Tag Archives: Music

June 17, 2013 · 9:12 am

Speak In Music

I was had a chat over the weekend with a friend who can speak music. I don’t mean “sing” and that’s not some sort of weird linguistic screw up in my writing. Let me explain what I mean and why it’s important to you and your business.

Rama First Nation - Ojibwe Language Dictionary

(Photo credit: Robert Snache – Spirithands.net)

Think about many of the laughable marketing materials you’ve seen over the years. Generally they fail for a few reasons, one of which is an inability to speak the language of the target audience. I remember when I was younger laughing at companies trying to be “hip.” I still laugh at the messages targeted at really young people when it’s the parents making the buying decision. It’s an inability to speak the language, and it’s just as bad as running English language ads in a country where the native tongue is something else. Of course, there are the classic attempts to speak the native language and failing miserably (the Chevy Nova being marketed in Mexico with a name that translates to “doesn’t go” isn’t great for a car and is my personal favorite). So what do we do?

We try to speak music.  What I mean is that music is a universal language – Bach, Mozart, Miles Davis, and others speak to us all – language isn’t an impediment.  Even music that is language-centric can convey a message and emotion – look at the success here of “Gangnam Style” and let me know if you need Korean to “get” the song.

That was the point of the conversation.  We all need to think in more of a universal language as businesspeople.  Sure, some of us are focused on specific segments, but the more “musically” we convey our message and conduct ourselves, the better our chances of success.  My friend was explaining a feeling to me and didn’t use words – just a link to a song.  I got it right away.  It’s the sort of different thinking all of us need if we’re to break through.

And the best part is you don’t even need to buy a dictionary!  Does that make sense?

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May 15, 2013 · 10:57 am

Playing In A Different Mode

We haven’t done music here on the screed in a while so how about we take on modal music? For those of you without the benefit of music theory classes, modes are types of musical scales that create very specific sounds. Not much of an explanation, but if you play a “C” major scale (all the white keys on a piano) while playing in the key of “D” rather than using a typical “D” scale, you’re playing modally.  If you know the Metallica song “Sandman” you’re hearing modal music.  Same thing with Led Zep‘s “Dancing Days.”  To your ear they’re not exactly in a major key or a minor key and they create a very specific sound, and no, it’s not just heavy metal bands that use it.

Interesting, but what’s it doing here on a business blog?

As I see it, we should all think about playing modally in our businesses.  Ask yourself what happens if you continue to play a certain way but do so in a different environment:   a “C” scale in the key of “D” has a business equivalent of transforming content cross-platform for example.  It can also involve how one creates a specific feeling that might not be as straightforward as, say, a major or minor scale.  In other words, maybe we need to spend less time thinking linearly and a lot more time thinking modally.

Modes aren’t just musical either.  There are modal verbs in English which we use when we want to express our intentions and attitudes, talk about necessity and possibility, or make offers, requests, or suggestions.  “Can, may, will, would” and others are all examples.  They’re “helper” words.  “Can you shut the door?” is a good example and points out that modals often bring confusion along with them.  I raise this because while we’re adjusting our musical modal thinking we can bring about the sort of confusing jumble that modal verbs can cause (in the previous example, you don’t know if the speaker is asking for someone to close the door of if they have the ability to do so).  When we start to do business in different ways, staying focused on clarity needs to go along with the effort.

You know it when a business is playing modally.  You take notice of their marketing because it sounds different and yet is very clear. The real question is how do we all get to that place?  Thoughts?

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February 7, 2013 · 12:57 pm

A Sales Lesson From Hunter And Garcia

Every once in a while I like to make business points based on something I pull out of music. As you might be able to tell from a few of my previous posts, often those lessons come from the music of The Grateful Dead. Today is no exception.

Robert Hunter

The song “High Times” was written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia and was in and out of their concert rotation beginning in 1969. It has nothing to do with drugs despite the title but as you’ll see it has quite a lot to do with sales.  This is the first verse:

You told me goodbye
How was I to know
You didn’t mean goodbye
You meant please don’t let me go

While the song is about loss and is a plea for a significant other to come back, there’s also a message for anyone who is selling something.  That message is about listening for the meaning behind the words.  In this case “goodbye” meant “hold me tighter, convince me to stay.”   How often do we hear “no” and not understand, as marketers or salespeople  that “no” means “not yet”?  It’s not an invitation to walk away.  “Too expensive” doesn’t mean cut your price.  I take it to mean “show me more value.”

The ability to listen and to read the meaning behind the actual words is a critical skill we probably don’t teach or practice often enough.  Someone who asks a slew of questions is demonstrating a keen interest to buy.  We need to probe to find out what is keeping them from satisfying that need.  We need to hear meaning and not just what was said.

“How was I to know” is a pretty easy question to answer but getting the meaning isn’t in many cases.  Does that make sense?

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