3 Second Selling

In this episode, David Gee explores the critical importance of emotional storytelling in sales, emphasizing how capturing and maintaining attention in today's distraction-filled economy is key to closing deals. He shares insights on how to craft compelling stories that resonate emotionally, build trust, and differentiate your pitch. Keywords sales, storytelling, attention economy, emotional r...

When the stakes are high, people don’t choose the best strategy—they choose the person they trust most. In this episode of 3 Second Selling , David Gee sits down with Thomas Cox of Cox Capital to unpack how trust is actually built in moments that matter. From why clients are “buying you” more than your process, to the power of listening over pitching, to the role of honesty, storytelling, and know...

Real Artists Ship . Those three words in a recent New York Times piece on A.I., and specifically A.I. programming, caught my eye. Apparently, it’s an old programming axiom, and ties back to Steve Jobs, who famously believed that finishing and releasing something matters more than endlessly refining it or perfecting it. 

Let me ask you a question that will make every marketer, speaker, and business owner slightly nauseous: Have you ever Googled something… got the answer… and never clicked a link? Of course you have. Congratulations. You’ve just met your new customer behavior. And here’s the punchline: your audience might never visit your website… but they will absolutely form an opinion about you. In the first thr...

If you’ve been sitting on a big idea because the finish line feels heavy, or distant, or somehow unattainable, this is for you. Maybe you're like me. Great at starting things. Creative. Lots of ideas.  Finishing is the hard part though. The part that gets quiet. And that's exactly where creative people tend to stall. Not because we’re lazy, but because we’re wired to explore, connect, an...

As you set your intentions for the year ahead, choose the path that gives you stories, not excuses, attempts over avoidance, action over perfection, experience over endless preparation. You survive failure. But you don’t outgrow regret.

We are often far more intentional with the words we use with others than the words we use with ourselves . And those private words—the ones no one else hears—the silent narration running through your head all day, just might be the most impactful words you ever use. So make them positive!

If you’ve ever wondered why some messages land instantly and others vanish without a trace, here’s the uncomfortable truth: We don’t live in a marketplace of ideas anymore. We live in a marketplace of attention. And in that marketplace, attention isn’t something you receive. It’s something you earn — usually in three seconds or less.

In today’s economy, the scarcest resource isn’t money. It isn’t talent. It isn’t even time. It’s attention. Here are a few quick ideas to make the most of your precious first few seconds. 

How do we win attention, earn time and trust, and create instant emotional connection in a world that’s moving faster than ever? Check out this episode of the 3 Second Selling™ podcast as I discuss the science of snap judgements, why most hooks suck, how to craft a good hook and give you some real life applications. In a distracted world, your greatest currency is not how much you know. It’s wheth...

Are you a product peddler, or a sales detective? Today the highest performing sales people aren't engaged in solution selling. And they're certainly not spewing out features and specs. They're actively engaged in problem finding.  Join 3 Second Selling author and host David Gee as he is joined by serial technologist, inventor and sales leader Lief Larson. They will discuss how today...

Research shows that top producing salespeople talk about their products and services and features and specs 63% less than the average sales person.   Features and specs don’t win the day. You can’t reason your way to a sale. That’s not how our brains are wired.  Every buying decision we make is an emotional one. And as the movie Air illustrates, if Nike's Sonny Vacaro, as played by Matt Damon...

Competition, for the most part, is a healthy thing. In fact, it is essential, because it leads to innovation. Competition is also an enemy of complacency.  If you are constantly and consistently trying to build a better product, offer a better service, provide a better customer experience, and so on, everyone benefits; your industry, your organization, your employees, and the end users of your pro...

Why in most  sales and marketing interactions are we trying to inundate the left brains of our audience with features and benefits when it's our right brains that is doing the buying?  Reasons lead to conclusions and emotions lead to action. And every single buying decision we make is rooted in - and driven by - emotion. Here are some tips and takeaways for creating those emotional connection...

There is a direct connection between how we use our voices and how the world views us. Your voice is a signature, a unique and powerful part of your professional identity and brand. Research shows 38% of messages are processed based on your tone of voice, your delivery, making how you say something more important than what you are actually saying. Does your voice enhance your image - or undermine...

The day I interviewed Tom Hanks for the hit film Forrest Gump he did 64 back-to-back, five-minute television interviews at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Although I was fortunate enough to be in the first group of 10, I knew if I was going to have a unique, memorable interaction with the Hollywood star I would have to be different, get him to put down his script, and take him off “autopi...

STORY = information, knowledge, context and emotion When facts are so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact . S o stories and sales go together!  

Do you want the good news first, or the bad? The good news is, it has never been easier to reach large numbers of people. The bad news? It has never been more difficult to actually connect with them. And creating emotional connections, quickly, as in seconds, is vital if we are to earn someone’s time and attention, and eventually, their business. However, research shows that over three-fourths of...

When I asked actor Jack Lemmon during the Glengarry Glen Ross Hollywood press junket why he was still making movies, his reply surprised me, and certainly piqued my curiosity.  "Because I still find romance in a loaf of bread," was his reply. In this episode of the 3 Second Selling podcast find out what he meant, and why we should all aspire to be - and hire - people who similarly find r...

There is about an 80-percent chance there is something fundamentally wrong with your marketing. It’s flawed because it’s about you, not them (your prospect or customer), because you’re the hero of your own story, and because you don’t demonstrate value. The result is you push and publish a bunch of content that isn’t relevant to your audience. And that costs you an opportunity to show up different...

When the average American adult is subject to between 6,000 and 10,000 marketing messages every single day,  we can safely say it is an incredibly cluttered, crowded, chaotic world we live in, especially when it comes to cutting through the clutter with our marketing and messaging. And the clock is always ticking. In fact, Google says we only have between 0.05 milliseconds and three seconds for so...

There’s no doubt that AI is one of the most discussed - and debated - technologies of our days. Though the way companies are utilizing it today may be new, but the technology itself dates back decades. In The Business Case for AI: A Leader's Guide to AI Strategies, Best Practices & Real-World Applications , Kavita Ganesan calls on her more than 15+ years’ worth of experience in the field...

Words bear enormous power. They have the capacity to build up or break down. To persuade or dissuade. Connect or disconnect. Words can form wonderful pathways of understanding in our souls, giving us the capacity to change. They can open us up to new truths. They can impact our moods, and sometimes the direction of our lives. Yes, words matter. The words we have running through our minds – and out...

Does your typical sales and marketing messaging sound something like this? "We offer cutting edge technology." "We feature best in class service and support." "We have the best people." "We are the market leaders. "We are the fastest." "We are the cheapest." “We are the ______." Most of our customer communication is about us, our company,...

The biggest battle anyone for anyone in sales or marketing today is for the time and attention of your audience. We are all subject to thousands of marketing messages each and every day, and it is hard to cut through the clutter. To top it off, research shows about 93% of what someone thinks of us or our messages are determined in 3 seconds. Or less. Daunting, isn't it? I'm David Gee, an...