“Messages that fail to fascinate will become irrelevant. It’s that simple.”
Sally Hogshead
Fascination is one of the most powerful ways to attract business.
Fascination is more persuasive than conventional advertising, marketing and communication strategies. I invite you to discover how you may fascinate and create more business.
Does your business fascinate? In this highly competitive world with many entrepreneurs and businesses trying to vie for business, if you and your business are not fascinating, you may be failing. Sally Hogshead has done extensive studies and research into the area of fascination and has uncovered 7 triggers of fascination that can take your business from struggling to thriving.
The seven factors are:
- Passion
- Mystique
- Alarm
- Prestige
- Power
- Rebellion
- Trust
Today I shall share a brief description of each of these factors, a story on how they work and then how you may start to use them for yourself.
First is Passion. Passion incorporates the deep desire and craving using our five senses. For example, it is experiencing the silky smooth sweetness of velvety warm liquid chocolate as it soothes the soul - as delivered in 152 Godiva stores as Chocolixir.
Second is Mystique. Mystique elicits a curiosity that may never be fully answered and has a depth of mythology, stories and riches that has limited access like the secret ingredient of Coca-Cola that has remained a secret since 1886.
Third is Alarm. Alarm taps into our physiological programming to focus and act now. It is the call to help children in third world countries.
Fourth is Prestige. By revealing the values and beliefs, prestige then ranks worthiness. Whether owning a Lexus or an introduction prior to you giving a speech, prestige can position you amongst the elite.
Fifth is Power. Power controls behaviour and the environment. iTunes, FaceBook and the self-help institution of Landmark have all influenced and controlled over a million people all over the world.
Sixth is Rebellion. Rebellion brings in the guilty pleasures that we want to do, shouldn’t do and still might do. Whether a pepperoni pizza when our blood pressure is high or the “just say no” campaign on drugs actually triggering drug use.
Seventh is Trust. Trust gives consistency, familiarity and comfort. It is the Starbucks on every corner.
Now to share a story of how the ingredients of fascination work naturally.
A couple years ago at a youth leadership camp I was presenting at, I noticed a 15 year old young man, Kevin, trying to teach someone salsa. My eyes lit up as I said, “Please save me a dance later - I love to find a worthwhile dance partner!” Well, to my shock, he cast away his current partner (in the nicest way possible) and we took to the practice of coming up with a dance routine in the vast amount of time of 5 minutes. Within half an hour, we were at the front of the room. Over 120 eyes stared at us in the silence prior to the music. First came in Rebellion: Kevin looked around the room at 120 people, over 3/4 of them female and said: “I have been searching for someone to dance with for over two days and none of you girls knows salsa… Then Alarm: Kevin shared with the group that we had only had 5 minutes of time together to practice. Then came Mystique: what were we going to do, and then came the most potent aspect of all… Passion. The music started playing and the passion of the salsa dance began… We knew the attraction worked when a girl from the audience yelled out - "I will learn salsa for you Kevin!"… From that demonstration, the interest in taking salsa lessons had increased and Kevin shared his instructors and their business with the participants of this camp. As well as having a line up of females vying to dance with him.
While the 7 triggers of fascination may happen naturally, how can you leverage them?
First - which of the seven aspects of fascination apply to you and/or your business? Take a few moments to reflect on them: passion, mystique, alarm, prestige, power, rebellion, trust…
Once there is an awareness of these aspects of fascination, they may be used to draw attention and energy into attracting the appropriate business in communication materials, social media, conversations, marketing and more.
Some examples of the areas of fascination based on your business that you may focus on include: in customer service, you may want to focus on and communicate trust and prestige in contrast with internet security products where you may highlight alarm, power and trust or, if you are a speaker and facilitator, exuding passion, prestige and power.
In conclusion, by highlighting these 7 triggers you will attract more business and have more influence in your respective areas.
And the power behind it all: Fascination.
If you would like to explore this topic in more detail, visit www.howtofascinate.com.
If you would like to explore more of Cheryl-Dean's programs, reflections and creative spirit, you are invited to her personal website cheryldeanthompson.com and some of her other websites: artisticgrowth.com (work site with online programs and offerings) and sacredhumanity.org (poetry and upcoming book).
