“Reactance” is a swanky physchological word for manipulation.

The idea of persuasive writing in the last 50 years was to make people believe the impossible by convincing them the business somehow knows their needs.

It might sound like this: “You don’t need to sort through 1500 fabrics to find the sofa you’ve been dreaming of! You only need to shop our mega showroom. You will find all the selection in the world under just one roof. You don’t just want a normal room. You need people who understand your vision and will help you realize it. You don’t want a lot of viable options. You need furniture that is just right, right on the showroom floor. You need chairs that out perform their warranty. You need to find furniture that isn’t in your neighbor’s home. You need a cool home, not a great furniture store.”

Cheap plastic ploys and slick packaged messages simply won’t make your cash registers ring any more. Truth, wisdom, integrity, realness, plain spoken, it-is-what-it-is language will.

There are entire generations of business owners and copy writers who have never done business during times like these.

What Americans define as “valuable” has changed forever!

Living beyond our means, keeping up with the Jones, bagging the elephant, closing the deal and tricking the customer are no longer culturally acceptable.

Don’t believe me? Fine. Keep doing what you’ve always done and tell me how that works for you in 2009 and beyond.

I’m not trying to be a jerk, but our Big Impact sale event might unfortunately be the last sale of your businesses life if your advertising methods don’t change.