely based on personal conversations with friends and clients, we seem to like it this way – working from home that is.

We like it, our staff likes it and our clients like it too.

We have all discovered the benefits of avoiding a commute, feeling fresher and having a little more control of our 9-5 existence. As it happens, it is good for us to go for a walk, or tour the garden between our tasks and if we can do so in our favourite baggy pants vs a suit, then even better.

Of course, now we’re wondering if we need an office at all? Why not just keep it this way and save the expense and hassle?

Respectfully this is the wrong question to ask. The question isn’t “Do I need an office?” The question is “Do I need a stage?”

And how you answer that depends on what kind of work you think you do. If you sell stuff such as products and services then probably you don’t need an office becaue if all you are going to do is sell stuff then the value you can bring your client is convenience. Save them some time.

But if you are in the business of changing your lives and guiding transformations then you need a stage, not an office.

What happens on stages? Events. Events that inspire, captivate and engage us. Stage experiences that your clients can’t miss. Make sure your meetings are events that people look forward to and talk about.

Business done in an office. Transformation happens at the Theatre.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams

Problems. Lean into them, away from them or run away?

There are three ways to solve a problem, and two of them work.

The best way to solve a problem – especially a scary complicated one – is to lean into it. Don’t fear it. Sit with it. Feel how scary it is. Don’t get frustrated when the solution doesn’t present itself or when your solution falls apart.

It’s not a problem, it’s a puzzle. Learn to love the puzzle and the process of solving it. Start with the boarders …

Leaning away from it never works. There are a lot of people waiting for Covid19 to blow through and magically fix itself. It won’t, and your business won’t fix itself either. Leaning away is hoping the monster will get bored and haunt someone else.

Last, you can quit. Decide the problem can’t be fixed and move on before it crushes you. Believe it or not, this isn’t a bad option.

The second option, leaning away from it will make it worse. We both know that.

Thank you,

Dennis Moseley-Williams