In a Carew International whitepaper titled “Getting to Yes” I wrote about five key interpersonal skills for becoming more accomplished in the fine art of influencing others. You can access that Carew white paper by clicking on the link above, however, the subject of this blog is more around what motivates decisions to be made, rather than the skills required to successfully influence them.
Let me first clarify that, at Carew International, we are not advocates of manipulation in any form. The key motivators I will be referring to should only be leveraged in conjunction with the “life based” skills referenced in the “Getting to Yes” white paper in order to assist others in making a thoughtful, informed decision. With that in mind here are the primary drivers of decision making.
Emotional Response: In books by Malcolm Gladwell and Harry Beckwith they refer to a theory that buying decisions are made within the first few moments of a sales call, and the rest of the selling process is spent helping buyers justify the decision they have already reached. While that may be true, additional research strongly suggests that when emotions are removed from the decision making process we become far less capable of making good decisions. Surprised? The logic associated with this research suggests that as we try to remove the emotions from a decision and make a decision solely based upon factual, non-subjective data points our ability to make a good decision actually decreases! Bad news for the men out there.
Similar research to that cited above suggests that the emotions of desperation and fear are the primary drivers of the decision making process. Many selling systems are designed to capitalize on this theory by uncovering a customer’s “pain” during the sales process and then demonstrating to the customer how a product or service can make the pain go away.
In a situation where my home heating unit has ceased to function and it is 15 degrees outside, such logic makes perfect sense. I am VERY motivated by my “pain” (or at least the pain I know I am going to feel when the temperature inside my house approximates the temperature outside) and I will take quick and decisive action to repair my heater as quickly as possible. That is a pretty easy example to get your arms around. I am driven to make a quick decision that will solve my “fear” of freezing and my “desperation” to get the situation handled as quickly as possible. How much pain do you feel when you are trying to decide which brand of television to buy? How about which company you will place your next order with for consumable supplies in your dental business or even which new cell phone you will buy? There is just not a high degree of “pain” associated with most decisions we make day to day, so, if you are tasked with selling products or services that don’t help customers relieve a fairly high degree of tangible “pain” why would your sellers want to leverage a selling system designed to capitalize on “pain resolution?” If you refer to the research of Mr. Gladwell and Mr. Beckwith cited above you might come to believe that the emotions associated with the “likeability” of your sales person have far more to do with the buying decision than “pain” in most selling situations.
Unexpected Value: The same body of research cited above states that as the factors of fear and desperation lessen the importance of “unexpected value” rises proportionately. Here is where most smart companies would be wise to focus the efforts of their sales force. “Unexpected value” can come in many forms and is more commonly referred to as “value added” by most businesses. Successfully leveraging this theory would involve focusing more on the “value added” elements of your products or services to the extent the “pain” associated with the decision to be made is decreased.
To use one of my examples above, if I am a dentist purchasing consumable supplies for my practice I am probably not feeling much “pain” when the competing supplier is calling on me. In this “low pain” selling situation the highest likelihood of me switching suppliers will be predicated on the “unexpected value” or “value added” elements of the new supplier, assuming the prices are at least competitive.
The concept of “pain” is certainly not unimportant in sales; it just isn’t as powerful in some selling situations as it is in others. Make sure that your sales professionals have a thorough understanding of the “unexpected value” your company can offer and they will consistently be more successful in their selling efforts.
Chuck Terry is the Executive Vice President and CSO of Carew International and is regular contributor to Carew’s blog – Executive Insights
Carew International is a leader in sales training and leadership development; specializing in comprehensive, proven training programs for sales, sales management and customer service excellence. For over 30 years, Carew has earned its reputation of delivering increased productivity and profitability to our valued clients world wide.
