"Well, when are you going to do a blog for our lovely new website?" - they said.
"You’re holding it up!" - they said.
"You’re not normally short of words or strident opinions!" - they said.
"Write about something you’re passionate about." - they said...
So as a self confessed sybarite (look it up) I’m going to rant about passion, (and the lack of it) in catalogue design, cycling, singing, running, family-ing and oh, just about everything, till they drag me from this keyboard, or until the pub opens, whichever is soonest.
I have pasted some of this content from PDFs of past talks I’ve given. To be honest I probably stole whole chunks (the interesting bits) from someone else. But I’m convinced that because they align with my beliefs, I would have eventually written them, if I’d had enough time.
I may call it ‘colouring in’ but I am passionate about great catalogue design, and all that goes with it. Since 1980 I have designed catalogues that excel –and unlike most agency heads, still do.
“Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark” Henri Frederic Amiel
It all starts with the brief. As a creative I’m looking to share the prospective clients passion for their company. To really get under the skin and understand the big questions:
What do they believe in? Why should people choose to buy from them? Why did they choose this business? Why people should trust them?
No one ever splashed out on a new car, pair of jeans or a tent because of a spreadsheet.
When you boil it down, selling is about transferring the passion you have for your product or service into the heart of a prospective customer.
Transferring passion is similar to a bonfire transferring heat. It`s a natural process and draws people to its warmth. When you have passion, you will speak with conviction, act with authority, and present with zeal. Let`s face it; there is nothing more contagious than someone who is passionate about a cause, if that passion is directed towards an area of need or interest in your life. It`s been said that 90 percent of the decision to buy is made in the heart, the seat of the emotions, and 10 percent of the decision is made in our mind, the seat of the intellect. In fact, it’s the intellect that provides logical justification for what the heart is yearning for.
If you’re going to succeed in sales, you need to be able to speak from the heart to the heart. The fuel or energy or language for that communication is passion!
