People Do Not Compute

My morning ritual is wake up at 5:45, pick up crying toddler from cot - move to the living room, and wake myself up with the dulcet tones of ‘Mr Tumble’s Nursery Rhymes’

But the more relevant part is that I get in 3k steps whilst reading 5 articles or things, before writing this story then starting the working day.

A quote from a Rishard Tobaccowala article today really hit me,

‘People do not compute.’

We choose with our hearts, and then use numbers to justify what we’ve done.

Anyone who listens to any Rory Sutherland will know just how much we post-rationalise decisions that were made mostly on emotion.

If buying were a calculation, like we assume / pretend to ourselves - brands wouldn’t exist.

You wouldn’t buy a luxury thing that works the same as a cheap one. People wouldn’t pay to be in a room to experience something they could watch for free on TV, with a drink that didn’t cost nine quid.

I wouldn’t have lost my head on the drive back from nursery, navigating a very built up area whilst dodging selfish pricks driving Range Rovers they don’t need.

(I don’t care if you like them / have one, we’re a step away from people doing the school run in fking combine harvesters, it’s ludicrous.)

None of this makes sense in an excel sheet, but it all sells.

Premium isn’t the exception to how we buy, it’s often proof.

When we think about how coaches market - they disregard this almost entirely.

We market like the decision is computational - credentials, qualifications, evidence-based, before-and-afters, macro calculators, study references in captions.

All targeting a brain that doesn’t make decisions like this.

‘ermm actually Charlie my clients told me they chose me because I’m qualified, so…’

No I know they did, I’m just here to tell you they lied.

Well, lied is strong - they think they did. But they didn’t.

It’s the explanation their rational brain wrote afterwards, once the emotional one had already signed off on them buying. The qualification helped them justify a decision already made.

Which means asking a client why they bought from you? Gets you an alibi

So what actually made the decision?

Provenance. Design. The story.

Whether you sounded like you’d been where they are.

Whether they felt slightly seen or slightly told off.

Whether being coached by you felt like an upgrade to who they are.

The strongest feeling people want to feel?

Relief

Relief that they can put something down - that they’re not thinking about food all the time, or what to wear all the time, or going to events wondering who would have the camera out and what sort of photos they might take.

If your marketing is a wall of evidence? You could well be making them think more about food, when they maybe want to think less.

The amusing part is we make decisions like this in our business, too - we didn’t pick our niche on data, it was on feeling. We chose what feels right, safe or what someone else we look up to did.

Then rationalise after, in the same way.

We’re not rational people selling emotions

We’re emotional people post rationalising, selling to emotional people who are post rationalising

Funny old work, ey?