Influence & Consumer Psychology

Feb 15 2026

Why B2B Buyers Choose ‘Good Enough’ Over ‘Best’

By Michael Lynch Business Strategy & Positioning, Conversion Optimization & Sales Psychology, Influence & Consumer Psychology

Why Most B2B Buyers Prefer 'Safety' 74% of B2B Buyers. That's the proportion of B2B buyers who told CEB (now Gartner) they would rather make a "safe" purchase than an "optimal" one — even when they could identify the superior option. Sit with that for a moment. Three out of…

Feb 14 2026

The Empty Statement Problem — And How to Know If Yours Is Real

The Empty Statement Problem in Business — And How to Know If Yours Is Real

By Michael Lynch Business Strategy & Positioning, Conversion Optimization & Sales Psychology, Influence & Consumer Psychology

The Empty Statement Problem in Business is Real & It Has Major, Often Hidden Consequences 2018, a mid-market logistics company in the American Midwest spent $120,000 on a brand refresh. New website. New messaging. New tagline. The centrepiece of the project was their newly articulated differentiator: "We combine innovative technology…

Feb 12 2026

The Internal Language Problem: When Five Employees Describe Your Company Five Different Ways

Are Your Employees Describing Your Company in The Same Way?

By Michael Lynch Business Strategy & Positioning, Influence & Consumer Psychology

Are Your Employees Describing Your Company in The Same Way? Try this experiment. It takes five minutes and costs nothing. Walk up to five people in your company — a salesperson, someone in operations, a project manager, a junior hire, and a senior leader — and ask each of them…

Feb 11 2026

Why Your Champion Can’t Sell You Internally

By Michael Lynch Business Strategy & Positioning, Conversion Optimization & Sales Psychology, Influence & Consumer Psychology, Lead Generation & Demand Creation

Your Champion is Trying To Hire You - But There's A Problem There is a moment in almost every B2B sales process that determines the outcome — and it happens when you're not in the room. Your champion — the person inside the buyer's organisation who genuinely wants to work…

Nov 25 2025

How Discounts Quietly Erode Your Future Brand Power

By Michael Lynch Business Strategy & Positioning, Influence & Consumer Psychology, Lead Generation & Demand Creation

How Discounts Quietly Erode Your Future Brand Power There is no faster way to look successful than to set your margins on fire. If you cut your price by 20% today, you will almost certainly see a spike in sales tomorrow. The Stripe notifications will roll in. The sales team…

Oct 04 2025

Why Too Many Options Kill Momentum in High-Stakes B2B Sales

By Michael Lynch Influence & Consumer Psychology, Conversion Optimization & Sales Psychology, Marketing Strategy & Growth

More Options, Less Action: The Hidden Cost of Choice In most boardrooms, the default prescription for boosting conversion is to add more. More features. More pricing tiers. More “solutions tailored to your unique needs.” It’s dressed up in noble language—empowerment, flexibility, customer-centricity. After all, who doesn’t want to give their…

Oct 04 2025

How to Disarm Your Competitors Without Competing Directly

By Michael Lynch Influence & Consumer Psychology, Marketing Strategy & Growth, Thought Leadership & Authority Building

The Strange Truth About Competitor Success When a competitor takes control of the conversation in your category, most businesses all react the same way. Websites get a fresh coat of paint. Pitch decks are adjusted to sound more like the leader’s. Pricing quietly shifts to match whatever’s working in the…

Jul 14 2025

When Premium Pricing Stops Requiring Justification

By Michael Lynch Pricing & Revenue Growth, Business Strategy & Positioning, Influence & Consumer Psychology

When Premium Pricing Stops Requiring Justification HP Field Notes | Highly Persuasive Two industrial automation consultancies competed for a $280K implementation project. The first firm presented comprehensive technical specifications, detailed methodology documentation, and competitive pricing positioned 12% below market rate. Their proposal ran 47 pages covering every deliverable, timeline, and…

Jul 04 2025

People Buy Stories, Not Solutions. Make Sure You’re Telling the Right One

By Michael Lynch Marketing Strategy & Growth, Influence & Consumer Psychology, Lead Generation & Demand Creation, Thought Leadership & Authority Building

People Buy Stories, Not Solutions. Make Sure You're Telling the Right One You know this already: your product isn’t what they’re buying. But what most people get wrong is why they buy at all. It’s not logic. It’s not features. It’s not even urgency. It’s story. But not yours. It’s…

Jun 28 2025

The Clarity Premium: Why Buyers Pay More When They Understand Faster

By Michael Lynch Branding & Identity, Conversion Optimization & Sales Psychology, Influence & Consumer Psychology, Luxury & Premium Brand Strategy, Marketing Strategy & Growth, Thought Leadership & Authority Building

I. The Clearest Message Wins....Always Two companies. Same offering. Similar pricing. Identical tech under the hood. But one gets the deal — at full price — and the other gets ghosted after the demo. Why? Because one was understood in less than five seconds. The other made the buyer think.…