The psychology of sales is all about sales professionals understanding the psyche of their target customers to sell their products and services. Using the right psychological triggers catches the attention of customers and nudges them to buy. Brian Tracy, author of Why People Buy, says, “The two major reasons that people buy or don’t buy, respectively, are desire for gain and fear of loss.” This means if you don’t understand your audience or their needs, your sales will tank.
Research shows that 72% of the time, prospects never answer a sales rep’s call. It takes 8 attempts to connect to a user. Imagine how much effort it can take to convert a prospect into a customer! And at times, when you are just about to close a deal, your prospect might suddenly back off, and you’re back to square one.
Sales psychology comes in handy in such times. It aims to strike the right chord with your customers, so they willfully try or buy from you. Your sales goals align well when you observe your prospects’ behavior and find a way to make them consider your product or service.
5 Smart Ways to Use Sales Psychology to Your Advantage
We bring you the top 5 sales psychology techniques that will help you understand your buyers better. Let’s get started, shall we?
Offer Fewer Options to Customers
Too many options confuse the customers. Sometimes, less is more. To prevent decision paralysis and help your customers buy from your range, you must offer fewer, specific options. It is a good practice to study your audience and their buying patterns and pitch your products to the right targets. This way, you add value to the customers and also increase your sales. It is good to aim at a single bulk purchase rather than multiple small ones.
Evoke Curiosity in Prospects
Unless your customers are curious about a product, they will not be interested in it. Curiosity plays a powerful role in sales psychology. A good way to start is to put the focus on users, not the product. Because people don’t care about the product. They care about the benefits they’ll reap from the product. Don’t talk about the product features. Rather, discuss how it can transform people’s lives for the better.
Display Social Proof to Catch Their Attention
People need proof to trust that the product you’re offering will benefit them in some way. Apart from piquing their curiosity, if you add valuable customer feedback to the pitch, the product looks more authentic. Leveraging social media for this purpose is great practice. You can also build your pitch around user-generated content from social media platforms and showcase it to the audience you want to target specifically.
Sparingly Use the FOMO Concept
Fear of missing out (FOMO) is used by several marketers and salespeople since it acts as a perfect psychological trigger. It creates a sense of urgency and works well, especially for offers or a limited range of products. The “get it before it’s gone” concept, which creates the FOMO in your customers, incites them to buy your products at a discounted price as soon as you announce it. Giving good clarity to your special offers is important as if you don’t mention it correctly, the entire sales effort can backfire.
Leverage the Art of Storytelling
Storytelling is an integral part of your marketing and sales efforts. You can follow the Character—->Conflict/Problem—->Solution theme to build engaging stories and offer value to your customers. The characters in your story can be common people who may face a certain problem, and with your product/service can get the solution they are looking for. You keep the audience engaged, address their issues with empathy, and offer a solution that will resolve their problem.
Key Takeaways
Every customer is different and so are their needs. The best way to sell is to understand their issues, empathize with them, and pitch your products as a solution. But, knowing your customers deeply is the most important thing.
