The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind

Chapter 4. The Brain 101

At the end of this chapter, you'll know and be able to use the following:

• How the brain works and the process of engaging the brain.

• The structuring principles of the brain.

• How this will help you understand your customers' wants and needs.

To apply neuroscience—the study of the brain—to the consumer marketplace, we must begin with a better understanding of the brain itself. Easily the most complicated organ, and one of the most complex systems in the universe, the human brain warrants lengthy tomes dedicated to its mysteries. For our purposes, however, allow me to provide you with an introductory tour of the brain and how it works in your daily life, in your relationships, in your business, and in the why of what and how you and your customers buy.

In this decade after "the decade of the brain," we have learned a great deal about how the brain works. Yet a great deal begs to be discovered: How does the brain produce the delightful individuality of human beings, their personalities, their talents? Where does the concept of "I" begin? Where does idea of "You" come in?

These lofty questions are zipping through your brain—alongside your shopping list and your knowledge of how to tie your shoes. Every behavior, every intention, every dream begins in the brain.

Brain Cells

So let's begin at the beginning of our journey of understanding: the brain's cells. The human brain is a network of a hundred billion individual cells, called neurons. Complex and intertwined, those ...