Hot v Cold Decisions

I heard neuroscientist Barbara Sahakian discuss the ethics around ‘smart drugs’ the other day. Apparently a staggering one-fifth of all professors take some form of narcotic to sharpen their mental wires. And we’ll all clamour to soon as well by the sounds of it, despite the tribulations of Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro in recent films like Limitless.

Was I right in hearing that our brains make 35,000 decisions every day? Incredible.

I was fascinated that she distinguishes such decisions by two categories; hot & cold.

Cold ones are the rational. Hot are the emotional and hunch.

Then came the key Sales insight.

a lot of poor or risky decisions are made impulsively

It hit me what a juicy way to make a prospect that is abruptly dismissing us politely think again.

It reminds me of the time-honoured concept, urging that someone rather pauses to make an “informed decision”. Which when used correctly, is a belter to allow someone to reconsider without losing face.