Marcel Oudejans's Public Library

Use the Crocodile Brain

When you meet someone for the first time, you don't react with a mathematical, linguistic or decision-maker mind. Your first reactions to a new person or idea are usually those of a crocodile brain: Should I eat it? Should I mate with it? Or should I kill it? That's a decision maker's natural reaction to new ideas.

The mind likes things that have high contrasts and simplicity. New ideas have to be fast and visual; they can't be abstract. So if you want to make the mind of a buyer or investor comfortable, the information you're presenting has to be fast, simple, visual, and with high contrast.

Make a Buyer Want You

The difference between "want" and "like" is based on "hot" vs. "cold" cognition. A hot cognitive process feeds on emotion; it's the "want" behind what you do. A cold cognition is based on an information-based decision matrix. Take your spouse or partner: You probably chose that person based on hot cognitions, rather than cold ones. You wanted to marry that person; you didn't sit down and analyze a decision matrix first.