Humans are not rationale creatures. Despite what we would have ourselves believe it is not the logical portion of our minds that guide the majority of our decisions but rather the emotional portion of the mind that guides the majority of our decisions. Even the best of us are swayed by our emotions much more than we think. No one is immune to the power of their emotions. While some may have more control than others, they still have a major effect on all of us.
Sales is a matter of stirring and arousing the right emotions that will lead prospects to purchase your product. People buy based on emotions and then later rationalize that decision with logic. People rarely buy things because they need them but rather people buy things because they want them. Understand this and your already ahead of many would be salesmen out there. Emotions are the key to sales.
Rousing The Right Emotion
When a prospect looks at a product we want them to feel something when they look at it. Most would be salesmen focus on the prospect thinking something which while can be good comes in a distant second to making them feel something. For example said you had a dating product you wanted to market to men. Let’s say it’s a course that is purchased through your website. In the sales copy you write about how this program has been used by X amount of people and has proven to be successful. That you’ve practiced this for ten years and have tried the majority of products our there, and so on and so forth.
You’re trying to convince the prospect that you are trustworthy and that your product has enough value to be worth it. But you’re going about it by trying to appeal to the prospects logical side. Using facts and statistics when you’re better off appealing to the prospects emotional side. Instead imagine opening with a question “tired of going home alone” or “tired of dates going nowhere” something that the majority of men could relate to at some point in their life.
So you have causes an emotion disturbance, this is good. Then you say “imagine what it would be like to take home tens every night if you so choose” or “imagine what it would be like to sleep with women on the first date or within an hour of meeting them”. The word imagine is a very powerful word as the imagination is a very powerful thing. Now you have their mind engaged, the emotional part, the part that truly matters. Then you present your solution.
With “your product” you can achieve those things that you imagined. You fulfill the need, you satisfy the emotional longing. Now this process like any other can be abused by dirt bags but so can anything else this doesn’t make the sales process or marketing in and of itself bad. No more than learning to inflict pain can be used in self-defense or to cause violence on innocents.
Emotions Are The Key To Sales
Before you look at anything else in regards to sales make sure you are engaging the emotions of your prospect. Emotions are the key to sales. A salesman with a sub-par product but who engages the emotions of his prospect is going to be much more successful than the salesman with a amazing product who fails to engage the emotions of his prospects. Product only does so much. Engaging the emotions matters more than the product itself. That’s why you can see crap products making millions for their producers while absolute gold sits on the shelves unsold and tarnishing away until it is completely forgotten.
As a salesman you must learn human psychology. Without this understanding it doesn’t matter how much you know your product or even how much you can help your prospect because you’ll never engage them and therefore will never be able to sell them and help them. Engage the emotions, help your prospects, and you will move product.
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-Charles Sledge
