Left Brain vs Right Brain – Here’s How To Sell To Both
One event I speak at regularly is the Young Engineers of ASHRAE (YEA) Leadership Weekend.
Every time I speak at one of these Weekends, I’m always encouraged by the deeper insights the attendees take away. It makes me feel good knowing they’ll return to their respective employers asking better questions.
During one of these Weekends, an insightful young engineer from Calgary shared his thoughts on the challenge of becoming more right-brained (creative and intuitive) in a left-brain (facts and logic) discipline.
He described it with words to the effect of, “at university, we’re taught to quantify everything we do in terms of measurable or tangible improvements. For example, if I’m designing a child’s car seat, I have to explain that it’s safer because of the upgrades in design, material, and the strength of the fabric, etc.” and he continued to list more quantitative attributes.
Then he said something remarkably insightful. “What I’ve realized from attending this weekend is that the ability to communicate the value and outcomes of these improvements is more important to the owner of the car seat – the parents and the children who will ride in them – than all of the technical aspects I could ever provide them.”
He started to understand that value is primarily influenced by intangible factors – far more than by the hard, technical details alone.
Qualitative factors such as the customer’s trust in the manufacturer, their history of supporting their product, the aesthetics of the design, as well as the reputation of the brand or product within the marketplace – all of which are often impossible to quantify – are no less real.
To customers, they’re even more real than the specs.
What my young friend began to realize is that even if we have the best technical team, produce a great design, and create a superior product, it’s not enough to make the sale a success. Piling on more data and details with the hope of inspiring and motivating customers to buy from you isn’t enough.
Customers need emotional and intuitive reasons to buy, not just logical.
And while the quantitative and technical aspects of product design are obviously important – and in many cases critical – they are not what people are ultimately buying.
The experience for the customer needs to be positive, inspiring, and deliver intrinsic value if it’s going to be enough to get them to buy.
My young engineer friend saw how these subjective factors work together, along with the logical factors to create peace-of-mind within the customer. They help the customer to both feel and know that they’ve made a good buying decision, which is a critical factor in developing brand loyalty.
But why should an engineer or technical professional care about these non-technical aspects of a product or project? Because having a more holistic understanding – a bigger picture view – will always make you more valuable to your organization.
And increasing your value is the key to advancing your career.
If you can demonstrate that you can see things from multiple angles and consider the full effects of your decisions, it will help others – including your superiors – to realize that you’re more than an average employee.
You’ll be able to demonstrate that you think deeper because you care more. You seek to understand even beyond your own technical responsibilities.
Your superiors will begin to see you as someone who is capable of contributing beyond your current role, and they’ll begin to trust you with more responsibilities.
If you desire to transition into management or leadership roles in the future, having this right-brain/left-brain balance is a non-negotiable. Not to mention that in the meantime, it will help you to sell a lot better as well.