Better Selling Isn’t Logical, It’s Emotional

Joe Marr, Sandler Training Center - Ann Arbor

www.sandlerannarbor.com

734-821-4830

Better Selling Isn’t Logical, It’s Emotional

If people made decisions like robots, or computers, or Spock; then selling would be easy.  Unfortunately there is this element called emotion in selling situations, and it’s not just “a factor”, it’s the factor that is most important to the sale.  People make decisions emotionally, and then justify those decisions intellectually, so using logic alone as a basis for a presentation, or to set up for the close, yields mostly frustration and disappointment. 

 

I’m often invited in to companies who want to know if I can show their people “selling skills and techniques ” or help them to make “better presentations”.  Now I could do what they ask, but if I were to jump right in and set up sessions to show their people fancy sales “moves” or training for making “higher impact” presentations, it’s not likely that they’ll even get a good return on the training investment.  But even if I did the training for free, they wouldn’t see any real impact on sales because sales moves or presentation skills are almost never the real problem.

 

 

The Problem The Prospect Brings You Is Never The Real Problem. 

One of the first lessons students pursuing a career in psychiatry learn is that “the problem the patient brings you is never the real problem.”  There is a similar lesson to be learned about selling situations—The problem the prospect brings you is (almost) never the real problem.  This happens for two reasons: 

 

First, prospects try to protect themselves.  They’re concerned that if they reveal their real problems, concerns, wants, and needs up front, they put themselves at risk—at risk of a “full frontal assault” from a salesperson armed with the all the solutions, and a hunger for their money. 

 

The second reason is that prospects tend to be more open and comfortable talking about the “what” issues: What is or isn’t happening, what they want or need, what they are trying to accomplish.  But usually it is the “why” aspects that are more important.  Why is or isn’t something happening?  Why does the prospect need or want something?  Why is it that they are trying to accomplish something?  Prospects are more comfortable talking about the “what” issues because those aspects tend to be benign, and usually don’t reveal any previous poor decision-making, or incompetence. Yet the why issues are the real issues that a prospect needs to have addressed by our product or service.  If we learn to ask questions to get to the “why,” then we’ll be dealing with the real problem, which is closer to their emotional reasons.

 

 

Selling Is Like Psychiatry. 

Again, people make decisions emotionally, and justify their decisions intellectually. The emotions may be enthusiasm, excitement, anticipation, hope, faith, or relief.  Unfortunately, selling itself is an emotional experience for many people, and like the buyer, the seller can get too emotionally involved.  When we get emotionally involved in a selling situation it can move us to do the wrong things.  We believe we are moving toward the close—we feel exhilarated—we get careless—and the sale slips away—it happens all the time. 

 

The relationship a businessperson should establish with a prospect is like the objective unemotional relationship a psychiatrist has with a patient, disarming, nurturing and objective. Only by remaining detached can a psychiatrist analyze what is taking place so they can give sound guidance.  A businessperson too, must maintain an objective view during the selling situation.  We need to save our emotional enthusiasm for after the sale, on the way to the bank.  During the selling process, we need to step outside of our sales role and observe objectively, as if we are a third party at the selling event.  Getting emotionally involved in the process will more likely lead us to do, accept or say things that are against our interests, like unnecessarily lowering the price, or uncomfortably shortening the lead time, or letting prospects endlessly “think it over”.

 

 

You Can’t Convince Them—They Have to Discover. 

Trying to convince people that they want or need something can be difficult.  Showing or telling someone that your product or service is better than what they have may make them defensive.  The prospect could begin “defending” the buying decisions they have already made (that fear of looking incompetent thing again).

 

Your challenge is to help the prospect discover that although a previous decision may have been good, making a new decision can be even better.  Rather than tell the prospect what and why they should buy, we need to ask questions that allow the prospect discover what and why they should buy on their own. 

 

For example, when you have some idea of what motivates current customers to buy your product or service you can test your hunch by asking, “I don’t suppose it be helpful if . . . would it?”  If the prospect says it would, you could continue with, “How would it?” and “What would that allow you to do?”  If the prospect says no to the question, you could simply say, “I wasn’t sure it would be.” and then move on to test hunches with another aspect of your product or service.  This is a gentle way to navigate around the emotional attachments prospects make with the way they currently do things.

 

 

Gut Check.

If better selling performance doesn’t take appealing to the gut, then we could just make really tight presentations and everyone who could buy our stuff, would buy our stuff. We could just make some moves and box the prospect in with a logical offer they couldn’t logically refuse.  Emotion is the most important factor but we still need to have product or service that will stand up to their intellectual justification. So to sell up to our potential, we have to translate our product or service into the solution for, or satisfaction of the prospect’s emotional needs - and then come through for them with a product or service that works.

Joe Marr is a public speaker, sales and management consultant and trainer, and runs the Sandler Training Center – Ann Arbor.  To reach him call: (734) 821-4830 or visit his website at: www.sandlerannarbor.com 

© 2010 Marr Professional Development Corporation