The Idea: When someone tells you that something “just doesn’t feel right,” all the facts in the world will not change their mind. They need to trust you and they must understand the larger point of “why” you do business, not “what” your business is.
Author Simon Sinek explained in his 2009 TEDx talk, that people don’t buy “what” you do, they buy “why” you do it. And as Sinek states, this is not simply an altruistic approach to business: understanding the “why” is literally how we are wired to think.
Sinek shares that the deepest part of our brain is our Limbic System, which deals with decision-making, motivation, memories and emotions in our brain. Before humans controlled language, our existence was defined by the Limbic system; it is at the very core of who we are. We form logic around our emotions, not the other way around. Trust is necessary.
When someone tells you that something “just doesn’t feel right,” all the facts in the world will not change their mind. They need to understand the larger point of “why” you do business. When a customer doesn’t understand or trust “why” you are selling, more than likely they won’t trust “what” you are selling.
Though widely referenced, Apple understands this phenomenon better than most. A computer company that sells watches and phones and music – how is that possible? People purchase Apple products because they understand the soul of Apple first. As Sinek explains, Apple is successful because everyone understands “why” they do business. It goes like this:
“Everything we (Apple) do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simply to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?”
Of course, great design and insightful analytics are selling points for any company and product. But more important is winning hearts, minds and the soul within a community.
People don’t buy “what” you do; they buy “why” you do it.
Always start with why.
To learn more go to Simon’s TED talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA
