So I’d like to let you in on a secret. I am a science nerd. Even though I am the CEO of a Digital Marketing Agency, my roots are in science. I was actually going to be a structural engineer. But after graduating with a Civil Engineering Degree, the job opportunities available weren’t the greatest, so I decided to go back to school and get my MBA where I majored in Finance and minored in Marketing. Now armed with two degrees, I was ready to go out into the world and blaze my trail.

During my days at business school, I was gearing up to become a Commercial Banker. Up until then, I pretty much had my career planned out. And then I decided to take a right turn and go into sales? WTF??? I had never sold anything in my life. I thought it would be easy. I mean, how hard could it be? You communicate some facts to a person, and then they make the logical decision to purchase my product or service if it satisfies their needs. Right? Haha. Wrong. Oh so wrong. First of all, you have to get in front of a prospective client to make your pitch, and that seemed impossible at the time. I was totally clueless about the art and science of sales and marketing. Sure, I studied Marketing in business school but that doesn’t help you at the grass roots level. I was in the same situation that almost all small businesses face. How am I going to find more clients? How am I going to create a process in which people want to buy from me? How to I create an abundance of prospective buyers?

So I went back to my roots and I put on my engineering hat. (No, not the Train Engineer hat that I had as a kid, lol). I used my background as a science nerd and studied everything I could get my hands on that related to sales and marketing. I devoured many books on sales but I was disappointed in pretty much all of them. You see, the sales process that many of these books were presenting were all about selling things to people. You pitch them. They respond with objections. You answer them. And this goes back and forth until you sell them or you don’t. I wanted nothing to do with that.

I, instead, focused on the buying process. I asked myself questions like, “Why do people buy anything? And what part of their brain is stimulated during the buying process? And what is the science around it?” This is where my love for neuroscience began.

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system.  It is the pursuit of understanding the biological basis of perception, behavior, learning, memory and consciousness. And when applied to sales and marketing, it is literally the holy grail. And because neuroscience is a scientific study, it can be measured, and enhanced over time.

I am a science nerd and I am damn proud to be one. In future articles, I will share with you the insights that I have gained in my study of neuroscience. I will show you how to make your sales presentations more convincing, improve your ability to influence others, create effective marketing strategies, and so much more.  

Enjoy your Friday. TGIF.