"Of course I do. I'm Tommy Chong."

I read about Tommy Chong asking Obama to pardon him for his drug arrests. Tommy Chong is one-half of the famous Cheech and Chong comedy team that lit up the world with drug jokes and movies many years ago.

I loved them. They were just silly funny.

I remember first hearing “Dave’s not here” on Dr. Demento’s late night radio show. I was a kid and just rolling on the floor because it was so stupidly funny.

In the article, Tommy’s response to the police had me laughing again.

The police asked, “Do you have any drugs here?”

Tommy replied, “Of course I do. I’m Tommy Chong.”

Too funny. He said that because their warrant wasn’t for drugs. But that’s not what this is about.

Tommy Chong identifies with being the drugged out dude he played in movies.

If you want to sell an idea to him, you know how he identifies himself. If it doesn’t fit that persona, he won’t buy.

Your clients do the same.

We identify with someone, something. We create an image of who we are. Then we build stories around it to support it.

We say things like…

I’m a good father or mother. I’m an entrepreneur. A smart business person.

I’m fat. I’m an athlete.

I’m not the type of person who will do (fill in the blank). I’m shy.

I’m not good with people. I’m not strong enough to confront someone.

Whatever it is, figure it out.

Who they are is how they’ll behave. And when you know that, you know what they want and how to sell it.