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One of my mentors, Robin J. Elliott, introduced me to the concept of a ‘Hot Button’. What is that you ask? Well as Robin states, “Your WHY in life is your Hot Button, a strong motivator – something that a particular person wants more than anything else – the most pressing, urgent issue in their lives at this particular time. Their highest priority, the thing closest to their heart. This could be their child, their dog, their sport, their freedom, their need to be accepted, cash flow, an award, a holiday, a new toy, a show, a cruise, or a specific amount of money for a specific purpose. And it’s always

related to feelings, like stress, peace, fear, strain, power, freedom, control, embarrassment, etc.”

In business, knowing somebody’s ‘Hot Button’ – their WHY is a key component to success. Learning about your clients, business partners, competitors and finding out what it is that makes them tick will help you ensure that you deliver what they actually want. Build a relationship. As Zig Ziglar says, “You can get anything you want out of life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” We must understand in business that it is not about what “I” want – it’s about serving others.

When you know somebody’s ‘Hot Button’, you can put together the appropriate Joint Venture and everyone wins – the person solving the problem, the person whose ‘Hot Button’ is satisfied and yourself – you get paid. But first, you have to find out what that ‘Hot Button’ is, that requires listening and questioning skills. Open-ended questions like, “What do you mean by that? Tell me more? Yes? And? Why do you say that? What are you looking for? What is the most important/urgent/pressing thing in your life? What, why, how, when, who? What are your dreams/goals/pains/problems? If you had a magic wand that gave you three things in your life, what would they be?”

The magic wand question will likely get one or all three responses: money, health and happiness. You have to dig deeper and actually find out what they mean by health – what has to be in place for them to decide that they are healthy? How much money? By when? Why? What will that money buy? What will make them happy? Why? How will they know they are happy? The more specific the answers, the closer you will get to the ‘Hot Button.’ When you know what the ‘Hot Button’ is, you have their undivided attention.

Once you have identified the ‘Hot Button’ it is now time for you to solve the problem. For eg. Your friend Johnny wants a specific new car which you identify costs $500 per month to lease. You have established that Johnny’s client database is the exact demographic and psychographic model of your target market. Johnny may sell insurance, cars or computers. You know your sales ratio is 3:10, so for every 10 people you speak to you make three sales. Let’s assume that you are prepared to pay $100 per sale.