Aristotle, a philosopher who died in 322 BC at the ripe old age of 62 may have been one of earliest, great salespeople. He contended that the art of persuasion combines emotion (pathos) delivered with facts (logos). Buyers are indeed moved to action by the way a salesperson makes them feel, but need to hear the message delivered with facts and reason. This developed into the more popular modern phrase, people buy on emotion and use logic to back up their decision.
The brain is a complex organ that is the seat of all your conscious thoughts and unconscious impulses. The brain also controls emotions and psychological factors that play a large role in the dynamics of buyers and sellers. In this column I want to discuss how the brain of the buyer needs to be able to contrast their options to help decide a course of action, and how the seller’s knowledge of this, as well as their understanding of the local competitive options can help them help sell more effectively.
Appeal to Both Brains
There are some home improvement salespeople that don’t care at all about the competition, never ask about them, nor ever discuss them with their prospective customers. However, knowing your competition, and how you compare to them can help a prospective customer make a quicker decision.
There are psychological and emotional reasons why your ability to do this is important. Humans have one brain, but psychologists indicate that over time it has become more complex, essentially leaving us with two brains: A modern brain and a primal brain. Your modern brain (frontal cortex) is responsible for problem solving, memory, judgment, and reasoning. Your primal brain (hindbrain and medulla) is responsible for survival, drive, and instinct. Christophe Morin, Ph.D., and co-founder of the neuromarketing agency, SalesBrain, believes that neuroscience research can help salespeople target the decision-making part of the brain, the primal brain, which encourages buyers to make faster, better choices. Being able to contrast options allows the primal brain to make quick and safe decisions. If we’re not able to contrast options, the primal brain enters a state of confusion, which ultimately results in delaying a decision. As a salesperson, your ability to help prospective customers contrast the options available to them will greatly influence the decision they have to make.
A word of caution here: Customers tend to look unfavorably on salespeople who try to make themselves look better by speaking negatively about their competition. This is a tight rope walk for sure, comparisons need to be drawn, but perhaps done with a sprinkle of neutrality. Phrases like “we do things differently than some companies,” “you’ll find that some companies just don’t take the time to really get this right,” and “not many products in this market offer this level of performance” could help keep the negative connections at bay. Know your competition, how you are different, why that matters to your customers, and be prepared to communicate that to homeowners in as neutral a fashion as possible.
Sharp Contrast
Remember, when you get a response from homeowners that “they want to think it over”, or “they want to get more quotes”, it may be coming from an inability to fully compare the options available to them. They’re confused, and that confusion is slowing them down, costing you an opportunity to make a sale. Be effective in helping them see the contrast and to make it easier for them to choose you!
