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When real estate legend Barbara Corcoran advertised for new staff in the competitive New York market, she wrote three simple words.

“One empty desk”.

Not only did this differentiate hers from the pages of ads seeking “sales person”, it hit a major psychological button.

Scarcity.

 In a world of content abundance and scant attention, how can you make what you do, who you are, scarce?

Learn more about how to influence action using behavioural techniques.

You know what I’m sick and tired of being told to do? Challenge the status quo!

It’s seen as a power move. Leaders do it. Heroes do it.

Enshrined in vision statements and implored from the keynote stage, challenging the status quo is what we need to do to succeed, right?

Easy to say, hard to do.

Pointing to what needs to change or setting a vision for what a changed state looks like is the easy part – it’s hypothetical.

Actually embedding change is a behavioural...

A software firm increased email open rates by 20% and sales leads by 31% and a financial services training company increased engagement by 10%. 

How?

If you were one of 400 senior marketers at Intuit Mailchimp’s From Here:To There conference, you already know the answer.

In one case it had to do with adding CEO to the sender’s address and in another, a first name to the subject line.

If you are curious about what else I covered, marketing news site B&T have just...

Let’s say you are advertising a new product, like a razor.

Should you describe it as being “laser-sharp” or “high quality”?

Laser sharp uses concrete, precise language whereas high quality is more abstract.

New research has revealed which type to use, when.

This matters because ads cost money, lots of money, so you want to make sure what you say has the biggest positive impact possible.

So, what did the researchers find?

In one of their experiments...

What did I learn from the world's leading expert in psychological safety?

In my Book Bites series I share my top 3 takeaways from a book I've read.

This time it's the Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail can Teach Us to Thrive by Amy Edmondson.

Amy was the researcher who discovered psychological safety, and has dedicated her life to revealing its impact on business performance.

If you are interested in growing your business and developing a workplace culture that excels, this is a...

What’s the best thing about this ad? 

Yes, they’ve included a good, clear value proposition “Let us do the house work”.

They’ve included price, which is a little unusual but clever if more people think it will be more expensive than $82.

They’ve limited their substantiation points to three – this is good too. More than that and people think you’re trying too hard.

And they’ve promised it takes 60 seconds to book online,...

Research confirms what you may already know to be true.

People are more likely to spend refunded money.

Let’s say you return a $100 jacket. According to Yu, Cryder and LeBoeuf (2024)  you are more likely to spend that $100 refund on a discretionary purchase than if you’d received the same amount as either income, an unexpected windfall or even a tax refund.

That’s because the money has already been designated as ‘spent’.

It feels like free money...

In my experience, changing personal behaviour looks like this:

1. “I should” - recognising the need for change
2. “I will” - resolving to change
3. “I am” - doing something different or differently
4. “I did” - moving from the original intent

Each stage has its challenges.

1. I should

I should exercise more. I should eat differently. I should call my loved ones more. I should work less.

Shoulds can feel exceptionally draining because this type of...

You cannot NOT influence. 

I talk a lot about influencing skills and how to get customers and colleagues to take action, but here’s the funny thing.

You cannot NOT influence. You're already doing it.

In every interaction – every email, text, phone call, meeting or presentation, you are stimulating a reaction.

You are influencing your audience in some way.

So the question isn’t whether you are influencing, it’s whether you are influencing the desired...

Early in my consulting career a prospective client gave me some feedback that would change my life.

You see, they’d seen me give a talk on behavioural economics and were interested in how I could help them gain customers for their new bedding range.

No problem.

I outlined the behavioural techniques we would use to frame pricing, create a sense of urgency and overcome customer concerns about buying what was an unfamiliar brand. 

The proposal, well I thought it was a slam...