I bet that not even a single Porsche has ever been sold because of the car’s specs.
I mean, of course there are 100 good reasons for why a Porsche is a great car, especially one that’s better than a Nissan or a Mitsubishi.
The only problem is that there are just as many good reasons that prove the opposite.
The good reasons miss the point of buying a Porsche. This ad gets the point.
People who buy a Porsche don’t buy it for the good reasons. They have very personal reasons for doing so. One is that they are now in a position to make their youth dream come true. They can – finally – afford one.
But this isn’t a post about luxury cars. It’s a general principle in communication that JP Morgan captured brilliantly:
“Every man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.”
The more a business is trying to prove their idea with good reasons, the more obvious it is that they have no clue about who their customers really are.
And that’s the problem with persuasion.
Persuasion means finding (more and more) good reasons for why I should buy your idea. While the decision hinges on the real reason why I would buy.
Which is why persuasion feels so exhausting on both sides:
You’re trying to influence a different decision than the one I’m trying to make.
The crucial flip is this.
Don’t ask: “How do we explain our product better?”
Ask: “What decision was our customer already trying to make?”
That’s resonance.
And it’s an entirely different conversation.
Keep lighting the path,
Michael
