Floats On The Nimbus of Coolness, Until…

‎14 ‎July ‎2020, ‏‎09:40 am — Thomas Lekhanya

Walking in a retail store I stopped and picked it up.

like the Narrator in Fight Club, I found something I felt “describes me as a person.”

It was a white, grey and mustard yellow with waves printed on. The designer was probably told to “go for a surfer vibe”.

(I’d never surfed.)

This would go well with my huge skate boarding shoes.

(I did surf on concrete though.)

And the jeans…which I started sagging.

My primary school teachers might disapprove but fuck it…I mean stuff it.

I would now officially be a cool guy.

My skater shoes.

My sagging pants.

My new wallet.

I was floating on a nimbus of cool until I lost the wallet along with (what was probably a hundred bucks but felt like) tones of money inside it.

This experience ended my wallet-buying tendencies.

I switched to putting money in my pockets…even if carrying coins made my steps clink like I secretly carried tambourines around.

And you know what?

I did carry tambourines around!!

Okay I’m kidding, here it is…

I STILL DON’T BUY WALLETS!!!

Crazy, huh?

I was once in a sales meeting sitting across a 72 year-old prospect at lunch time as he leaned back in his expensive, black leather chair listening to my pitch…thinking.

He occasionally nodded.

“You know,” he said leaning forward, “that sounds good. We need this kind of product. So, tell me. I know you mentioned the price per month…but ay…I can’t do that man…I want it month to month — No contracts…I won’t do any contracts…”

I told him it doesn’t work like that.

He was adamant about the “no month-to-month” deal.

I tried persuading again and he wouldn’t budge.

Why?

Because, much like my monetary pain memory, he was haunted by his own.

He revealed how he got screwed by a business 30 years prior and another many years later.

Both were month-to-month contracts.

That’s the power of pain memories and fearing future pain.

It makes you more cautious…or irrational. Instead of eliminating wallets all together I could’ve learned to be more careful when carrying one around.

I’m buying one next time I go shopping.

As you can guess, I looked at this through the lens of marketing and it reminded me of a powerful persuasion principle.

Matter of fact, scientists have even proven its immense power.

Can you guess what it is?

How many times do you think it’s worked on you?

Do you recognize it in ads?

You can find out if you guessed write in my post tomorrow.

Until next time.

Thomas Lekhanya