THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: MENTAL MARKETING FOR SUCCESS

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me once again at home, starting the week with my typical WIG calls with our HomeServices of America leaders. On Tuesday, I attended the weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy Presidents Meeting and on Wednesday, I began the day with Long & Foster’s senior leadership meeting, where I presented 4DX Tune-Up. Throughout the week, I hosted nine succession planning calls and this morning, I sat down to write down my leadership thoughts for you.

Marketing is an incredibly influential asset to any business. It can create sales, increase brand awareness and trust, foster deeper connections between a team, and show prospective customers why your service is so valuable to them.

But marketing isn’t just a function of the external, it’s also an internal process that can be used to reshape your mindset. Every day, we’re in constant communication with ourselves, listening and reacting to our internal voice.

We can think of our internal voice as the chief marketing officer of our lives. Throughout the day, it constantly speaks to us, shaping the cues we’re receiving and internalizing them as good, bad or something in between. This means the power we have over our mindset is limitless. When we speak to ourselves, our brain always listens, which is why it’s important to pay attention to what we’re saying at all times.

Some of the most elite athletes in the world hire personal trainers not for their body or physical improvement but for their minds. These psychological trainers create effective exercises to toughen the mentality of their players.

Retraining a mind is much like a mental advertising campaign. Consider one of the most effective campaigns in the world: Nike’s iconic, Just do it. Did you know that Nike founder Phil Knight originally rejected the slogan? A founder of Nike’s ad agency at the time, Dan Wieden from Wieden + Kennedy, urged Knight to use the slogan. And, as any good leader would, Knight trusted his team and went with it. You know how that decision turned out …

The dialogue inside your mind creates the motivating ad campaigns that will increase your positive thoughts and productive actions. There are a few personal ad campaigns that have worked for me:

• When someone asks how I’m doing, I always say: “Stupendous but getting better.” This slogan sometimes throws people off because they have to stop and think about it. They’re caught off guard by my unexpected response, and the phrase often motivates them to adopt a more optimistic outlook as well.
• “Looking good, feeling good, ought to be in Hollywood.” This is a fun internal ad campaign because it plays on a lighthearted approach to self-confidence and a positive attitude. When you look and feel good, you’ll perform better. This could be achieved through M.E.D.S. (Meditation, Exercise, Diet and Sleep) and a solid daily routine that makes you the best version of yourself you can be.
• “Do or do not, there is no try.” This slogan comes to us by way of the wise and powerful Yoda. And it’s a good one. In leadership and life, there is no “maybe” or “try.” There’s just: Can you get it done or not? The answer should be that you can.
• “Your past does not equal your future.” Spoken by motivational guru Tony Robbins, this quote is about the possibility of the present. What you do today influences how successful you’ll be tomorrow. It’s like business planning your life. I’ve written before that real estate operates on a 90-day cycle, so what you do now will show up 90 days later. While your mind may not operate on quite as long of a cycle, what you do and how you think about your circumstances today will directly affect your future.

So, what’s the message? Creating a mental ad campaign is powerful because it will influence our inner voice, which affects how we react to our external environment and what decision we’ll make when you do. Take some time over the next few days to devise your own self-advertisement, then use it to finish this year strong and start 2021 with a positive mindset for success.