It’s Time to Feed Your Head: And, Dance to the Music!

Ageless...

You may be giving away your age if you know the line “…the Dormouse said, “feed your head" from Jefferson Airplane's song White Rabbit. Regardless of whether you remember it or not, the Dormouse never said that in Lewis Carroll’s book: Alice in Wonderland. Nope, not in Disney's movie either. Jefferson Airplane made it up. However, the point is, many believe it to be true. And, that is the direction the column is going in this time – perception and reality. Rolling Stone Magazine ran a very successful long-term advertising campaign promoting the true power of the publication. In one ad they juxtaposed Perception, or what advertisers thought Rolling Stone's readers are like. It was represented by a photo of a 45- rpm single of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show’s 1972 hit - "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone.' Reality was represented with a photo of a compilation CD of "Hot New Music" by up and-coming bands.

The Cover of 'Rolling Stone

Alter the perception and you change the reality! How do you perceive your business? Have you done a PEST test? Take a good hard look at and get yourself involved in the Politics that affect your business and your life. How will political forces affect you this year? Read, research and feed your head. What is the general business Environment? Don’t assume. Read, research and feed your head. The Empire State Building was built during the height of the Great Depression. Why? Because they believed they could. Have changes in the Social structure affected your business? Ask the Catholic Church. The Pill, Abortion and cohabitation have totally altered traditional family and social behaviors. Church attendance isn’t down for nothing. Ah, Technology. Love it or hate it; it’s changing and affecting our lives more than anything else. Can you remember a time when cash registers weren’t plugged into the wall?

How do you get your picture on the cover of the proverbial Rollin Stone? To paraphrase Dr. Hook – you may perceive your business as a big rock singer with golden fingers who’s loved everywhere. You may “sing” about beauty and truth

Change Your P.O.V.

But, the thrill you've never known is the thrill of getting your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone. Why? What you perceive and believe may not equate with what your customers and potential customers perceive and therefore believe about you and what you represent to them. Look at your business with their eyes. I’ve been spouting this philosophy forever – feed your head! Walk a mile in their moccasins. Change your P.O.V. (Point of View). Hey, New Year, new tactics!

Another way to change your perception is also the best way in the world to feed your head – read! Here are some of the books I read last year:

• Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

• Why We Make Mistakes by Joe Hallinan

• Billion-Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years by Paul B. Carroll

• The Disney Way by William Capodagli

• Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear by Frank I. Luntz

• The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do by Clotaire Rapaille

• Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom and Paco Underhill

• Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling

Check the Facts Too.

Remember: numbers don’t lie, people use numbers to lie. As for the real lyrics to White Rabbit, here’s another end version - When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead, and the White Knight is talking backwards, and the Red Queen's "off with her head!" Remember what the dormouse said; "Keep your head. Keep your head. Keep your head.” Perception is also based on popularization and repetition. What is truth? Feed your head to keep your head. Tom Hopkins, sales guru, said, “The more you know, the more you know you need to know.”

Words are used to craft perceptions – obviously. But as the Bee Gees crooned: And you think that I don't even mean a single word I say. It's only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away.