A Way of Life

"There are many things in life that will capture your eye, but only a few will capture your heart....pursue those."
Michael Nolan

Someone recently asked my a simple question: what The Rabbit Way is all about. Well, to put it simply The Rabbit Way is a way of life and it's based on three simple pillars:

Three Portuguese words meaning Amor=Love; Família=Family; Coragem=Courage.

Those three words are hand-written by me and my wife on a painting displayed at our house entrance to remind us who we are, why we exist and why we do what we do. However, if you truly want to understand the meaning of these three words, I need to tell you a true story: mine.

Discover your ideal customer

If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. - Lewis Carrol



Do you know who your ideal customer is?

You should. Why?

Brand addiction

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

What makes us addicted to an experience?

What makes us want to repeat it? Over and over again?

What makes us take the never ending quest in search of the same first time feeling?

The answer lies inside the brain pleasure and reward system.
Think about powerful addictions like games, drugs and sex. What do they have in common?
Three key characteristics: they are repetitive, high-emotion, high-frequency experiences.

Think how you can add these elements into your brand's customer experience, and you'll have your customers addicted to your brand!

More about the brain's pleasure systems at http://www.addictionscience.net/ASNreport01.htm

First time

Image by ntr23 via Flickr

When was the last time that did something for the first time?

Heard an awesome new song that gave you chills for the first time? Saw a new inspirational presentation? Read an article that change the way you look at something? Experienced a new product that made your life more fun? More simple? More happy?

We are constantly searching for the "first time" feeling. That's why you check your e-mail every time. Or your rss feed. Or your twitter account. You want to experience that feeling again!

Now, imagine that you could add that feeling to your product or service.

Every customer interaction would make them relive that feeling again.

How do you think you could make them feel?

What do you think it would happen?

Magic in Business

Image via Wikipedia

Have you ever told a friend something like this: "Yesterday I went to dinner in this regular restaurant. The customer service was regular and the food was normal! Yes. It was a nice experience."

We don't share normal or regular experiences. The moments that we share the most are the magical ones. The ones that fascinate us. The ones that blow our expectations away. If you're in business, any business, from the C-level executive to the doorman, your mission is to make magic happen.

Image by Express Monorail via Flickr

Magic is the art of defying reality.

But what is real? Isn't real our perception of what we experience? If this is true, if you target your customer's perception of your brand, you will make magic happen! Think about Disney. They are in the Happiness and Magic business. Their goal is to make every interaction with them a magical moment!
 
How can you make magic in business?

Here's some ideas:

• Make your customer's pain disappear.
• Transform your customer support focus from finding who's to blame to finding the solution.
• Instead of crying for your customers attention try to listen to them first and deliver that extra unexpected touch that will make the difference.
• Make every customer visit to your shop unique and memorable.
• Remember that we have 5 senses. Use all of them in your customer experience

Think how you can deliver a magical customer experience and you'll turn your customers into fans!

And you? How do you make magic happen?

Be yourself and change the world

Image via Wikipedia

You want to stand out from the crowd. You want to differentiate yourself from your competition. You want to drive your competition crazy! You want everybody to understand your value!
But how?
All previous sentences were focused on your competition. Well... I believe that, in order to beat your competition, you have to focus on yourself first.
Be yourself!

The NBA Way to Success

Image via Wikipedia

Success.

You know what it looks like, right? It's when the clouds clear, the sun shines and the angels start singing... it's a beautiful thing to witness. It happens when you finally reach the goal you worked so much for.

The problem is: it's not going to be easy because, in any game, you're not the only one that's trying to win. There will be the ones that will try to break the rules and put you out of the game. Others will try to break you. Others though, will help you.

NBA players know a lot about this. Their goal? Wining the championship by scoring as much points as possible while preventing the other team to do the same. Their problem? There's a total of 30 teams, each one with 15 players on their roster, making a total of 450 players competing for the same thing: wining!

The question is: how they succeed?

Analog vs Digital Business Management

Image by geekologie.com
We're living surround by an ever growing digital world.

Analog activities are becoming less relevant and replaced by their digital counterparts. The ultimate example of this is letters being replaced by e-mail. With 90 trillion emails sent on the Internet in 2009, who still writes a letter these days?

Why is analog still relevant and how can we leverage it to become more competitive?

Business lessons from Marylin Manson

Love him or hate him. Marilyn Manson is without doubt one of the most controversial and inspiring leaders in the music industry.

The music industry is one of the most competitive and challenging markets to be in business. There's plenty of competition and a dying business model that makes the path to success a hard walk.

However, Marilyn Manson did succeed! Millions of records sold. Sold out concerts around the globe.

So, what lessons can we learn and apply into our business?

Be like Coca-Cola

"You cant climb the ladder of success with the dress of failure" - Zig Ziglar

How many times did you feel like everyone didn't understand how great you are?
You have the skills, the know-how and the will to win... but you're not making an impact. And if you're not making an impact... then no one knows who you are.

In the past, a great company also had this issue. It had a great product but it wasn't making an impact. It's name? Coca-Cola. It's impact in history? Legendary.

Let me show you how you can benefit from Coca-Cola's history, go from being great to be seen as great and change the world!