Enchantment

I recently started reading the book Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki (former Apple Executive). If you haven’t read it, I recommend it for anyone who wants to maximize clients’ buying behaviour, improve business relationships or enhance the use of on-line sales and marketing tools.

The book starts out with some really straightforward concepts to earn people’s trust and create an affinity to you and/or your company. One of the theories includes the use of profanities (yes, not only does he approve of it, but he encourages it).

He provides a laundry list of reasons to give people a break and explains how giving for intrinsic reasons can help you and your company excel.

Here are few points that I took away from the book:

1). You can never be too nice or too forgiving. Often in business we find ourselves trying so hard to get ahead that we forget about the big picture. As Kawsaki puts it “Nobodies are the new somebodies in a world of wide-open communications”.

Lesson learned: Be ready to speak in different “languages” and make everyone feel welcome.

2). Video is a powerful tool that can help elevate your customers understanding of your company, the products or services and the people. Today, clients demand more information than ever, and need a high level of interaction in order to become enchanted with you.

Lesson learned: Don’t be shy. Use videos to showcase all that you have to offer.

3). Don’t hold on too tight. Sometimes you just need to let go of a concept that may not be suiting your clients’ desires. Even though you may have built your business model surrounding a specific sales tactic, for instance, you may need to change direction even though it doesn’t seem right to you. Often what can come out of it can surprise you and perhaps help you create a bond with that customer which in turn can prove to be most valuable.

Lesson learned: Be a nice guy once in a while and you’ll be surprised with the results!