Irresistible

In just 60 seconds, Taylor Swift sold out all 18,200 seats at Madison Square Garden. Her music, and the experience she creates for fans, is irresistible.

Fistfights have broken out as eager customers battle it out to get a pair of Nike limited editions kicks.

In contrast, think about the cover band in the lobby of the nearby hotel, playing to a half-full room of apathetic listeners who offer neither money nor applause. Or the wide selection of athletic shoes available and readily in stock for under $30 at your local Walmart.

In nearly every industry, there are products and services that are bland, boring and basic. And then, there are the few that are irresistible. Bill Clinton has earned more than $100 million delivering speeches, yet most public speakers are lucky to earn a chicken dinner at the local Rotary Club.

So what makes Taylor Swift, Nike, and Bill Clinton irresistible, and how can you harness the same verve for your business? Here are four key ingredients:

■ Go to extremes. Irresistible products, services and people are typically extreme cases. They offer the absolute highest quality. Or lowest price. Or most extreme experience. They are the loudest or quietest; the biggest or smallest. Rarely do you find irresistibility in the middle of the pack.

■ Become unapologetic. Costco doesn’t try to be a plush retailer. Floyd Mayweather doesn’t pretend to be humble. Being irresistible means being authentic and unabashed. Take a stand, and never try to be all things to all people.

■ Tempt with exclusivity. The fear of missing out on something scarce boosts your irresistible factor. Limited editions, exclusive offers and scarce supply drive demand. The more rare, the more results.

■ Create emotional connections. Delivering on basic product or service expectations doesn’t create differentiation; being competent is merely the ante to play. Creating meaningful experiences with each interaction leads to being irresistible. Do you and your offering delight all five senses of your customers, audience or colleagues? If not, time to take it up a notch.

Even in challenging financial times, the Hermes Birkin bag is only available for the company’s most loyal customers. It’s so exclusive that mere mortals like us can’t walk into a store, plunk down $12,000-$20,000, and walk out with one of these purses.

The bags are so irresistible, that fashionistas often pay double (or more) to snag a used one on eBay.

What would it take to make you and your company just as irresistible? Instead of wasting money to market a mediocre product, make it irresistible. To advance in your career, make yourself irresistible to those you serve.

Alluring. Tempting. Desirable. When you amp up these factors, customers, investors and employers simply won’t be able to resist.

Read More

New Thinking for the New Era of Business

Albert Einstein famously noted, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used when we created them.” In our post-COVID world of ...

When an Astronaut Needs a Pen

Ever get stuck on a problem, only to realize you're solving for the wrong thing? That's exactly what happened when the rocket scientists at NASA ...

How Shake Shack Drives Innovation

Do you prefer the crispy mozzarella, tempura watercress, and black garlic mayonnaise cheeseburger or the pumpkin mustard, bacon, cranberries, and sage hot dog? For something ...

Lady Gaga’s Secret to Creativity

Just before she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, I watched Lady Gaga dazzle the live audience with a pitch perfect performance of ...

Creativity: Does Size Matter?

For some reason, we’ve been taught that for creativity and innovation to count they need to have a magnitude the size of the 1989 San ...

The Lexicon of Creativity

There’s more confusion around the meaning of the word innovation than the chaos at the airline ticket counter after a cancelled flight. Is there a difference between ...

The Brain Science of Becoming More Creative

When we hear stories about iconic leaders like Salesforce.com’s founder Marc Benioff, or widely celebrated virtuosos like Lin-Manuel Miranda for that matter, we immediately think ...

Correct the Overcorrect

When the misguided leaders at Enron, Tyco and Worldcom committed fraud and marred their shareholders with huge losses, the Securities and Exchange Commission rightfully swooped ...

Learning to Color

Fact: Creativity has become the most needed skill in business. It’s gone from a nice-to-have to becoming mission-critical. Fact: Creativity is a learnable skill. All humans have ...