Posts in Sales skills

The lizard brain will get them to buy right now

Consumer Behavior Sales skills April 30, 2020

In my previous post, To sell, speak to all three parts of the brain, I talked about the three parts of the brain that we have, and now, I am going to talk about the old brain, the primal one, the lizard brain, and how it influences customers to buy, right now.

The lizard brain?

“The lizard brain is hungry, scared, angry, and horny. The lizard brain only wants to eat and be safe. The lizard brain will fight (to the death) if it has to, but would rather run away. It likes a vendetta and has no trouble getting angry.” - Seth Godin

To sell, speak to all three parts of the brain

Consumer Behavior Sales skills April 29, 2020 3 Comments

You have got three brains, and each one of them plays a role when making decisions.

1. Old brain (reptilian): The survival brain that is driven by our primal instincts. You are in the lookout for survival, for protection.

4 Scarcity tactics that will make your customers ready to buy now

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Sales skills November 20, 2019

Tell them they can’t have it and they will come running for it.

I think that advice works best with dating, not that I am an expert in relationships or anything, but hey consumers are also human. 😉

“The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.” - G. K. Chesterton

Haven’t you always noticed? When one partner says, “I am done, I am not accepting this,” and moves away, the other partner in the relationship who might have been taking his/her partner for granted realizes what s/he is about to lose, or perhaps even just lost?

That’s my friend is scarcity.

The “scarcity” consumer behavior principle says,

“Opportunities seem more valuable to us when their availability is limited.” - Robert B Cialdini, Influence

To persuade, ask, don’t tell

Cognitive Bias Consumer Behavior Sales skills October 25, 2019

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To persuade” could be one of the hardest things you can come across. I have been there. Multiple times. Every single day if you ask me.

Having a sound and logical arguments may work with some people, especially engineers and programmers, but at the end of the day, we are human. Humans are emotional, and whether you can do a good job hiding it or not, your emotions have an unneglectable impact on your decisions.

I have mentioned before the “endowment effect”. It’s such a powerful cognitive bias, and because it’s so powerful, you can use it in multiple ways.

The endowment effect basically says,
“We place greater value on items because we own them.” – Adam Ferrier, The Advertising Effect: How to Change Behaviour

Previously, I have demonstrated how you can use the best of the endowment effect before consumers buy your product so that they feel they own it, value it even more, then take out their credit cards.

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But…

What if all you want is to persuade someone to buy into your idea?

Here’s how you can influence your customers to grab their wallets and buy

Consumer Behavior Copywriting Sales skills September 26, 2019 1 Comment

“What’s in it for me?”

If you can answer the “what’s in it for me?” question to your consumers, you are going to get their attention.

The study of consumer behavior breaks down our desires into eight basic needs and wants. Those eight needs get in touch with our biological triggers and if you use one of those needs or a combination of a few, you will be able to answer that question.

Amazing negotiation and persuasion tricks to try right now

Book Reviews Consumer Behavior Sales skills Self development September 20, 2019 3 Comments

One of the top needed skills for the job market in 2019 is negotiation skills, persuasion, and influence.

LinkedIn: The Most In-Demand Hard and Soft Skills of 2019

Forbes: The Skills You Need To Succeed In 2020

… and what a better way to tackle this, than making the best of my favorite subject of consumer behavior?
Consumer behavior is the study of how consumers search for, choose, buy, and use your products or services.

Consumers are people. Whether you influence them to buy your products or services or influence them to buy into your ideas, you can more or less follow the same concepts.

Persuasion and influence could be one of the hardest tasks anyone can be assigned to. Some people are skilled, while others are left dazzled, not sure what could be the next step they can take to improve in that area.

I know. I know because I bet you are a bit like me and face this situation every single day — at work or in social settings. After all, I am a nerd, and well, I did study software engineering. This is quite far from negotiation skills if you ask me.

Read: Learn how consulting changed my life

The good news is negotiation skills, persuasion and influence can be taught. Yes. Some people think that only the born talented are the ones who can exceed in that area, but I beg to differ.

Clever consumer behavior tricks to build trust and close a sale

Consumer Behavior Sales skills Spending money September 16, 2019 1 Comment

Before a consumer grabs her wallet to pull out her credit card, she needs to trust you. She thinks…

Are you credible? Will I regret this?

There are multiple ways to build trust, and showcase your credibility. Today, I will be discussing two techniques, powered by consumer behavior studies.

So, how can you build trust?

Demonstrate that you can fulfill her need.

A crucial ingredient for building trust with your customers

Consumer Behavior Sales skills Self development September 7, 2019

A crucial ingredient to building trust with your customers

Are you asking the right questions?

Whichever your job is, you are interacting with customers. You are interacting with customers unless you sit behind the screen all day and speak to no one -and I mean, speak to one via any means of communication.

Customers could be internal or external. In both cases, you work to gain their trust.

If you haven’t established and gained your customers’ trust, your day-to-day job wouldn’t be so much fun.

Got an upcoming workshop? This trick will increase your attendance rate ;)

Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Sales skills August 27, 2019

Whether it’s an event, a workshop or a training session, having no shows is a challenge to many entrepreneurs, event organizers, and trainers.

They put in the effort. They carefully craft the messaging for their advertised content. They write implicit descriptions. They educate their customers. They even confirm their attendance on the phone, and still, a big percentage of those customers wouldn’t show up. They wouldn’t show up. They wouldn’t even send a message apologizing for not coming.

Those event organizers get frustrated, they get disappointed… and then ask themselves…

How can I make my customers commit?

I have some good news… and an answer to that question, of course using the principles of those consumer behavior studies that I am in love with.

4 Words that will bring your sales to the next level

Cognitive Bias Consumer Behavior Consumer Marketing Copywriting Sales skills August 5, 2019 1 Comment

Some words trigger you — they excite you to the extent that you want to spend, right now, eagerly, whatever is in your pocket, or your credit card.

In his book, Brainfluence, Roger Dooley, mentions the magical power of some words on our brain. I could also say I recently discovered one word that works like magic. Read on to find out.