I was born the year England won the world cup, so I've been around a bit :)

And while improvements in diet, healthcare and exercise mean that many of us are way more physically active than our parents' generation at this age, one thing that marches inexorably on is the change in our brains.

I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone from their late 40s onwards how annoying it is to constantly have things on the tip of your tongue, but not quite be able to remember them.

Apparently that's caused not by a deterioration in memory per se, but by a decline in our ability to suppress distractions.

So learning #1 when it comes to selling to older people is to keep things simple, clean and uncluttered.

And it turns out our older brains are more emotionally resilient too and able to bounce back better from setbacks.

For me, one of the most interesting findings from recent research into older brains is about what stimulates the amygdala, the area of the brain devoted to primal emotions.

In young brains the amygdala is stimulated by both positive and negative images. But in older brains, the amygdala is only stimulated by positive images. It's like we've learned to screen out negative stimuli.

It's accepted wisdom in marketing that “fear of loss” is a much stronger motivator than “anticipation of gain”. But this recent research suggests that may not be the case for older customers.

That's great with me. The vast majority of my clients and online customers are older. And I absolutely prefer sending out positive messages and focusing on opportunities rather than “twisting the knife” and miring people in their current problems.

How about you?

Do you sell to older people? Have you taken into account that they may react intellectually and emotionally in different ways to younger or middle-aged people?

Worth looking into.