Earlier this week, serial entrepreneur, Richard Branson, asked global thought leader, Simon Sinek:

“If you were starting a business right now, what problem would you be setting out to solve, and why?”

Sinek’s response is not an obviously commercial one. He asks people to question how we relate to each other. Leaders today lack empathy. We need to be more human.

So, here I am, a well-known business coach and mentor in my circles in Israel. How can I give this message some meaning to my clients around Jerusalem and beyond?

As I was pondering away, I came across an item from “The Economist” magazine re the importance of humour in the workplace. Can it up productivity? It can certainly bring in additional clientele, when used creatively, as this petrol station in the USA found out.

What Sinek, the Economist and the petrol station team are telling us can be summed up as a lesson in 101 marketing: Find a way to communicate, directly and with clarity, to your target audience.

• Don’t create websites, which are full of catch phrases but distort or hide your core message.
• Revamp seemingly clever pricing policies that offer so many options, and thus your target audience cannot reach a decision.
• Remember who you are talking to and what is “their” objective. Whatever you have to sell, it is about them, not you!

Understand this critical dynamic, and you are starting to become that ‘human’ Sinek had referred to! Potential customers will listen to you. Sales will be engaged. You will have hit the commercial soft spot that Sinek alluded to.