It was 10 am and the queue at the cafe serving coffee that’s less than 48 hours out of the roaster was ridiculously long. The line moved impossibly slowly, and yet not a single person left it to go to one of the many cafes that could serve them a forgettable drink in moments. Leaving the line would feel like abandoning their belief about what makes coffee great (and worth waiting for).

Our beliefs influence our thoughts and our feelings, which in turn influence our actions.
As business leaders and marketers we obsess about influencing how people act, often before we fully understand what their motivations are in the first place.

What keeps your customer awake at night?
What does he value?
What does he fear?
What motivates him to act?
What is he unwilling to compromise on?
What else don’t you know about your customer that you should know?

If you don’t understand the customer’s worldview how can you hope to align with or shape it?

Image by Scott Beale.