The Case For Passion

(By Bob McCurdy) Earlier this week I came across an article titled, “The Effects of Communicating Passion in Advertising: How Messages Like ‘We love what we do!’ Shape People’s Product and Brand Evaluations.” The article concluded that:

– Brands that communicate their passion for their work in ads generate positive impact with consumers.

– Passion for what one does not only creates great work. Communicating that passion through advertising also has a positive impact on consumers.

– When informed that the brand is passionate about what it does, consumers expect that the brand will work harder and devote greater effort to its products and that the products consequently will be of better quality.

– The positive emotion the brand signals by stating its passion spills over to the consumer and his or her brand attitudes and purchase intentions.

It sounds a lot like the importance of passion in sales, where it:

– Dramatically influences a prospect’s actions. It’s amazing how little effort is required to sell someone on something we are passionate about, like our favorite Netflix series.

– Is infectious and brings about a “What does this person know that I don’t but should know” response.

– Is why clients enjoy spending more time with vendors who are passionate about their profession. Winning this face-time versus the competition is critical to making the sale. Passion plays a big part in making this happen.

– Persuades. In sales, it is not so much what we say but how we say it. If we don’t believe bone-deep in the value our assets provide, our pitch will be passionless and fall flat.

– Instills confidence — in both the seller and the buyer.

– Transfers conviction from the seller to the buyer. A buyer’s conviction will usually match the seller’s.

– Is not as common in business as it should be.

Motivational speaker Tony Robbins has said that, “Passion is the genesis of genius.” He nailed it.

There is often a misconception about passion. Commitment doesn’t follow passion. Passion follows commitment. If you want to become passionate about something, make a legitimate commitment to it and passion will soon follow.

Passion provides the ammunition to keep working toward excellence, which in turn fuels additional passion, resulting in a virtuous circle of continuous improvement. Absent passion, the fact that we are “selling” becomes blatantly obvious, resulting in lost business, as people inherently resist being “sold.”

If your career is in need of a boost of professional passion, boost your professional commitment. It is a lot easier to ignite your passion for your current responsibilities than searching for and landing a job that you believe might possibly lead to it.

Passion in advertising can also get your clients to believe that your advice is more insightful, that you are more professional, better qualified, care more, and will work harder on their behalf than the competition.

Copious amounts of passion exist within each of us. Sometimes all that’s required for it to burst forth is a jolt of renewed professional commitment.