Archive for conscious marketing
Brain Entrainment — Proof of Buyer/Seller Identification
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Entrainment
Entrainment is a term being used in brain science, as well as in physics, biology, and psychology. Technically, it means that when two systems become synchronized and operate at the same frequency they are locked-in together to create a positive condition in which they are mutually supportive. Brainwave entrainment has been noted or used in one form or another for centuries, from Shamanistic societies’ use of drum beats to Ptolemy noting in 200 A.D. the effects of flickering sunlight generated by a spinning wheel (the modern day strobe light). One of the most vivid examples of entrainment between two people happens when they fall in love. They feel as though and everybody says “They have become as one.” On the other hand negative conditions producing negative emotions such as anger, coercion, manipulation, disrespect and domination create incoherence and disharmony resulting in the wide range of conflicts we humans witness and experience every day. Deadly Embrace There is a condition in the mainframe computer world called a “deadly embrace.”
This is a condition that arises when two (or more) separately active processes, like two software programs, interfere with each other in such a way that the network as a whole eventually cannot proceed. It becomes deadlocked. Outside the computer world, deadly embraces range from irreconcilable differences all the way to war — conditions of incoherence and disharmony to be sure. So what does all of this have to do with Soft Sell entrainment, hard sell, and buyer/seller identification? Read More→
Have Good Heart – Do No Harm
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There is a Buddhist teaching that reads: Have Good Heart.
Following it opens the the way to real and abiding healing.
We ask Soft Sell marketers to: Do No Harm. 
Following this recommendation opens the way for healing in the marketplace.
Because It REALLY IS All in the Connection,
And that’s The Heart of Marketing.
Judith & Jim
Your Online Business As Spiritual Therapy
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No business runs without challenges.
And certainly an online business offers even more than its share – both internal and external. But an emotionally and financially rewarding shift takes place when you change your mindset to see your business online as a form of spiritual therapy.
The internal challenges — everything that rattles and challenges who you’ve been and how you experience and understand yourself.
Even if you’re fairly savvy in the world of business, due to the volatile nature of doing business online there can be even more radical
- wake-up calls
- major melt-downs
- leaps to success
just to name a few of the “adventures” that can leave you dazed and sleepless.
The external challenges — everything that comes at you from the outside world like all that Internet technology to manage and master.
There are those affiliates and joint venture partners who
- let you down
- don’t send out for you,
- may even refuse to pay you the affiliate commissions due to you for your good efforts on their behalf.
As a Heart-based, Soft Sell Marketer, have you tried to avoid developing the thick skin that allows Hard Sell marketers to disregard their conscience as you watch them make huge deposits generated from their online business accounts?
Instead, if anything, you may think you’re too thin skinned, and maybe you’ve even been told that “You’re kind of sensitivity wont’ work in business.” We have.
Well, you’re NOT too sensitive.
You are a wonderfully feeling-filled human who knows you are connected to all of life, and you ARE sensitive to what happens to your customers and to yourself.
That’s why it’s extremely powerful to understand your online business as a kind of spiritual therapy. Because that helps you respect and learn from every disorienting and disheartening experience you have — and this is not always easy.
We have, and more and more we feel those dark times as blessings for our spiritual growth and awakening. It takes practice, but you can too.
That way you build your business while you grow your Self, because your business and your Self are reflections of each other.
Because It’s All in the Connections,
Judith & Jim
So in the middle of those maddening moments, listen for Your Soul’s Calling. That’s the voice to rely on.
Soft Sell Marketing Misconceptions – A Dime a Dozen
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Recently I read a blog post comparing soft sell with hard sell and the writer listed several of the many soft sell marketing misconceptions.
The Writer Wrote: “But in the race to present one’s personality to the client, it’s important to keep in mind that these soft factors are likely to result in new work only if the proposed soft sell involves something that the prospect or referral source actually believes will address a personal need. Much of the friendly, hey-I’m-really-nice marketing plans miss that mark entirely.”
This was my comment:
Misconceptions regarding soft sell have become a dime a dozen and it’s arguable they’re worth even that.
The idea that soft sell is — friendly, hey-I’m-really-nice marketing plans — would of course miss the mark. This notion arises from traditional hard sell marketers whose focus on Get The Check precludes them from really understanding the process of relationship marketing that serves the customer, serves the seller, and makes a profit.
To focus on presenting one’s personality, and under the pressure of being in a competitive race while doing it, can only be crippling, because it takes all of the real connection, the real emotion out of the process.
Presenting one’s personality is mechanical. To believe you have to present is a sure sign of insecurity and a lack of confidence that leads to thinking – “Oh I better present a good face if I’m going to make this work.” Used-car-salesman anyone?
First and foremost, clients are looking to have their problems solved – WIIFM – what’s in it for me. And yes, the best client relationships are built on a personal relationship but not at the expense of getting the job done.
Because It’s All in the Connection,
Jim
The Heart of Marketing, our #1 bestseller, will give you practical insights into how Soft Sell marketing can work for you — for your profits and your soul.
Soft Sell = Compassion: A Commercial Paradigm Shift
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Compassion and commerce may seem self-contradictory like an oxymoron: for example, 
“deafening silence” or “poor little rich girl.” Compassionate commerce seems to be a self-nullifying idea, at least in the way compassion and commerce have been understood and experienced.
So how can marketing and selling and compassion be a perfect self-supporting way to do business?
The definition of compassion that most people would agree with is:
A deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.
And that understanding suggests feelings like pity, charity, condolence, mercy, or sorrow.
From this point of view putting compassion and commerce in the same sentence subverts if not destroys the intention of each.
However, is there a way that compassion and commerce can be mutually supportive so that the marketplace can evolve in a more humane and loving direction? Read More→
Relationship Marketing – A Politician’s Missed Moment
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Last night Judith and I went to a gathering of the Las Vegas Social Register – a typical networking event where relationship marketing is the whole point.
As I was roaming around looking for the next person to speak with, I approached a woman who was wearing an American flag scarf. It turns out she was a politician running for a seat in the Nevada State Senate.
I’d never spoken to an elected politician nor anyone who was running for office so I was intrigued. I spent about twenty minutes talking with her — or rather with her talking to me.
You would think that relationship marketing would be a staple in her running-for-office tool box, but as it turned out, not so.
She told me about her 88 year-old mother, and her daughter, and that she’d lived in Las Vegas her whole life, and community was very important to her.
I told her about my father who’d worked in the Detroit factories.
After I walked away, Judith asked about my conversation and I said, “She never asked me one question. Not one.”
“What don’t you tell her that,” Judith suggested. So I did.
I returned to the senatorial hopeful and reached out with my card, which she hadn’t asked for during our 20 minute chat, and I gently said:
“Are you aware that, when we were together, you never asked me one question?”
“What?” She was clearly surprised.
“You never asked me one question.”
“I was impressed by what you told me about your father in Chicago.”
“My father never lived in Chicago. He was in Detroit.”
“Well, you know, the factories, Detroit, Chicago. I was impressed . . .”
Relationship marketing? No. Monologue marketing was more like it.
“Just remember,” I cautioned, “if you want my vote, it’d be best if you try to find out about what I need and what I think. I’m the constituent.”
She smiled awkwardly and I bid her good night.
As I walked away, her last appeal to me, albeit rather weakly, was “I hope I can still get your vote.” 
No, I don’t think so. Why?
Because It’s All in the Connection,
Jim
Paradigm Shift – Soft Sell Includes Marketer AND Customer
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Focusing on the Soft Sell paradigm shift, we’ve been writing a lot about Soft Sell marketers — conscious, heart-based, aware of their emerging sense of responsibility to their customers, as well as their responsibility to themselves in every transaction.
And we have been thinking about and articulating the principles and tactics of Soft Sell, relationship-based marketing.
But what about the Soft Sell end user— the customer? What responsibility do customers have in the Soft Sell paradigm? That’s what this post is all about. Read More→
Hard Sell and Tyrannosaurus Rex
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Evolution is a very demanding task master. Either adapt to changing circumstances or follow in the footsteps of the Tyrannosaurus Rex – i.e. extinction.
The same process holds in every area of our lives. We either adapt and adopt or die — literally or effectively.
Evolution’s rule is now being felt in the area of Internet commerce.
—>>> Because customers have so much more access to information regarding the products they’re looking to purchase, and—>>> Because they can shop the worldwide Internet and have so many more outlets where they can buythe Internet has become a buyers-driven marketplace so that sellers have to be much more aware of the buyer’s needs.But it’s not just the buyer’s needs that have become prominent, but how the seller views the buyer and, as a result, how the seller treats the customer.Here’s what we mean. Read More→
Conscious Marketing – Intentions and Actions for 2010
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Well, we’ve closed out the old year . . . and a good year it was.
Now it’s time to make room in our hearts for the new one that’s already begun!
For us, and we assume for you, that means both personal and business changes. Sloughing off what didn’t work last year and opening to a more expanded vision of spiritual marketing that’s emerged in 2009, and a more focused intention (internal) and plan (external) for 2010.
It’s so important to pay attention to balance — both the internal – conscious marketing, and the external – online marketing — otherwise we can get lost in an overemphasis toward one or the other. Too much internal produces less action. And too much external leaves us feeling empty.
Balance — heart-based, soft sell marketing coupled with a profit-based business model so that both the internal and external are fulfilled. Easily said and, happily, with practice, more and more easily done.
So there are 4 dimensions: Personal and Business — each one focused Internally and Externally.
And for 2010 . . . Read More→
BH&M III — Successfully Serving the Deep Needs of Soft Sell Marketers
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Recently we held our third Bridging Heart and Marketing Conference. That’s what “BH&M III” stands for — only this time we did it Virtually. .
<><><><> And We Are Beyond Thrilled
With How It Went <><><><>
It was a worldwide celebration of spiritual liberation coupled with financial inspiration! We had participants from all around the world – France – Netherlands – Ireland – Israel – Trinidad and Tobago – Australia – Canada – Mexico – Norway – Panama – UK – and. of course all over the US.
We offered fifteen 90 Minute marketing sessions – a buffet of online and offline marketing strategies, techniques, principles, and deep wisdom. Each speaker was outstanding – and we are very demanding – so we don’t say this lightly. They were heartfelt, motivating, and on target with their wide-ranging and specific marketing topics.
<><><> Participants Received Invaluable Information
As They Learned About – <><><>
