Using consumer psychology to become better at sales
This post is the transcript of this video – https://youtu.be/WKu7bqaUn6A
This post about using consumer psychology to become a better sales person. Understanding consumer psycology isn’t limited to marketing only. It lies at the core of great selling as well. Second, remember that we are all sales person. Everyday we are convincing someone for something.
Salesmanship is all about understanding the customer’s real needs by striking a conversation,asking lots of open ended questions, building a great rapport and helping the customer feel good about their choices.
I will share two psychology based sales hacks which anyone can use to do this really well. These are from Robert Cialdini’s principles of influence. He is the Baap of psycology. There were 6 of them originally and now there are 7 principles. Over the years, I have seen all great sale people use one or both of these very effectively. They might not have read Cialdini and might not know what they are called, but over the course of their life, they have all figured this out intuitively and use it very naturally.
The Similarity Principle
Find something in common with the customer or whoever you are talking to. This is the oldest trick in the book. People like other people who are similar to them. Once you like them, then you can trust them. It can be in the most trivial way. Like both of them wearing the same brand of socks or even both having two tablespoons of sugar on their tea. And you can always find something in common with every person on this planet.( Trust me on this. Talk to me and I will show you how). It requires intelligent probing. Asking a lot of questions about that person. This is classic art of conversation. Like we try and make conversation with a stranger by finding common topics to talk about. I have not met a great sales person who’s not a master of this principle.
The Consistency Principle
It’s also sometimes referred to as labelling. This is how it works. Our brain seeks to maintain a sense of consistency (even if it’s artificial) about who we think we are and what we believe in. This is the label we give ourselves. This need for consistency influences our behaviour. We want to always act according to the label we have given ourselves. The trick here is to remind the user of their label and how they should act in accordance to this label.
To use this, you should ask the customer what kind of products/experiences they like or why they selected this piece. Their answer is their label. Who they are and what they believe in. Your sales pitch should now focus on the benefits which match the needs of that label.
Ask the customer, why they like to buy from CaratLane or why they like our jewellery or service. Suppose that person says because I like nice designs.
The label of this person is design lover.
Then you need to tell that person what other design lovers do.
“This particular product is one of our best designed products. Was done by person X who ( some special quality of that person) and he or she used this particular technique. It took ten days to just sketch it. Only people who understand great design buy this”
The person’s brain will now force her to be consistent. Which is to do what design lovers do.
It’s a very effective method and works effectively in many other situations also. Please dont try this on me.
The key to execute both these principles is the ability to converse well. Ask open ended questions. Without making it seem like a survey or an interrogation. So that the customer tell you more about themself. You also need to listen really well.
