If someone presses the right button or presses the right buttons, they skilfully do the things to have the effect they want. It is hard to know if you're pressing the right buttons because one reader's fantasy is another reader's yawn. Note: You can also say that someone presses all the right buttons. In what it describes as a well-judged performance, the newspaper says he pressed all the right buttons to please the representatives. Note: Verbs such as push and hit are sometimes used instead of press. In later talks with the chairman, he helped his cause by pushing all the right buttons.