It's a Free World

15 Psychological Triggers to Convert Leads into Customers

2016-01-12T22:42:00.001-08:00

In every sales situation you can use these psychological triggers to convince, persuade and convert your leads and prospect into happy paying customers.

Here you find 15 tips and tricks that play on the subconscious mind of your leads. This is a easy and quick summary based on an article from Kissmetrics and Entrepreneur.

Understanding these and knowing how to use them in your sales pitch will help you to win over customers and grow your business.

1. The Driving Force of All Human Behaviour

Need to avoid pain
Desire to gain pleasure

We do thing because it gives us pleasure. In order to influence “them”, you need to know what already influences them

A to Z Technique

A: Where they are now
Z: Where they want to be

2. Novelty

Exposure to something new and unfamiliar increases the release of dopamine in the brain

3. Explain Why

Our rational mind is always searching for meanings. People are willing to do more if you give them a reason.

4. Tell A Story

It triggers emotion and we are emotional creatures.

5. Simplify Your Solution

People will always choose the least demanding course of action.

6. Create A Common Enemy

And Ally with your prospect against it.

The common enemy is the reason they are not getting the results they want.

We create common enemies because it unites us with groups of people we believe to be like us.
Plus it gives an explanation why bad thing happen in the world.

7. Inspire Curiosity

Based on the information gap theory: What we know and what we want to know.

Curiosity inspires action and triggers activities.

It’s also associated with pleasure.

8. Build Anticipation

Create publicity for you products before they are released to get people exited about them.

9. Use Social Proof

Human beings are social creatures, we look to others to determine what actions we should take.

10. Create References

We focus on the relative advantage of one thing over another and estimate value accordingly.

11. Make Your Potential Customer Feel Significant

Make them feel important by letting them know we care about them.

12. Build A Community

We have an inherent need to be part of a social community and feel connected to others.

Give the prospect the feeling that you service/product will help them get what they want.

13. What is Hot of the Press?

We react to what is more prevalent in our minds.

The more we are triggered about a product/idea the more we will talk about it.

14. Implement Scarcity

The less there is of something, the more people perceive to be a highly valued commodity. Which in turn means that the more they will want to buy it.

15. Build Controversy

Mild controversy in your marketing engages audience triggers curiosity and anger.

Challenge 1 of the 3 B’s: Behaviour, Belief or Belongings.

The Power of Habit

2014-03-19T08:12:00.001-07:00

Why we do what we do and how to change

by Charles Duhigg.

I just finished this book: 'The Power of Habit' and it's really mind blowing.

Everybody has habits, good and bad ones. We don't think about how they were born or created, but always we would like to change our bad habits.

Habits can be described as for example riding a bicycle, driving a car, smoking, nail biting.... everything we do actually can be described as habit.

But have you ever thought about it how our habits started to exist?

Well I have, and that was the reason why I bought this book. For years and years I've been smoking cigarettes, even if i know they are bad for my health (like everybody knows). But that doesn't stop us from keep on smoking, right?

When I started to read this book, I had one goal in mind: how to stop smoking and change this bad habit.

Every habit starts with a cue, which kickstarts a routine, which in turn gives back an award.

The clue is if you want to change a habit or create a new one, you should find your trigger(s) - cue('s) which kickstarts your routine and gives you the reward you want. Remark, the reward is not always what you expect.

Like in my example, smoking cigarettes, the cue or trigger can be a couple things: boredom, stress, social environment, food, situations, when drinking and friends. The routine, or in other words, my answer on these trickers was to light up a cigaret. The reward I received is different for every cue, e.g. for boredom I felt less bored and had 'something' on hands, for stress it 'calmed' me down (by the way, you know that if you smoke a cigaret you actually get more stress? Read the book 'Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking' by Allen Car), for social environment it gave me a sense of belonging to a group, after food it gave a feeling of closure (but I soon realize that I don't have it when I'm with not smokers).

Once I had figured out my cues/triggers, I knew that at that time I was vulnerable to smoke a cigaret, and that I had to do something. So what I did is created different 'routines' whenever I felt the urge to light up a cigaret.

Anyway to make a long story short, the book is a must read for anybody who want to quit a bad habit or anybody who wants to start a good habit (like exercising in the morning or meditating or .... you name it).

Here you can find 2 easy charts on

How to CREATE a habit:

How to CHANGE a habit:

We only exist to serve

2013-12-09T17:54:00.001-08:00

Selling and CSRS

Stay close to your customer and help them solve their problems.

Business opportunity comes from the difference between

the current reality and the desired future – it is the tension or energy that is created that causes action.

There is no such thing as a 'problem' - a problem is an opinion, i.e., it is a subjective view. A hole in your tooth might appear like a problem to you, but for a dentist it is a business opportunity.

The reason companies exist is to help people… whilst I have always said we are in business to solve a customer problem, Fred argued "the customer solved his problem with our help"… “We only exist to serve”.

Fred Kofman

Creativity is....

2013-12-04T02:34:00.000-08:00

Let’s talk about the different aspects of creativity: What is creativity? What does it mean and encompass? How do we know if something is creative? What are the key aspects of creativity? And what can you do, to boost your creativity?

1. Creativity is… useful.

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it”, said the American inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison. A great creative idea must be useful; it must be meaningful and make the world a better place; it must address a worthwhile issue in a relevant, appropriate, functional way. How do you know if your idea is useful? Here’s Edison again: “Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.” And “The Father of Advertising”, David Ogilvy, echoed this when he said, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”

Questions:

How much meaning do your value propositions make? How to make your products and services more meaningful and useful? What does your sales trend tell you about the usefulness of your products?

2. Creativity is… fresh and new.

“Creativity is seeing something that doesn’t exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God,” said Michele Shea. All truly creative ideas are really new. While they usually build on existing concepts, creative ideas are fresh and unprecedented. And like fresh milk, ideas should be dated so you can act on them before they go bad.

Questions:

How fresh are the ideas that your business is built on? What’s their expiration date?

3. Creativity is… original and unique.

If it’s not original, it’s not creative. Albert Einstein was joking when he said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” Truly creative ideas are one-of-a-kind. They are unique. And like those ideas, the geniuses who produce them are themselves one-of-a-kind, and they celebrate what makes them unique — even when it means being deemed misfits or “black sheep” who do not belong in the herd.

Questions:

How original and unique are the things that you offer to your customers? Are you offering “me-too” products and services, or are they original, unique creations? How much of your originality and uniqueness do you display in your work?

4. Creativity is… beautiful.

R. Buckminster Fuller said, “When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” Aside from being fresh, original, useful and functional, the best creative solutions are beautiful.

Questions:

How beautiful are the products, services, and solutions that you provide to the market? How can you make them more beautiful, even sexy?

5. Creativity is… simple.

Leonardo da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Simplicity is another hallmark of creativity. But why? “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction,” said Albert Einstein. Some of the most creative products or solutions are notable for their simplicity.

Questions:

How simple or complex are your market offerings? How can you add more value to your clients and yourself by making things simpler?

6. Creativity is… playful, funny, and fun.

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves,” said the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. Having a surprising insight or conceiving a new, original idea is often a by-product of creative play. As my fellow creativity coach Mitch Ditkoff said, “It’s no accident that AHA and HAHA are spelled almost the same way.” Because creativity and play go hand in hand, outstanding creative concepts contain elements of fun, wit and playfulness, and most creative geniuses are witty, playful people, too.

Questions:

How playful and humorous is your workplace? How much fun is it for your clients to do business with you? How can you increase the fun factor at your company to make it more creative?

7. Creativity is… pleasurable, addictive, hedonistic, and sexy.

“Creativity is a drug I cannot live without,” said the Hollywood movie producer Cecil B. DeMille. Living a creative life is addictive and pleasurable, which is why anyone who has the courage to live life creatively cannot go back to working in what Scott Adams calls “Cubicleville”. The pleasure that creativity gives those who create is often reflected in outputs that are pleasurable to watch, use, and interact with, and may even have sex appeal. Deepak Chopra said, “Creativity is ultimately sexual — I’m sorry — but it is!”

Questions:

How addicted to creativity are you? How can you make your value offerings more pleasurable and sexy?

8. Creativity is… the courage to fail.

“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail”, noted the American inventor and founder of Polaroid Edwin H. Land. Other famous inventors like James Dyson (“The key to success is failure… Success is made of 99 percent failure”), Charles F. Kettering (“It is not a disgrace to fail. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world”) and Thomas A. Edison (“’I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work”) likewise emphasized the importance of temporary setbacks and failure as essential part of a rapid prototyping approach and of the creative (learning) process on how to eventually create new value and make things work.

Questions:

When have you failed the last time? What have you learned from your failure? How may you vary your approach to succeed the next time? How does your company look at failure? How often do you dare to be wrong?

9. Creativity is… the interplay of creation and destruction.

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones,” noticed the famous British economist John Maynard Keyes. Everyone knows that great creativity creates something new and useful, but few are aware that great creativity often starts with destroying the old to make space for the new.

Questions:

What is an “old idea” that makes you feel scared? What deserves being destroyed to make space for a new, better creation?

10. Creativity is… perfect imperfection.

“Perfectionism is the enemy of creation,” believed the writer John Updike. And he is not alone. “Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything,” commented the French artist Eugene Delacroix. Likewise, the Spanish artist Salvator Dali advised: “Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” Truly excellent creative concepts often border perfection, yet resemble more a state that I call “perfect imperfection”, which is in line with Vince Lombardi’s insight that: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

Questions:

How much of a perfectionist are you? In what ways does the aim for perfection restrain you in creating ideas and outputs, and in living a creative life?

11. Creativity is … pure passion.

”Creativity is the quality that you bring to the activity that you are doing. It is an attitude, an inner approach – how you look at things . . . Whatsoever you do, if you do it joyfully, if you do it lovingly, if your act of doing is not purely economical, then it is creative,” observed the spiritual teacher Osho. Clearly, it’s passion for their chosen creative work and the joy from successfully resolving a creative challenge that drives Creatives, and not money. “People will be most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself — and not by external pressures,” summarized the American psychologist Teresa Amabile her research findings into the motivational side of creativity.

Questions:

How passionate are you about your work? Do you do what you do just because of the money? Or do you love what you do and follow your work with all your heart and full of creative zest?

12. Creativity is… sensitivity to problems and opportunities.

“Creativity is… seeing something that doesn’t exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God,” noted Michele Shea. A central aspect of a creative mind is problem or opportunity sensitivity, the ability turn a problem into an opportunity or to spot an opportunity to create something new and valuable out of nothing. “Anyone can look for fashion in a boutique or history in a museum. The creative explorer looks for history in a hardware store and fashion in an airport,” suggests Robert Wieder. But note that finding a problem or opportunity alone is only a starting point to creation, as the American poet James Russel Lowell reminds us: “Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found.”

Questions:

How sensitive are you to notice problems and sport opportunities? When was the last time that you turned a problem into an opportunity, or pursued an opportunity to create new value?

13. Creativity is … playing with constraints.

“Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem,” noted Rollo May. Playing with this seemingly paradoxical balance between freedom and constraints is a key creative strategy. For example, when we ask “What if”-questions such as “What if you had to double your revenues within a year? Or within a month?”, we impose a time constraint, while with the question “What if senior management tripled the budgets for your division?”, we remove a monetary constraint. In both cases, this play between imposing and removing limiting constraints is a surefire way to set your imagination on fire.

Questions:

What limiting constraints could you remove to free your imagination? What limiting constraints could you impose to get you going and move out of your comfort zone?

14. Creativity is… freedom.

The Russian expressionist Wassily Kandinsky noted: “There is no must in art because art is free.” Imagine an institution or society that limits and restricts the open access to certain types of information, and monitors what information people view and share; that expect their people not to ask a lot of questions (and particularly not impermissible ones). Do you expect the people that live and work inside such a tightly controlled box to really think out-of-the box? To come up with outstanding creativity? “Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty”, believes the American author Bryant H. McGill rightly. Clearly, creativity is all about freedom and florishes in free environments and societies.

Questions:

How much freedom does your company provide to your employees?

15. Creativity is… you.

“There is a genius in all of us”, noted Albert Einstein. I agree. Although you may not agree with Einstein and me, there is also a creative genius in you. At least, you were a highly creative beginner when you were a young child, as we all were.

Questions:

How creative are you these days? How creative were you as a young child? What can you do to reconnect to your inner creativity? How can you start living a more creative life?

Conclusion:

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun,” as the American author Mary Lou Cook summarizes it in one line. When would now be a good time to indulge in some creative activity? And what other key dimensions of creativity have you noticed? Please note that this list of sixteen principles of great creativity is by no means conclusive — so feel invited to add to your own views on what “Creativity is…” for you.

This article was first published in the Bangkok Post on 4 July 2013.© Dr. Detlef Reis / Thinkergy Limited 2013.

6 Principles of Consultative Selling

2013-11-27T23:13:00.000-08:00

Régis Lemmens from Sales Cubes enlightened me about 6 Principles of Consultative Selling, it reminded me of the 9 Laws of Attraction.

These 6 principles can be used and will always work to persuade your customer, here they are

Likability: flatter your customer, let him feel important, like attracts like
Consistency: conditioning, if you say this is important to you, you should also act to it
Reciprocity: Somebody does something for you, you feel like doing something back
Scarcity: Now or never, let him think that this it's now or never, people will feel like if they don't buy it, they are missing out of something...
Credibility: proof your credibility or start with a weakness its shows honesty, and then you build up to your strengths...
Crowd: people do what others do, other companies such as ... or competitors use this product/service also...

You can use these principles in your sales meeting or sales visits, the best one is Consistency, this together with the SPIN selling technique (what problem do you have, so what could be a solution, what is your need... OK, I have this solution for you problem and it will give you this benefit that suites your need --> consistency!!!) and don't forget to flatter your customer (what a nice office) or look for same interests (doing same sport, reading the same book, and so on.)

Danny Brown's - Sunday Slide Share

2013-11-25T17:53:00.001-08:00

A while ago I stumbled on this blog of a famous Sociale Media and Marketing expert, Danny Brown. His blog is the 1 # marketing blog in the world.
Every Sunday he shares his favorite Slide Share about marketing.
I've been following him now for a couple weeks, and every week I learn something new.
Here are the last 3 very interesting insights and information about Mobile Marketing and online campaigns:
* Say Goodbye to the Campaign Calender
* 50 Amazing Facts About Mobile Marketing
* 5 Reasons Why You Need to Be Mobile Ready for 2014

Bangkok Life Day #192

2013-08-31T01:10:00.001-07:00

Allright Day 192 in Bangkok

At a poolparty in Sofitel So :)

Every last saturday of the month @250THB

On Presentations

2012-06-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

Funny, I just came across a small yellow note in an old agenda from 2010-2011 and it had 1 site on it: http://www.garrreynolds.com

Garr Reynolds, is a professor of Management at a Japanese University, where he teaches Marketing, Global Marketing and Multimedia Presentations. And he is the former Manager of Worldwide User Group Relations at Apple Computer Inc.

Like Steve Jobs, he's a crack in giving presentations. Actually, as I said, he teaches about presentations, writing about presentations and given hundreds of presentations in public.

On his site and his blog, 'presentationzen' he writes and gives tremendous of tips for giving presentations as a natural. You can find tips about:

Organization and Preparation: improvisation doesn't work always ;)
Delivery tips: how to present like a natural
Slide tips: how to make you ass kicking slides and tips about color picking, fonts, audio, graphs...

Garr Reynolds also is specialized in Branding (of brands and personal branding- his golden tip is that everybody should brand him/herself and this through or by help of a personal website, like his) and Design Basics (which I also love, as I studied Communication science).

Looking forward to get to learn more, especially about the personal branding.

Brussels Wallpainting

2012-02-23T14:19:00.001-08:00

Just spotted this today in the neighborhood of Anneessens, Cellebroersstraat

The Meaning Behind a Kiss

2012-02-16T01:45:00.003-08:00

Just stumbled on this and really adore it, couldn't find a way to share directly from the page, easier this way... Enjoy it!

A kiss on the lips means

I love you

A kiss on the ear means

You are special

A kiss on the nose means

Laughter

A kiss on the cheek means

Friendship

A kiss on the forehead means

I comfort you

A kiss on the back of your hand means

I adore you

A kiss on the shoulder means

You are wonderful

A kiss anywhere else means

Be careful

Playing with your hair means

I cant live without you

Holding your hand means

Happiness

Arms around your waist means

You’re mine and I need you

A hug means

I care

Nibbling on your ear means

Start warming up

Smiling at each other means

I like you

Lifting eyebrows/winking means

Flirtation

Looking around means

Hiding feelings

A tender kiss on the side of your lips means

You’re mine

Wetting your lips means

Waiting for a kiss

A tear drop means

I’m losing you

Crying means

I lost you

When she stares at your mouth

Kiss her

When she pushes or hits you like a dumbass cause she thinks she’s stronger than you

Grab her and don’t let go

When she starts cussing at you trying to act tough

Kiss her and tell her that you love her

When she’s quiet

Ask what’s wrong

When she ignores you

Give her your attention

When she pulls away

Pull her back

When you see her at her worst

Tell her she’s beautiful

When you see her start crying

Just hold her and don’t say a word

When you see her walking

Sneak up behind her and hug her waist from behind

When she’s scared

Protect her

When she steals your favorite hat

Let her keep it and sleep with it for a night

When she doesn’t answer for a long time

Reassure her that everything’s okay

When she looks at you with doubt

Back yourself up

When she says she likes you

SHE REALLY DOES MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW!!

When she bumps into you

Bump her back and make her laugh

When she tells you a secret

Keep it safe and untold

When she looks at you in your eyes

Don’t look away until she does

When she says it’s over

She still wants you to be hers

You can find the original blog from Ake92 here.

Streetart

2012-01-31T11:14:00.001-08:00

I found these Wall designs in Leuven, Belgium on a building close by the station...

Light festival Ghent - Belgium

2012-01-30T02:38:00.000-08:00

Phone Boot/Aquarium

Seven Personality Traits of Top Salespeople

2012-01-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

I came to an interesting article via via on the blog of 'Harvard Business Review'. It's about 7 key personalities that top salespeople have and that makes them different from lower performing salespeople:

Modesty

Selling Style Impact: Team Orientation

Conscientiousness

Selling Style Impact: Account Control

Achievement Orientation

Selling Style Impact: Political Orientation

Curiosity

Selling Style Impact: Inquisitiveness

Lack of Gregariousness

Selling Style Impact: Dominance

Lack of Discouragement

Selling Style Impact: Competitiveness

Lack of Self-Consciousness

Selling Style Impact: Aggressiveness

I don't like to copy to much, so if you're interested you can read the whole article here.

SPIN selling technique by Neil Rackham

2012-01-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday 25 January I went to a workshop of Sales Cubes organized by Software in Brussels at Tour & Taxis. The workshop was about Consultative Selling and how to use it. It's a special technique that is based on SPIN selling.

SPIN selling is a technique that is developed by Neil Rackham and is based on scientific research about psychology and what persuades people. It's a way of asking questions to find out the problems and implied & explicit needs of a customer.

Situation Questions
Problem Questions -----> Implied Needs
Implication Questions
Need Payoff Questions ----> Explicit Needs
Benefits

Situation questions

Asking questions about background facts of the customer's situation.

Purpose: based on this information the seller can identify the potential problems the buyer might have.

Problem questions

Asking questions about problems and dissatisfaction's that the customer is currently experiencing.

Purpose: to focus the discussion on the problems and the needs of the customers that you as a seller can address.

Implication questions

Asking questions about the consequences of the problems

Purpose: these questions enable the seller to measure the amount of pain the current problems are causing the buyer.

Need payoff questions

Asking questions about the added value to the customer when solving these problems.

Purpose: these questions will enable the seller to measure the amount of benefits his or her product will have for the customer.

When having asked these questions, you can use the FAB sales model to sell your product.

Feature --> Advantage --> Benefits (for the customer)

More information on these subjects you can find by clicking on the links.

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

2012-01-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been trying to read more books, I started last year with buying 3 books, and actually it's a little embarrassing but I'm now around page 50 of the last one. Hum explanations -I don't read that often in it, only when I'm on the train- doesn't matter ;)

Anyway the first book is from the same author of 'The Black Swan', is 'Fooled by Randomness' and is about the hidden role of chance in life and in the markets and statistics (not so easy to understand sometimes because of his use of difficult words). The second book is 'Toekomstmakers' (translation: future thinking) and its about the art of thinking ahead, by making scenario's of what could happen in the future and how your company could play on it.

'The Black Swan' that I'm reading now is about the impact of the highly improbable. In other words the black swan is an extreme event, it's not because you only saw white swans in your life that their can not be a black swan. It goes about the problem of induction. At first I didn't really understand it, but Nassim really explains it very good. Induction is a way of reasoning, in which one makes a decision to generalize a particularly situation or happening. And that is what 'The Black Swan' goes about, generalize situations, happenings, idea's and so on, but it's not because you never saw it, or it never happened that it can not happen.... he looks again at statistics. Statistics gave you a probability that something can happen. It doesn't exclude it can not happen. For example if you go to the doctor for an examination if you would have cancer or not, if the test is negative, it doesn't mean that you don't have cancer, it just means that their is a probability that you don't have cancer. The doctor didn't find anything, but it doesn't mean that is 100 % sure that you don't have cancer.

While reading 'The Black Swan' I have the feeling I can reflect this to the previous book about future thinking. 'The Black Swan' handles about unexpected events in live, and that if you know that their could be unexpected events in live, in the market or wherever, you can 'plan' to it...you can make scenario's to handle these unexpected and extraordinary events in live, in that way you have an action plan or a strategy if these 'black swans' happen.

A more clearer description:

"A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11" ~ Amazone

To conclude: reading from time to time an interesting book, broadens my mind, perspective and view on the world. It also gives me idea's for the future, on personal or professional level.

Some links:

Train'ing'

2012-01-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

Every week I take a couple times the train. As I live in Leuven but work in Brussels and Ghent it's like a second home :) it all started when I was 17, when my mother decided to move to Antwerp with the family and I still went to school in Ghent. Back in those days I 'trained' only 4 times a week to my school because I had and have those wonderfull friends who offer me a place to sleep. Today the amount of trains is raised to 6 or 8 times a week... In the beginning I hated it, but now I kinda like it. You always have some time to think things over, do some homework, take a little nap, call some friends, catch up some office work, get up to date with the world (by reading the newspaper-in Belgium we have this free paper called 'the metro' which is always available at the station or you can find one on the train), listen to some music, watch a movie, talk to a stranger, eat your breakfast or lunch, write an article, think and plan your future or just stare out the window and think of nothing or your loved one ... Like you see there is a lott of things to do with your time while training.
Thank you for existing trains! Even if they strike sometimes or come to late Or you don't have place to sit, I can say I like my time on the train and thank them for transporting me every day of the week to the places I wanna go.

Drive

2012-01-05T14:50:00.000-08:00

Last month, actually November 2011, I went in Bangkok, Thailand to the movie 'Drive' from Nicolas Winding Refn. The story goes as followed:

'A young man, Ryan Gosling starring as 'the Driver', is an excellent Hollywood stunt performer and works as a mechanic in a garage. He's a man of few words and lives next to 'Irene' a married lady who's husband is in jail, and her sun (every movie has a number 1 lady which in this case is Carrey Mulligan).

His boss, Bryan Cransto, sets up a deal with the local mob, who's supporting both with some cash for a race. When the husband comes home from jail, he ends up beaten by the local mob, because he owns them money for protection in jail. Our 'Driver' has a dark side, he figures as 'run-a-way-driver' for robberies, and comes up with the idea to help the husband. This ends badly (I'm not going to say everything, you better watch it yourself).' (Check Trailer)

Their are a couple of reasons why I like the movie so much:

First of all its a dark/romantic/action/thriller movie
Second the song 'Under your spell from Desire' and 'A real hero from College ft Electric Youth'
Third the double meaning of the Golden Scorpion on the back of our Drivers jacket:
Ryan Gosling has this amazing kitchy white jacket with a golden scorpion on the back, I believe this has a double meaning in the movie: (1) A Golden Scorpion is a rare and special, you don't find them so much so in other words our Driver is a unique person, (2) they live in sollitairy, just like our Driver, (3) they are very dangerous, and when they feel threatened, they attack dangerously and deadly (in my opion not wiki's)

More information on about 'Drive' on IMDb.

Daydream Nation

2011-09-13T11:47:00.001-07:00

The more we dream, the more we hope, the more we hope, the more we think-plan-act the same, the more we think-plan-act the same, the more we feel united, the more we feel united, the more we become a nation...

First time for Everything

2011-09-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

There is a first time for everything...

If you do something for the first time it's often so hard... Try to remember the first time you rode a bike cycle, or the first time you had to speak French... and after a lott of practicing, you manage it to do it automatically

But sometimes is the first time so darn good, and you would like to live that moment over and over again... Imagine that you could do replay the first time feelings and sensations that you experienced when you did something for the first time....

The first time that you kissed your lover...
The first time you accomplished a goal all by yourself
The first time you bought that fancy jacket or shoes...
The first time you went skinny dipping...
The first time you past an exam...
The first time you won a game...
The first time you felled in love...
and the first time you got heartbroken...
The first time you tasted delicious chocolates...
The first time you heard that song that gave you goosebumps
your first sunset or sunrise...
The first time you went out late to a party...
The first time you cried
:) the first time you laughed so hard that your cheeks and stomach hurt
or the first time you made love...

This song reminds me of all these things....

Mark Knight & Funkagenda - Shogun (Average House Band Remix)

Meeting tools

2011-08-23T02:19:00.001-07:00

Flashmeeting
Http://fm.ea-tel.eu/

Art of Creative thinking

2011-01-28T05:15:00.000-08:00

SCAMPER:

Een techniek die gebruikt kan worden om creatieve ideeën te genereren.

- Substitute: Samenstelling van producten of diensten
- Combine: combineer verschillende producten of diensten
- Adapt: pas verschillende producten of diensten aan, aan bepaalde behoeften/noden
- Magnify - Minimize - Modify: vergroot, verklein of verander
- Put to other users: kan men het product/dienst niet voor iets anders gebruiken?
- Eliminate: elimineer overbodige elementen, maak het simpelere, gemakkelijker
- Reverse - Rearrange: Omdraaien, herschikken, binnenste buiten keren

Brainstormen

- Alleen: veel meer en betere uitwerkbare ideeën dan samen brainstormen
- Wees Persistent: werk door op bepaalde ideeën, doorzettingsvermogen, focus!
- Wees flexibel: kies meerdere invalshoeken, breed perspectief hanteren
- Blije, boze en angstige mensen hebben meer creatieve ideeën dan verdrietige en ontspannen mensen= move yourself!
- Grondig, rationeel en nauwgezet nadenken leidt tot meer creativiteit
- Within the box denken: systematisch en gestructureerd nadenken binnen een specifiek domein --> laat bepaalde ideeën even rusten, en begin er de dag erna opnieuw aan...
- Zorg voor geactiveerdheid tijdens brainstormen
- Werk met stress --> gespannen en gefrustreerde mensen, met beperkte tijd komen tot betere ideeën dan ontspannen en relaxte mensen....
- Wissel af tussen individuele en collectieve brainstorming sessies (mogelijkheid om te toetsen), werk uit en verbeter individueel

Creative strategy
1. Utilize the base brand strategy
2. Execute a completely new strategy
3. Develop a new creative approach, but build in key equities from the base brand campaign

"Conclusie: Hoe word je creatief?

Ons vermogen tot creativiteit stelt ons in staat om duurzaam beleid te ontwikkelen, succesvol te concurreren en vooruitgang te boeken door de ontwikkeling van nieuwe technologieën. Daarom is creativiteit big business, werken er duizenden mensen met goed betaalde banen in de creatieve industrie en spenderen bedrijven en overheden veel geld aan maatregelen om de creativiteit van hun werknemers te bevorderen. Het is daarom jammer dat mensen die afhankelijk zijn van hun eigen creativiteit of die van hun werknemers zich nog te vaak baseren op achterhaalde opvattingen over creativiteit, en dat de maatschappij en economie dus weleens gebaat zou kunnen zijn als deze personen hun strategieën zouden actualiseren. Lateraal, divergent en “out-of-the-box” denken werkt zo nu en dan prima, maar dient te worden afgewisseld met een grondige en rationele aanpak. Door geconcentreerd, hard en zelfs systematisch aan een probleem te werken duurt het misschien even voordat je een vernieuwend idee krijgt, maar uiteindelijk biedt deze aanpak misschien wel een grotere kans om een probleem creatief op te lossen. Het is ook een misvatting dat creativiteit vooral optreedt als je samen brainstormt of als je lui en ontspannen achterover leunt. Mensen die in een groep ideeën spuien hebben weliswaar veel plezier en zijn tevreden over hun uitkomsten, maar als je veel creatieve ideeën wilt is brainstormen in een groep weinig effectief – dit kun je beter alleen doen. Schaf tot slot die dure ontspanningsruimtes maar meteen af. Mensen worden niet creatief als ze ontspannen achterover leunen. Wat helpt dan wel? Een vrolijke bui, een boosaardig humeur of een angstige stemming. Voor creativiteit moet je namelijk geactiveerd zijn."
--> van vergeten website :)

Funny channels

2011-01-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

It's about a Russian Girl that has a channel hotforwords on youtube and she investigates certain subjects :) , it's to damn funny :p

Mastrubation...

tbc

Web 2.0 and new games...

2011-01-22T10:20:00.000-08:00

Watch it.....
The Machine is Us/ing us....

Playstation eye toy

jeff han's multi-touch surface

Microsoft kinex :)

Travel Plans for 2011

2011-01-22T02:41:00.000-08:00

Like every person, I love to travel, see the world, expanding your horizons.... This year I have already planned to go to:

Paris - France
Zakopane - Poland
London - U.K.
Bangkok - Thailand

Paris by night

London Bridge

Zakopane by night

Bangkok - The Grand Palace

Looking forward for an awesome year!!!!

Stand-up Comedians

2011-01-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

When you feel sad, or down, there is nothing better than a good stand-up comedian to cheer you up. They always have the most absurd idea's, story's, or problems... and they can bring it/tell it to you in such a hilarious way....

Here is one I just get to knew thanks to my Human Computer interaction Teacher:

Eddie Izzard's Error on Computers

If you youtube Eddie Izzard a little bit further, than you'll find several other funny and abdominal cramping shows, such as: