Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? is about persuading customers
who ignore marketing.

Today's market is more like cats, than dogs, according to authors Bryan
and Jeffrey Eisenberg. Pavlov's dog conditioning was the foundation for
much of the mass media, repetition, bell-ringer conditioning of jingles
and other emotional-trigger systems. Today, when we ring the bell, the
cat doesn't care. It will come when it indeed decides to. It is not so
much about selling as it is about guiding the one who wants to buy.

Today's focus is on micro-marketing rather than mass markets.
It is back to "what you get for what you want."
"We must improve our customer perceptions of what we deliver,
increase intimacy with the experience with the customer creating
a deeper connection and more value to product and services."
It’s about empathy and learning to appreciate people for who they are.

Research now shows that 41% get their information from stores and 38% from
websites and 46% start their search for information from a search engine.
Customer interaction through media-based systems are increasing
significantly, continually.
There is more reliance in word of mouth via consumer generated reviews
such as blogs, product reviews, discussion forms, etc.
The consumer is empowered as they all have access to the same information.

Thus the consumer is in control and telling the markets their intentions.
The emphasis has shifted from selling big to how to assist the customer as
he pursues buying. So when they come to a website they are in some stage
of a buying process.

How do customers buy?

It is a process, not an event. "Persuasion comes when people perceive they are on their way to getting what they want."

Simply put the basic steps to buying include:
1. Initiate the relationships by building rapport and confidence.
2. Investigating needs, wants, problems.
3. Suggesting a course of action.
4. Closing or take action

The goal in the process is establishing customer intimacy. It is finding a customer "persona" of which the Eisenbergs go to great lengths to explain.

They review three filters all things go through to “uncovering” the
“knowable”... topography, the layout of land; psychographics, the
psyche-operating system and lifestyle; and demographics, where we find
these people. They continue to emphasize the importance to connect with
these people with empathy and emotionally engage with their total person.

Their signature system “Persuasive Architecture”
has 6 phases:
1. Uncovering... understanding (thoroughly) what is knowable,
from every perspective.
2. Wireframing... mapping context with relevance
3. Storyboarding... show how to execute what is determined
4. Prototype... from what we have created to be able to say "It looks like this."
5. Development.... produce the prototype
6. Optimizing... accountability marketing where you test, measure, monitor to
evaluate effectiveness.

All along the way in this process
these three questions stay constantly before you.
1. What is the action you want?
2. Who are we trying to persuade to take action?
3. What does that person need in order to feel confident taking that action?
"It's the process that works. It's only partially reliant on talent. If
the business can commit to being part of the process, it will work."

In summary, their theme for working with today's market is about
intimately interacting with the persona of the person.
People want to be interacting with you,
and know you know their deeper personal makeup,
and establish a close relationship, emotionally intimate,
relationship of knowing them.

This is an interesting and I see relevant process crafted by the Eisenbergs.
For more check out their website:
http://www.futurenowinc.com

Jesus was known as one who spoke with authority and He knew exceptionally well those He spoke to. Jesus knew exactly what the crowds were thinking and everyone was awe-struck by what He said. This guy was authentic, believable and many followed him.

The Scriptures said that great power was flowing out of Jesus and people just tried to touch Him to benefit and be healed through this power.

John the Baptist came to baptize in water, although he
said the one to follow him would baptize in the Holy Spirit.
(Mark 1:8)

And Jesus said
with this Spirit you will have Great Power of Supernatural levels...
Gifts of Knowing, Gifts of Transforming Hearts.
He advocated we be baptized in this Spirit, The Holy Spirit of God, as well.

This Spirit in Jesus formed all the systems of the world.
Through Jesus All Things were Created (Colossians 1:16).

Are we still wallowing in the waters of the world
and maybe we need to move on to this Baptism in Spirit of Jesus?
Two Spiritual greats in the last 100 years urged that
we be baptized in the Holy Spirit to have nonstop
miracle-producing power moving within the life of Jesus.
Charles Finney and John G. Lake credit this saturation of the
Holy Spirit as the reason for the unparalleled Spiritual
awakenings that happened repeatedly around them.
(Note this link to Lake's article on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.)
http://www.tentmaker.org/holy-spirit/baptism1.htm

Have we been watering down the greatness this Spirit
can display for us today?
Are we compromising about having this great potential as part of our lives too?
Are we writing it off as something for then and not now?

As a civilization, we are making a grave error.
Our experience and lifestyle in Spirit should be exceeding what
we read in the New Testament...
Jesus said "Greater things you will do..."
We should be utterly ashamed at ourselves
for our lack of commitment and expression of the Holy Spirit's Power in our lives.

Hosea the prophet referred to Jacob about wrestling with God until God Blessed him.(Hosea 12:4)
Do we desire the exceptional of Spirit so much that we are driven to seek God stubbornly until we have it too ... like Finney and Lake? They both experienced a time of tenacity with God until God gave them this saturated presence of His Spirit that was with them continually.

What is the price for this? (Luke 14)
Are we willing to make the personal investment?
Is it worth it?
… to have all the favor
and drawing power of God functionally active in our lives.

Then, as Jesus proclaimed, we will see all men drawn
to us and transformed by what we do.

Are we Spiritually, waiting for our cat to bark?