“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

This means treat others as you would like to be treated. How often do you do that?

In 2003 movie Freaky Friday, the main protagonists are – an overworked mother Dr. Tess Coleman (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and her teenage daughter Anna Coleman (played by Lindsay Lohan). These two do not get along and fight all the time — due to having different priorities and challenges in life.

One day they are forced to switch bodies by an Asian lady by making them eat fortune cookies. Each is forced to adapt to the others life for one freaky Friday.

This makes them see the truth. Mother gets to know the challenges of her teenage daughter and daughter gets to know the realities in the life of her mother. This realization makes their bond strong. Later they get back into their own bodies.

Thankfully in real life we are not forced to change bodies to experience how the other person feels. We don’t even need to. We just need to empathize and think how we would feel if we were in the other person’s place and that makes all the difference.

As a marketer if you want your product to succeed you just need to get into the shoes of your (prospective) customer and see how she feels about your offering.

If you are offering social media solutions or similar web services try using it for one of your products or websites and see the results. You makes shampoo, soap, anything try doing the same. If you love your product too much than ask somebody close who can offer you an unbiased opinion. Kids normally are good at offering such inputs; because they have less pre-conceived notions about things as compared to grown-ups.

Do this with genuine intent of knowing as much as you as can about the feelings and experience of other person.

How does it help?

• You will learn truth about the situation and not what you think it is.
• When you know the real situation, you can offer a better solution.
• When you understand the situation well and offer a worthwhile solution — people will trust you as an individual. Same benefit accrues to a brand that listens to its customers and offers a solution that fits their needs.
• It sets the foundation for effective communication.
• It helps you to maintain harmony in families and also at workplace. You will be able to become a better father, mother, brother, sister, friend and also be effective as a leader and a co-worker.

Do you try to get into other person’s shoes often? Does it help you?

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