A strategy lesson from my daughter

Two things about me. A), i’m a strategist. B), i’m a nerd. And therefore sometimes i A/B test messaging with my daughter. That's right, you heard me. Wait, don't leave just yet. It's a very simple exercise.

Let's say she just woke up. We’re doing our morning routine:

1. Get up

2. Change nappies

3. Get dressed

4. Brush hair

5. Brush teeth

6. Wash face

7. Have breakfast

But there’s a problem. She doesn't want to get up. I want her to do it, but don't want it to feel forceful. Faced with this, we have two options.

• Option 1: “You need to have breakfast.”

• Option 2: “Your friends [plush toys] are waiting downstairs.”

Option 1 rarely wins, as she’s not always driven by food (though this is changing). But stuff like option 2? That almost always wins.

So what does this little experiment have to do with anything? Well, it’s all about how you frame things. To persuade people to do anything, you need two ingredients. The right pain point, and the right entry point.

And for that, you need to understand the benefit of what you're selling. This isn’t formed in your mind. It's formed in your customers' minds.

In this case, breakfast wasn't a good sell. My customer isn’t particularly driven by food. But getting to see her toy friends? That triggered all the behavioural steps that followed. And she did it with positive intention, not just because “i said so”. Which reinforced our relationship and trust. Which helped with future asks too, because this is how we form habits.

The lesson from all this? Cheap power moves can only take you so far. Especially if attitude towards the brand or person suffers. In the world of parenting, this means you can force short-term behaviour. But if this damages the parent-child connection, ultimately neither of you wins.

In the world of marketing and brands, this means short-term wins may limit future ones. Cheating a customer today may get you a sale (but not a repeat sale). Discounting also gets you a sale (but not profit). It’s the long and short of it, but applied to the greatest sales job there is.