Using Emotion and Desire in Your Business

Business brain, episode 614 for Wednesday, January 15th, National Bagel Day 2025. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain, the show where we take some ideas, your ideas, our ideas. We crunch them, we use them, we dissect them. They are there to help us analyze and tune our business brains each and every time we get together. Our sponsor for this week is shopify@shopify.com businessbrain. That's where you can go to sign up for your $1 per month free trial. Well, $1 per month trial, it's not free. It's a $1 per month trial. And we'll talk more about that in a little bit. For now, back here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton and still out.

Here in Lafayette, California, I'm Shannon Jean. Good to have you back, Dave.

It's good to be back. Yeah.

I watched some of your, watched some of your product reviews and stuff up on, on X. I thought they were terrific and there was a lot of stuff that I like. Tell, tell us about. How was the show?

It was great. You know, ces, it's. When we go out there, my primary, the primary show that I go there for, content wise, is Mac Geek Up. Right. Because it's all the tech stuff and everything, which is great. And it is our job to sift through the noise and find the gems and tell our audience about them. Right. Because if we told everybody about everything we saw at ces, it like.

Yeah, it's just too much. Right.

You could, I don't think even if all you wanted to do was walk the show floor, I don't think the, the show floors are open long enough for you to do that. Oh, so you have. Because they're in six different places and they're all over the place.

Everybody should, if you get a chance to go to the Consumer Electronics show once, doesn't matter what your field is, you should go because it's, it's mind blowing. It is and, and exhausting. But I love that, that kind of stuff. I, I tell you, I have my favorite product that you talked about.

Okay.

Which, which was that backpack that, that targets that really nice little, that thing. I mean, I love it. It's, it's, it just crazy overbuilt and all the features and it's, I think that thing was great. I loved your breakdown on that.

Thanks.

Pricey. I mean, it was.

Until you see the one from another company that's coming.

Oh, yeah.

It's embargoed, so I can't talk about it yet. But. But, like, yes. Two to 300 computer backpacks are the norm now if you want something that's going to last and do all the things that you wanted to do. So it's nice.

Yeah, I love backpacks.

It. It. Our job for CES starts about a month and a half before we leave for the show.

Okay.

Filtering through all of the press releases and announcements and. And everything and. And, you know, reaching out to people we know and finding what we're going to do and coming up with a plan of attack. Now, I always say if I don't have my schedule for CES built by December 15th, I am doomed. How. And that's true because, you know, by that point, people start to disappear for the holidays and all those things.

Sure.

But I also know that once I get on the ground, my schedule is there unless inspiration otherwise strikes. Right. Because there are things I don't know about until I get there.

And it's like, makes sense.

Well, this is better than that. So I'm gonna have to. You know, you make it. I think I said to somebody during the week, I'm like, this week is a series of Sophie's Choices. Right. You know, you're never. You're never gonna be able to do everything you want to do. You're not gonna see everything you want to see, and the one thing you really wanted to see is probably not gonna happen, but the thing that you didn't even know was coming. It's gonna surprise you, and it's gonna be great. And I guess in part because I've done it so many times and keep refining our technique. And when I say refining our technique, I mean making mistakes and then trying not to make again the next year. Right. Yeah, exactly. It was really smooth this time. Like, there was. There were no points where I felt like I had overbooked or under booked myself. Travel between locations was smooth, but I also plan not to do a lot of that in the same day. You know, I'll say, okay, this one.

Go to one spot.

Yeah, exactly. This day is going to be in this general spot where I can just walk from thing to thing. And then this other day is going to be over here, and I can just relocate myself for the day. And so. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah.

Did you have a favorite product that really stuck out?

I did. You know, I'm a Mac guy, and I was at the Viewsonic booth at one of the events. I don't know if they had a booth on the show floor or not, but there's all kinds of different media events. So I was at one of their booths and one of the nights, and I'm talking to this woman that I know. She handles PR for them. I've known her for a decade and a half, and she's, you know, showing me the things. She's like, well, we have this that you already know about, and this that you already know about. And this that you already know about. I'm like, yeah, okay, so nothing new. Okay. Right? She's like, no, not really. And there's another guy there who's like standing behind the table, antsy and like, dancing around and Talk to me.

Talk to me.

Yeah. He's like. And he's trying to get her attention without, like, making it obvious that he's trying to tell her maybe. And finally he's like, just both fingers pointing at this one monitor. ViewSonic, for $800 now has a 27 inch 5K Thunderbolt monitor.

Oh, wow.

From Apple, that's 1500 bucks.

Yeah, yeah. From without a stand.

Without a stand. Correct. From LG, that's 1200 bucks. Or if you can find it used on Amazon, it's a thousand. And this is from Viewsonic. They make great quality stuff.

Yeah, Forever.

It's got a. It's got a USB hub in it. It's got Thunderbolt daisy chaining. And I realize that to those of you who aren't Mac people, you might not even know what we're talking about. But that's okay because it, like, this is a huge deal for Mac folks. And I said to her, I was like, what? Way to bury the lead here. Like, why didn't you tell me? She's like, I forget. You know, I'm like, okay, like, it's fine. Like we're all humans. Like it's. And I obviously found out about it, but for me, that was the, the shock of the show. I did not expect to see anyone making that. So it was.

That's cool. Yeah, yeah. Nice. That's great. I love it. Yeah, Yeah. I like I said, if you get a chance to go to that show, you know, you got to plan in advance. We have an episode, a couple of episodes, where we've talked about ways to get the most out of trade shows. If you just wander around without any planning, you'll just burn yourself out and you. You'll waste a lot of time. But if you put a little effort into it, who you're going to go see, try to, especially if you're in some related business, make appointments, try to connect with people. It could Be. It's a. Could be a great event.

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Yeah. And, you know, I. I really neglected this concept for years and years, and it wasn't until I started selling luxury goods that it hit me that there's so much of this industry that we could co opt and take into other. Other businesses and try to use them. So I thought it would be worth. I don't have all the answers, but I want to put the opportunity out there in. If you're listening in your head about how could you take your business or whatever it is you're selling, whether it's a product, a service, and kind of bring this emotion and desire, let's say to your customers, along the lines, it doesn't matter if it's like a $5,000 handbag or a $500 tool, there's something that. That desires. Like I said to Dave, I know there's a lot of stuff I saw there was a funky little pen that tracked you as you wrote at ces. And I was like, oh, I really want that. I've no. I know it'll be in a drawer maybe in six months, but I really want it. And so I'd love to take a few minutes and just talk about what the key points of this emotion and desire and how to try to bring it into your business.

Sure. Yeah.

And the first part is thinking about things that add status and prestige. When I was selling handbags, I really didn't understand the importance of someone carrying this bag and how much more confident it made them feel. And in many ways made them feel important. And they had a different kind of status and it was prestigious. Even if I was selling a used handbag that had blemishes or something, no one else knew that this person didn't own that product from brand new. Right.

It's true. When you buy something, it is used on the second day. So it like the status and prestige that goes along with something. Even if you're like you, you know, like you were reselling these things on the used market, it still carries that. And that I can see that applying to other businesses, especially if you, as the business owner or the marketing person at your business, can find a way to apply to imply status and prestige with your brand so that people automatically have that association. And therefore people who use your brand are affiliated with your status.

That's right. That's. That's exactly right. And it. And you know, I've always made money. I mean, I was in the technology business, but it was always trailing technology. Sure. If you're selling reefers and then all this kind of stuff, because it was. They got the same, you know, power out of it, if you will, and the same feeling and the same utility, but they were saving money. But even I can remember when the first, like the iPhone 4 came out and you couldn't get the white ones. And, you know, we got white case parts and put together white iPhone4s and they sold for 25% more than a black one. Because everybody. And I wanted white. Yeah, because you wanted white.

Well, white was seen as being wanted.

Yes, because you couldn't get. It's that exclusivity and rarity. And I noticed this one day I was walking around the tech museum in San Jose, took my kids down there, and I had an iPhone4 with a white case back on it. And I had two or three people come up to me and it was just in my back pocket sticking out, or maybe it was in a holster at that time. I was really stylish. In a holster.

Shannon. And every contractor on the planet.

Yes, yes. So I had this thing on the side, you could see the white. And I had two or three people come up and say, hey, where did you get that white iPhone? And I was like, oh, I don't have any cards or anything, but just go to, you know, I gave them our website and, like, you can buy that. That back case. We sell them for, like, 50 bucks. You could put it on your own phone. So it was finding a way to bring that exclusivity and rarity at a lower price point or just even that.

You could get it right.

It would be great. And we could. We were making these ourselves. So they didn't have the Apple logo on them because, you know, we can't reproduce their log.

People don't see that from afar, and most people are willing to overlook that. Yeah, that's right.

I think we sold thousands of those white. White cases. So it's great. And I think also, you know, this stuff is all like, it's aspirational. Right. I want this thing. I want this new truck. I want this amazing. I'm sure if you walk onto a job site, there's all kinds of aspirational thing that contractors have.

Right.

Certain kinds of tools or a tool bag or a vest or what?

Every industry. Every industry and every socioeconomic group has them. Yes. Yeah. Yep.

Yep. And that. A lot of that also, too, brings this kind of validation, social validation. I am. I wear the same boots that these guys wear.

I. I'm in the. I'm in. Yeah.

I'm in the club. So what if you're selling products into, you know, certain channels, which I'm sure you are. Services. How do you identify. What is it that are, you know, these aspirational things that have. Have everybody that validates, you know, when you use them? Because if you show up and you look different, I mean, that's okay. But everybody wants to be part of the team.

Yeah.

You know, and figure that stuff out. So another one was when I started selling stuff, I had no idea that that exclusivity would. Over time, being in the tech space, everything lost value every day. Right. Prices constantly going down, going, oh, then.

You started selling and the prices were going up. Yes.

And the same with handbags. I didn't understand it until some people came out. They're like, well, why are you selling it for that price? I was like, well, I don't know. And then somebody said, you can't get that. That bag for two years if you order it brand new. And I was like, oh, I need to raise my price. And so then I learned to target things that you could not get. And so, you know, I always ask business owners, well, what. What do you sell that's hard to get? What Is it that you can hold back? It's, it's, it's kind of like Costco does. They sell rare items even though their whole business is a warehouse full of the same commodity items that we buy by the truckload, by the pallet size. There's always something like, oh, we happen to have these autographed basketballs from the LA Laker Dream Team. And you're like, wait, wait, I don't get it. Or they had a, they, they sell guitars signed by every member of the Rolling Stones, you know, for like $9,000. Well, what can you have that's up on a pedestal that people are just blown away from that attracts them in to buy your everyday stuff?

Oh, interesting. Yeah.

Right. Because that's what they're doing. They're getting.

Yeah.

They get PR out of it. Yes, they, they do stuff.

Oh, I don't know. I see. Okay, so just not even intent. Certainly if somebody wants to buy it, happily you'll sell it to them. But the point is, is to use it as the, the shiny thing that brings people the hook. The hook?

Yes, it's the hook. It's like we did an episode called the Whistle, the Workhorse and the Whale.

Yeah.

And you know, the whistle is the product that's a great deal that attracts everybody. The workhorse is the stuff you sell, you make your money on. It's everyday in and out. And the whale is like, oh man, Costco sells this, you know, $50,000 diamond ring. Or Costco sells gold bars. What the heck.

Right, right.

So, so those things. And we'll put that.

Yeah, I'll put a link in the show notes for sure.

In the show notes up at Businessbrain Dot show and you go, listen to that. I think that episode is really, you know, I love doing that. So the concept is to think about how can you stand out, how can you attract people, how do you take advantage of things that are rare and exclusive? Yeah. And, and maybe sell things that add prestige and you know, you go over the top. Maybe it's a, I don't know, you know, some, some product with a lifetime warranty. I, I hunt all the time and there's all these high end waiters that are double and triple the price. But they, they tell you, hey, this will be the last pair of waiters you'll ever buy.

Right.

We'll take care of it. So think about that. How can you adapt that doesn't matter if you're a product reseller, landscape contractor, H vac guy, and come tell us how you think you could adapt these practices to your. Let's call it. They're boring businesses. I own them too. So I'm not, I'm not saying they're in a bad way. It's just everyday businesses.

Right. The best kind of businesses are boring. There's nothing exciting happening. You're not, you're not having to put out fires too often.

And.

Yes. Right. You know.

Yeah.

Making money. Yeah.

Tell us how you do use these tactics. Feedback@businessbrain.show. we'd love to hear from you. It would be great.

Like he said, feedback at businessbrain Show. Folks, make sure to stay subscribed if you are subscribed. If you're not subscribed, subscribe to the show and come review us. BusinessBrain show slash, review. And we'll see you on Friday.

See ya.