How to captivate more customers by appealing to sentiment.
Any sane person in this world would say that people buy at cost vs. benefit, utility, profit, savings, quality and guarantee. Those of us who are Crazy about Sales know and are convinced that these arguments are those that occupy the time of the sane, and that the arguments they sell are those that satisfy emotional needs, those that provoke feelings of security, prestige, imitation, comfort, tranquility, love, etc., etc.
Believe me that nobody, absolutely nobody, buys logically. Logic is used to justify feelings and to facilitate choice after one cannot make the decision between two companies for which he feels he should buy from them. Why do people buy products that are not so urgent, in installments with interest of up to 40% per year, instead of waiting to raise the money? Simple, because you "feel" that you need it now.
Tell me if this phrase is not familiar to you "I don't know how I'm going to pay for it but I felt that I had to buy it now, I couldn't stand it, and with how much I work and sacrifice, I deserve it."
We all buy by feeling, even those who plan and think thousands of times before doing so, do so to feel and show that they buy well.
The best example I can find to show you this madness that no one buys for reasonable and logical reasons is what happened to me years ago on the eve of my son Agustín's birthday and that I will comment on.
At that time my son came up to me and told me that phrase that many parents, who do not have fortunes, fear, "I know what I want for my birthday, Dad," and he continued without giving me a break: "a Play Station." Receiving, from me, the obvious answer from a father who belongs to the generation of the ball and the bike "whateeeee?". Obviously my son, already accustomed to not understanding his language, came prepared to give me a reality class and tell me what all the children in the world should have, a game console much better than the one he had and that all the parents of his friends have already bought. This is precisely where the first feelings come into play;I could be the worst of the daddies that make up the group of my children's friends and that I assure you that made me feel that I had to find out more and see if I could be at the level of the parents colleagues. Imitation and fear of not being a part.
When I asked him if he knew how much it cost, he told me that he believed it was more than $ 200, a figure that returned me to my logical thinking to analyze: cost vs. benefit ?: cost more than $ 200 vs. no benefit because my son would be more isolated and locked up than what I am currently willing to accept; Useful? They say it helps the boys develop their strategic and abstract thinking but once they showed me a game in which they have to steal cars and sell them to the mafia, logical reason enough for me to choose not to find a use for it. Profit? A console that when it leaves the store is already old, and that in less than a year would already be a hindrance, cannot represent any profit.
Saving? It was just what was going to decrease with the purchase, my savings. Quality? It may be because it is from a globally recognized brand and guarantee? also important but not enough for me to decide to buy it so I decided not to belong to the group of parents who do not think and answer "I chose something else son, the PS2 will be next year"
Later, when passing by a store that sold video game consoles, Mariana, my wife, said to me: “why don't you find out well what a PS2 is and how much it really costs? It may cost cheaper than what your son told you. ”. It seems appropriate to comment that when my wife asks me that type of cross-examination he makes a very convincing face, so I decided to go into the store.
I entered with a reluctant face, almost looking with contempt at the waste of time in which I was immersed, and yet a smiling vendor approaches me and eager to serve me, I thought “if this one, seeing me like this, smiles at me, it's crazy "so I decided to protect myself from his intention to sell by saying:" Look, I was a seller all my life, I train sellers, so refrain from selling to me, what's more, I want to clarify that I'm not going to buy. " As his smile had not fallen, I kept telling him: “my son asked me for a Play Station 2 for his birthday, but I already told him that I was NOT going to buy it, I just want you to show me what it is like and tell me how much it costs, I repeat, I am not going to buy, if you want to serve another customer who comes in while you show me there is no problem ”.
Despite my attempts to depress him, his face showed more joy, I think, like what Sales Lovers feel, adversity = challenge = enthusiasm. Thus it was that the seller, not at all unmotivated, began to show me the console and tell me all the "logical reasons" why I should buy it, saying: "this console comes with antishock, if your son drops it, nothing will happen to him.; It is already transformed for the electricity of our country, it will not need a transformer; We give you two controls, the competition gives you only one; it can be placed vertically, it is good if you do not have space in your TV cabinet; We give you a one-year warranty, others give you only 6 months; you can choose two games and get them for free ”. Until I interrupted him and said "thank you, thank you, tell me the price now,I have to go "and without a single part of his body shaking, he replied:" 400 dollars (twice what my son had told me it cost; the one who trembled was me) "That's where my brain started to work on the decision according to the following table.
Logical reason |
Thought | conclusion |
| Cost vs. Benefit | A lot of money for my son to be locked in his room playing and further away from family life | I do not buy |
| Utility | They say that it stimulates the abstract thinking of children but also accustoms them to play violently | I do not buy |
| Gain | I do not earn anything by buying it, it is more in a month it will be worth less. | I do not buy |
| Saving | It's just what was going to decrease. My savings. | I do not buy |
| Quality | It is a brand recognized worldwide for its quality, but it is not reason enough to convince me. | I do not buy |
| Warranty | One year is a good guarantee, but it is not reason enough to convince me | I do not buy |
| Presents | They are interesting, but it is not reason enough to convince me | I do not buy |
Having already reasoned logically, my conclusion was conclusive "I do not buy" and I replied: "Thank you for your kindness, but as I already told you, I will not buy. Bye". It was at that precise moment that the salesman showed me that he was Crazy About Sales, when without worrying in the least because I had denied him my desire to buy after his long presentation, he told me, with a very suggestive volume, almost sweet: "You told me that you had already told your son that you were not going to buy this console, right?"
As I was already with my back to the exit, I turned around and answered “that's right, I already told you to think about another gift” and he replied: “imagine arriving with this gift! What a huge surprise for your son!” At that moment my mind projected the image of my son opening the gift; noticing that it was the Play Station that he wanted so much; with his friends exclaiming surprise and congratulating him; turning his gaze towards me with an expression that I am the best father in the world and with my wife in the background smiling at me and expressing an OK with her hands.
An entire image that made me change my face, produced an inexplicable feeling and led me to say "And with a credit card, in how many installments can I buy it?"
| Emotional reason | Thought | conclusion |
| Surprise size for your child | I want to live that moment, I want to be an idol father | If I buy |
Whoever thinks I bought a video game console is wrong; I bought that moment that the seller managed to place in my head to trigger the feeling that inevitably leads to the purchase even though there are no logical reasons to do so. What's more, when the gift was delivered I made sure to record that moment, calling his friends, while holding a camcorder in one hand and a camera in the other.
The seller not only managed to sell me, but he gave me a moment that I carry in my memory for all my life, and he did it to a person who entered with the face of few friends, mistreated him and told him several times that he was not going to buy from him. This salesman is definitely acting crazy.
When you sell do not forget to generate feelings, it is important that you talk about the product or service, but if you do not generate an emotion that eliminates the negative logical barriers that the client has, you will not sell or achieve a lasting relationship with the client. The most important sentimental and emotional reasons are: security, I feel safer buying; prestige, I feel important if I buy; imitation, I cannot stop having what those I want to imitate have; comfort, I want to live a more comfortable life; love, I must show my love by buying what those I want want; merit, with the effort I make daily I deserve to buy this; intelligence, if I buy this in this way I will show myself intelligent to others; belong, if I buy I will belong to the group of those who buy that; sex, if I buy I will get more relationships;and others not so important but if so effective, depending on the person to whom we are selling.
