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Power Niche Marketing: The Second (Marketing) Threebie – A Very Simple One

Hint: no one wants a sad sack around.

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In my last article, I explained that when I need to remind myself of the most important basic marketing things to do, I am mindful of the three basic items, which I call the “Threebies.” I previously discussed the first Threebie, which is to “Get Out and About!”  In this article, I will talk about the second Threebie.

The second Threebie is very simple:  Be Enthusiastic!

Yes, just that. Be enthusiastic! That is all I am advocating here. So far these Threebies are pretty easy, aren’t they?  Just get out and about and be enthusiastic. Anyone could do that, couldn’t they?

I can tell you this — no one wants a sad sack around. Or someone that just drones on and on. Have you ever been to a party or a group setting or just gone out to lunch with friends or co-workers? Who is the guy you just don’t want to sit next to or hang out with?  Of course there are a fair number of undesirable personal traits that people could have, but someone dull and droning and boring and negative is hardly going to get you to think: “Boy, I want to talk with that guy.”

On the other hand, enthusiastic people are such a thrill. Even if the person you are with is just talking about Band Camp, the fact that he loves it beyond imagination makes people pay attention and find that person exciting and interesting, maybe to your surprise.

This second Threebie – Be Enthusiastic! – is straight out of the Dale Carnegie course I took. It is discussed in the book How to Win Friends and Influence People (affiliate link), but they recognized its importance and built an entire course around this seemingly simple concept, in order to help people… well, win friends and influence people.

Let’s make time for a dorky drill here that I learned from the Dale Carnegie course. I use this often if I have a big meeting or a big pitch or I am attending something where I am on stage or have to make a strong, and good, impression on someone. It could even be an internal meeting at my law firm.

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I, together with my colleagues that are going to the pitch or the meeting, repeat this five times, out loud and not whispering either:

If I act enthusiastic, I will be enthusiastic
If I act enthusiastic, I will be enthusiastic
If I act enthusiastic, I will be enthusiastic
If I act enthusiastic, I will be enthusiastic
If I act enthusiastic, I will be enthusiastic

Go ahead and try this yourself now. And don’t whisper either, say it out loud, and say it five times in a row. Okay, you feel like an idiot, right?

Now, for extra credit, find someone nearby and get him or her to do it with you. I bet you are laughing at each other for being so foolish.

However, is your mood different than it was before you did this exercise?  The answer is: “Of course!”  It is just about impossible to do this drill without your mood going from whatever it was to a higher, and more enthusiastic, plane. It is just about impossible.

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As stated, my partners and I do it. We start laughing at ourselves – at what idiots we are making of ourselves, but by the time we are done we are jolly and happy and loose and smiling and in the greatest of moods and – almost always – our meeting goes just great.

Go ahead and try it before you go out and about.

Back to my main point, which is about the importance of being enthusiastic.  Sometimes people say you should just be yourself and, of course, that is true in part.  You can’t fake who you are. But if you are naturally dull, boring, uninteresting and unenthusiastic, then it is time to do something about it. I bet your entire life will get a lot better.

In this regard, a woman named Amy Cuddy has an incredible TED Talk called “Fake it Till You Make it.” This is well worth watching, as she gives one of the most inspirational speeches I have ever heard. She talks about “power poses” and other ways to rev up your enthusiasm. The point here is that even if you feel plain old stupid on this concept, if you “fake” being enthusiastic enough times, it will just happen that you will in fact become enthusiastic. That is what that silly drill above is doing; it is tricking your mind into uplifting your mood.

Even in your writing and your emails and text messages this can resonate. Consider how I am writing this article. Can you feel my passion and excitement – and enthusiasm – literally flowing through the words I am writing right to your cerebral cortex?  Sure you can feel it – I know you can!

I am a naturally enthusiastic person, so for me the Dale Carnegie course was like throwing gasoline on a flame. It encouraged me to go even further with that type of thinking and acting.

I urge you to do the same.

Stay tuned for the third and final Threebie in my next article…..

Earlier:

Bruce_StachenfeldBruce Stachenfeld is the managing partner of Duval & Stachenfeld LLP, an approximately 70-lawyer law firm based in midtown Manhattan. The firm is known as “The Pure Play in Real Estate Law” because all of its practice areas are focused around real estate. With more than 50 full-time real estate lawyers, the firm is one of the largest real estate law practices in New York City. You can contact Bruce by email at thehedgehoglawyer@gmail.com. Bruce also writes The Real Estate Philosopher™, which contains applications of Bruce’s eclectic, insightful, and outside-the-box thinking to the real estate world. If you would like to read previous articles or subscribe, please click here.

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