How to Influence How Your Customers Feel
Sales psychology involves considering and connecting with how your customers and prospects feel to sell your products and services. Convincing customers that they need what you offer is not as effective as finding a way to market to their current needs and wants.
Don’t trade long-term goals for short-term gains. The only exception is if you’re liquidating inventory to go out of business.
The trick is how do you have close and personal connections with customers and prospects at scale when it’s not possible to have many direct relationships between a representative and the customer? The power is in the data and the triggered content communication at critical times along the customer’s journey at the height of relevancy.
Marketing automation platforms enable B2B marketers to do just that. But buying a marketing automation platform doesn’t mean that your employees know what they want to use the tool for and, once they do, how to use the tool to accomplish their goals. This is true for all things Digital Transformation. For B2C marketers though, which make up the majority of our clients, the power to reach customers along their journey is enabled by a customer data platform (CDP) or a marketing tool with CDP functionality built in.
Now that we know what systems enable us to follow a customer on their journey, how do you want your customers to feel when doing business or interacting with you? If your response is that you really don’t care, you just want them to buy, buy now and buy more, well, you’re being honest, so I’ll give you that, BUT you’re missing the mark. More importantly, you’re not connecting with your customer on a level that inspires repeat business let alone advocacy. Advocacy requires authenticity from you and positive experiences.
Positive Vs. Negative Feelings Contributing to Experience
- Heard vs. ignored
- Empowered vs. doubtful or questioning oneself
- Educated vs. told what to think
- Confident vs. insecure
- Praised vs. belittled
- Informed vs. left in the dark or hoodwinked
- Given time to process vs. prematurely rushed
- Part of something bigger than yourself vs. an outcast
Read all the words on the left, then all the words on the right. What feels better? Does your content support the words on the left or the right? Think about your own sales experiences and how you felt before, during and after and how that contributed to repeat purchases. It’s all psychology!
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
– Maya Angelou
Sales Psychology in Action
I recently purchased a camping trailer. I was a complete newbie. I did some research online about models and floor plans that I liked, were in my price range and in the available inventory and then submitted online contact me forms at two dealerships near me. I had my heart set on a Coleman Lite from one dealership, but after a day, no one called or emailed me. I was contacted almost immediately by the other dealer, but I wasn’t crazy about the camper they had in stock. I decided to call and speak to someone in sales where the Coleman was and made an appointment to go see the camper.
Once at the dealership, I was informed about various construction types and why the model I chose was better. Education +1. Then the sales rep turned to my boyfriend and asked if we’re ready to see some numbers. Ignored -1 | Prematurely rushed -1. When it came time to sign the papers, the closer asked me if there was anything about my experience could have been improved. I told him that someone needs to respond to contact form inquiries, and I was told there must have been a mistake with my form submission. Belittled -1. Then I was informed that we needed a stabilizing bracket on our vehicle to the tune of $800, even though they inspected the towing vehicle the day prior and did not work that into the numbers. I had already gotten a cashier’s check for the amount quoted. Hoodwinked -1. The final walk-through was great, and we learned everything we did/didn’t want to know about the camper. Informed +1 | Educated +1 | Empowered +1.
Final Score = 0 Happy with my camper but would never purchase again from that dealership.
What is the lesson in all of this? The dealership had every opportunity along the journey to create an overall positive experience even if not every aspect of the process was in the customer’s favor. There is always a way to turn a negative into a positive in the sales process so the customer walks away with a positive feeling about the experience. All of that is in your power just by using a bit of sales psychology.
The psychology of sales is in use for every campaign we have the pleasure to work on for our clients. From the copy, the subject lines, the creative and the call-to-action, sales psychology is how we help our clients grow their business. If you’re interested in learning how we can help you grow, let’s talk.
