16 Two Ways to Cause Action
A
s you probably already know, there are two ways to cause peo-
ple to take action. One is pain and the other is pleasure.
These are known throughout history. They are the two primary
human activators. In short, you can get people to move with a
board smacked across their butt or a juicy carrot dangling in front
of their face.
Most people in marketing and psychology agree that the first
motivator—pain—is more powerful than the second. While I
agree, I think that is a disservice to humankind.
Why add to the misery in the world? I say let’s make a difference
and focus on pleasure. Let’s make people happy. I think that is a
sounder way to help people, as well as to help you.
Can you imagine how wonderful life will be for all of us if we fo-
cused on our wants—our desires, our pleasures, our goals—and
not on our pains?
But let’s start with the basic formula for persuading people,
which traditionally includes the pain motivator. Starting here will
give you a better sense of how to use my revised system later, which
I explain in a moment.
This strategy is probably 2,500 years old and goes back to
Aristotle and the ancient Greeks. The great orators of that time