ASK CONSUMERS NO QUESTIONS (and they'll tell you no lies)

Have you ever wanted to know what consumers are really thinking or why they do they do the things they do?

Have you ever wanted to know a consumer’s true opinion about something?

Well, I suppose you could just ask them . . . but you’d be WRONG!

The truth is, consumers can’t really tell you why or what they do. In a sense they lie! Not because they want to, but because they don’t really know the true reasons behind their actions.

Virtually 95% of all our actions are subconscious. It’s true. We have observed a consumer purchasing a health and beauty aide item simply because its color went well with that particular consumer’s bathroom décor. Yet when asked, the consumer first responded that she liked an ingredient in it.

Try surprising someone by tossing a wadded up piece of paper at them and watch as they quickly, automatically, without any conscious thinking, just catch it.

When you introduce yourself and extend your hand out to someone, they will quickly, automatically, without conscious thinking, place their hand in yours and shake it.

That’s because we all do so many things automatically, subconsciously and without thinking. Yet, when researchers want to know what drives a consumer to act, they will ask her why she does a certain behavior . . . and then, the consumer attempts to add a “logical” reason or afterthought to it. But they usually just make something up. And that’s not real helpful if you’re on a quest for the truth.

Marketers know the importance of impulse and subconscious thinking when it comes to consumer purchase patterns - they just don’t capitalize on this in research. They’ll use off-shelf displays, catchy packages, and cool looking logos, to get a consumer’s purchase interest. Yet, again, when it comes to research, marketers basically just ask consumers to offer “logical” explanations.

Uncovering deep insights into what and why consumers act or how they will act requires creative tools—tools that allow us to observe rather than just ask. Tools that allow us to see how consumers re-act not just act. Tools that tap into the consumer’s subconscious mind. Only then can one begin to uncover deep insights . . . and a goldmine of deep, true insights is exactly what propels breakthrough innovation and powerful marketing strategies.

Just what is a mythstake?

There’s an old saying in my neighborhood: “A Freudian slip may be revealing, but a Jungian slip is just a mythstake.”

Then again, I live in a weird neighborhood.

Hello and welcome to our InnovationMyths.com blog.

This is the place you can expect to find pithy, insightful and conventional-wisdom-busting takes on innovation.

And of course it’s the site that will be exploding all those business-killing myths that you (or your boss) still believe in.

A bit of a warning: Because we’re taking on the time-honored bromides of industry, these blog posts can make you a little uncomfortable. And they can make you laugh (uncomfortably). But if you stick with it, you may just get promoted.

So what are business “mythstakes” anyway?

To answer that, let’s start with myths. You know, those pesky (and all too numerous) misconceptions about innovation held by many executives and organizations today. The myths that not only hamper innovation, but lead to costly blunders.

Even a truth about innovation that is misapplied has the same net effect.

So if you persist in believing a myth or you mangle a truism, you are committing a “mythstake.”

Don’t do that.

We’ve just finished writing a new book chronicling some of the biggest doozies out there that have done some of the most damage. And we wrote it, not to wag a finger, but to reach out a hand . . . to help you become a truly world-class, wildly successful innovator.

While writing the book, we discovered a lot of things we weren’t expecting. New insights, new opportunities, and we’ll be sharing those with you—for FREE—as we merrily blog along. We’ll explain not only what to do, but HOW to do it.

One final word on Carl Jung: he understood that myths are no more about gods than about the physical world. In fact, he said myths are about the human mind and must be read symbolically.

This is true in business as well. You’re either part of the “collective unconscious” out there in the world, or you’re plugged in. Which camp do you identify with?

Innovation is more important that ever and more difficult than ever. So if you’re ready to try something NEW in your quest for positive, productive, and profitable change . . . this is the place.

Welcome home, to the innovationsmyths.com blog . . . where everybody knows your pain.