M03.05 My Safe Place Part II

Top level Marketers understand human behaviour as well as, if not better, than top level Psychologists, Philosophers, Psychiatrists, Counsellors and Humanists. Why? Their livelihood depends upon it. Like Alexander, they start with how things are and theorize backwards. Practise and theory. They are quick to dump one theory in place of another, if it predicts behaviour more accurately than the one it supersedes. Back in 1960, Neuroscientist Paul MacLean first proposed the triune brain theory – that our brain has three complexes that mimic the behaviour of reptiles, mammals and, well, us. The marketers quickly took ahold of this concept. I have heard it discussed at many of my biz seminars - it's attraction is it's simplicity, and how well it describes what we experience. We have great difficulty changing our behaviour – and often behave in "irrational" ways. These days, marketers talk about the reptilian brain as the keeper of our safety. It's job is to keep us safe, to alert of us of any danger. Alexander's catch phrase for this was "unduly excited fear reflexes" and Walter Carrington taught me that a frightened person doesn't want to take any risks. Feeling danger, as I wrote in Part I, can be triggered by an environment that is unexpected… A good friend of mine told me a story of a boy she adopted as a young child. The biological mother, who had lost the child through drug addiction, sobered up and found her son at my friend's place in New York. For three continuous days she howled on the footpath below the 13th story apartment where the child lived. The child listened. Eventually, she left. Years went by, and it appeared that the child had adjusted well until one day he came home to discover that the toilet had been renovated. Inexplicable, he began howling, and continued uncontrollably for hours. My friend, an experienced therapist herself, spent many years wondering about this episode, and finally came to the conclusion that the change triggered an area of his brain that regulated safety. He had been through a life shattering change, and it was important his environment was stable. A sudden change triggered all the fear and terror of his forgotten past. Is it true? I don't know, but why did the child howl so suddenly because the toilet had a different colour of paint? Your space can have a powerful effect, unconsciously so, on the safety of your clients. They may not even know why they feel how they feel, but it is important you to consider it. Triggers can work the other way: a person who has a pleasurable experience spending money in your place will want to have that experience again. Michael Masterman, in his book Ready-Fire-Aim writes about the "buying frenzy" most of us have experienced at one time. We spend money on something that gives us pleasure – like buying clothes, adding to a collection, even stays in the hospital – and we keep wanting to repeat this experience because of a more deep seated desire that appears irrational, but still, we want it. Reptilian brain is about reproduction too. These are not "decision things", we are driven into behaviours we don't directly regulate, and the marketers know it. They run to the three brain theory to explain it. What kind of space do you have? At BodyChance in Meguro we used wooden floors, hidden lighting and big windows to convey a sense of spaciousness and freedom, something natural and free. We put in glass walls to suggest openness, transparency and honesty. Before he launched the Apple Store, Steve Jobs had an entire shop built in a field. It was never intended to be used, it was simply to figure out the "experience" Apple wanted you to have. Apple's New York Store now earns more per square foot than any other retail shop in the world. Previously it was Tiffanies, but now Apple surpasses them by a factor of 2. Look around your studio now, either real or imagined, and decide what qualities you want to project. Your niche may not know what to expect, but they know when it is congruent with what they want. How? They feel safe and comfortable, and they want come back. Which is exactly what you want them to want.