Here’s a test:
A baseball bat and ball cost $1.10 together. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
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Most people instinctively say ten cents. And most people are wrong. If the ball was ten cents and the bat $1 more at $1.10, then we’d end up with a total of $1.20. The correct answer is five cents.
The first filter any message has to pass through is the emotional lizard brain. Most people don’t question something if it feels right. The mind is involved in so many thoughts and decisions each day that it would be hard to keep up, especially when the brain is lazy. People feel the answer, then the logical brain may choose to analyze further.
When you want to jump out a window because of political rants on Facebook, the inability of a potential customer to see the benefit of what you’re selling, or yawns your presentation receives, it could be that you’re being completely rational. Which is great, except people aren’t rational. You have to reach them on an emotional level. Then come the facts on logic to reinforce the decision they’ve already made.
Jason Hull says
People tend to buy because they have an emotional connection to whatever it is that they’re buying (fun, safety, loss prevention, etc.), and then once they’re bought over emotionally, they’ll use the logical, rational part of the argument to provide the “supporting evidence” they need to back up the emotional part. Nancy Duarte talks a lot about this process in her books.