Avoid Envy At All Costs

If your customers feel someone or something is superior to them, they will envy it. And if you are that “superior” thing, envy is not good.

When customers envy something, they will try to pull it down. They will try to make it an equal. For example, if you envy Donald Trump (you shouldn’t) you may try to pull him down by feeling that he was given his business by his father and couldn’t have done it on his own, or that he doesn’t deserve it and is just lucky, or that he is likely doing shady deals. Envy makes us wish ill on the one we envy. We are unlikely to be champions for them. So, if you are the one that is envied, you’re in trouble.

But on the flip side there is the Phoenix Effect. If your audience sees that you have fallen, they will actually try to pull you up. Don’t confuse this with pity. Pity is where your audience feels you are hopeless. On the other hand, we want to see Phoenixes soar.

The Phoenix Effect

In the Phoenix Effect, customers know you have the ability to rise, but are currently struggling (in some fashion), so they root for you and support you. If you are touting your business as your industry’s #1, you are not using the Phoenix Effect. Instead show customers your flaws and faults. Show them that you are striving, but not perfect. Show them that you are flawed, that you struggle, that you are human.


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