Avoiding the collective peer pressure of the crowd is an art. We're herd animals, we want to belong and feel part of something, but the majority has always been wrong. Most decisions aren't made by you. It's your neighbours, your workmates and the media that influence them. You've been brainwashed from the start.
Back when we lived in caves, sticking out wasn't a good idea. Some of those who dared to go out hunting were taken by predators or met with other accidents. It was safer to stay home in a secure environment than to head out on an adventure.
Today we don't quite face the same risks in daily life, but it sits so deep in us that we're still negatively programmed. The evening papers know this and work on the basis of putting out negative news, because we love to wallow in it. The brain is there to protect you, but there are plenty of catastrophe thoughts you could do without today.
This has shaped much of how we live and what society looks like today. The media is happy to use powerful words, and negativity on the front page is attractive because it sells. Now that we're aware of it, we can make conscious decisions about what we let into our mental garden. A while ago I heard a claim that went: "One reason children are happy is that they don't watch the news." What if that's true?
I think we should brainwash ourselves into not listening to all the noise and instead sticking to what serves us. When it comes to sales culture in company organisations, there are different ways of looking at it. Wanting to create an organisation that works on building a customer base of loyal users and ambassadors is completely natural. It's the best way to get products out on the market. Apple has a whole army of unpaid ambassadors who market all their products to friends and family the moment they're released.
Brand strategist Micco "The Brand-Man" writes about "why, how, what and who" in his post VARUMÄRKETS 4 S: Syftet, Sekten, Saken och Sagan: "Offer people something to believe in, not something to buy." A very interesting post that I recommend if you want to learn more about marketing and brand profiling.
The purpose is about why your brand exists rather than what products you sell. He argues that we humans are social animals who strive to understand and to be appreciated. "Everything we do, every decision we make, is in other words influenced by other people, whether they're present or not."
If we were to avoid supporting companies with a strong culture, there would be no Billy bookcases from Ikea and no computers with operating systems from Microsoft. I think most people have seen the video of Steve Ballmer jumping around drenched in sweat at their kickoff event shouting "I love this Company, yeah!"
In Sweden there seems to be a limit for what's acceptable, and it sits just short of the video above, since we often strive to be more moderate. One company that went completely past that line a number of years ago was Phone House, which got its own TV documentary called "säljsekten" (the sales cult), where they pushed young people far too hard selling phone subscriptions out on the streets under really poor conditions (more stick than carrot, you could say).
Health religion
Another funny thing is when Paolo Roberto sits on TV arguing about health hysteria with a cultured person who claims that a cigarette leads to creativity. Click here to watch the clip. Everyone sees things differently.
Jonas Colting is my idol. Have a read of when he compares crossfit to a cult on his blog."At the same time it means that CF has laid claim to everything. And if you criticise CF, you get asked whether that means it's bad to do push ups, run fast or lift heavy. A bit like when people in food religious circles hijack a foodstuff. "We" have taken the avocado! It's "our" vegetable. It belongs to "our" diet!"
These days almost anything within health easily turns into a health religion. There's nothing wrong as such with something that brings people together. Think of everyone standing at a rock concert screaming at something they think is great, not to mention football or hockey, which hypnotises perfectly ordinary people.
In marketing we talk more and more about promoting things. Promote means to make known. Here you have a choice. When something is so incredibly good that we simply have to tell people about it, some can take it too far. If there's a whole army out there praising products to the skies, you're very strong, but not if you talk about things we aren't allowed to talk about. When we go outside approved health claims, it gets dangerous.
There are forces out there that don't want us to get our message across. So the best we can do is stay within approved health claims and not turn it into a religion. Build a sales organisation and get products out there. Health religion within direct selling or some fanatical nutrition adviser makes no difference: it's about culture, leadership and individuals.
The question now is who you choose to listen to. Maybe you shouldn't go to a financial adviser who has money problems. Maybe you shouldn't turn to a nutrition adviser who has health challenges. "I've heard that few people make money in direct selling." Okay, play with the thought that you buy an education, nutrition advice for example. Few of those who train as nutrition advisers will later make a living from it. Am I against that? Absolutely not. Quite the opposite. It's only good if more people educate themselves and become aware of things. Development is good. Maybe you took that course to learn things, not to make a career. Everyone has different ambitions. "I knew a nutrition adviser once who I thought behaved badly, so I'm going to be negative about all nutrition advisers now and in the future." Sounds reasonable, doesn't it...
I talk about direct selling and argue that it's a business model that works. It can change your life. That's my conviction. I find it very strange that people shouldn't be allowed to be happy and excited about that.
What I'm getting at is that this isn't about direct selling. It's about company culture. Sometimes I hear people speaking negatively about how we work in our profession, and all it comes down to is a lack of knowledge when it comes to marketing.
How do you end a post like this?
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing, that's why we recommend it daily." Zig Ziglar
