Paying Attention

Money is important. For most of us, there is an end to its supply. We make choices about how we spend our money and, more importantly, we make choices about how we don't spend our money. We pay for things that we value and we withold our money from those things which don't mean as much to us. In business, marketers and salespeople certainly are after the customer's money. Revenue keeps the machine going. It is the fuel for business. Money is important, but there is something more important.

Time is important. More important than money. Time, for everyone, is finite. Everybody has 24 hours in a day. Time must be spent very carefully. If we waste our time, no amount of hard work and intuition can get it back. How we spend our time is also, therefore, an indicator of what we value. For marketers and salespeople, understanding how consumers spend their time is key to understanding how they will spend their money. People who spend money need the time to spend it. The reverse of the old adage 'time is money' is also true: money is time. But even time is not our most precious asset.

What is our most precious asset? What is the one thing that, if we give it, indicates a near 100% devotion to what we are giving it to? What is that one thing that marketers and salespeople should seek from us above all else? It is our attention. If something has our attention, we value it. If a marketer can capture our attention, he or she undoubtedly can capture our time and money. We often use the expression "paying attention" to indicate a single-minded focus on something. I think the expression hits the nail on the head. When we give something our attention, we our paying attention. We our spending our attention. And nothing else is more sacred for us to relinquish.

What are you paying attention to? If you are in business, how much attention are your customers willing to pay for your product or service?