People Would Buy More From You If You Did This ...

My sister-in-law was throwing out an old push lawn mower, so I
rescued the patient from the trash heap. I enjoy doing a little
mechanical work and embraced the challenge to get this machine
working like new again.

A quick diagnostic revealed that the engine head was loose so the
single-stroke chamber was losing compression, which was the main
reason for it not starting. Then came changing the air filter and
finally the carburetor needed cleaning. Much to the joy of my son
and I that little engine soon roared back to life.

But my adventure was not over because every now and then the
lawnmower would cut out. This baffled me for some time until I
discovered by accident that the gas cap was airtight so no air
could get in the tank to allow the fuel to flow out. The tank
needed to be open to the atmosphere otherwise a back pressure
would build up choking the Briggs and Stratton engine to death.

Well, your customers are a lot like that rescued lawn mower. You
can clean them, tighten them push them, but if no fuel is getting
to their engines they won't act on your appeals. What is that
fuel that would get them moving? We call this desire, and the
skill of getting that desire flowing freely we call persuasion.

Now there are a lot of fancy things written about persuasion from
the light to the dark areas of cultic leaders and brainwashing.
But, for the marketer, persuasion is simply finding the things
that motivates a prospect and elevating this to a level where it
overcomes their tenacity to the money you are asking for your
product or service.

Simply put, if you can stir the prospect's desire to a level
which overcomes his desire to keep his money in his pocket, then
you have persuaded him to take action. You have made a sale.

The most basic way to persuade towards a purchase is to show how
this action would benefit him. Now note that you are thinking
here about benefiting him and not yourself. So you have to study
your prospect and see things as he sees them--this is all part of
market research.

As fundamental as this principle is, there are still so many
businesses who talk about themselves more than they talk about
the interest of their target market. It's the cardinal sin of
marketing.

In general we can say there are some fundamental desires most
people share--to be healthier, richer, happier, recognized, and
satisfy some passion. If you can show how your product or service
would add power, comfort, prestige and general well-being to your
prospect, then you'll win most.

Of course any product that you are selling must be explained to
your target market. For you, because you have worked so hard to
bring this product to market, this may be the exciting part but
it is not for the prospect. You cannot sell effectively by just
describing the features of your product. You must attach these
features to the deep desires of your audience--this is the real
fuel that would get your prospects and your products moving.

Those who study human psychology tell us that there are six
primal motives for human action: pride, love, gain, duty,
self-indulgence and self-preservation. Perhaps Maslow's hierarchy
of needs is the most well-known summary of these motives.

Now because the human mind is so complex there is no way that the
marketer can fractionally distillate each of these motives to
know just which one to appeal to when marketing a certain
product.

For example, a man may want an expensive golf club simply because
of its superior appearance, but unless he is sleeping on a
mattress padded with hundred dollar bills, pride alone would not
be enough to get him over the line.

So an advertisement written for these clubs that appeals to pride
alone may fall flat. The ad must also appeal maybe to
self-indulgence, love for the game and gain. The advertiser must
show how his old golf clubs are crippling his game and how these
"new and improved" clubs would take him to the next level, making
him a happier man, father and husband!

The point here is that the more motives your advertisement can
hang its appeal on, the better are your chances of getting the
sale. Now here is where it gets tricky because what makes me want
a thing is not the same motives that will make me buy it.

Let me explain.

I can recall as a door-to-door salesman selling books to earn a
college scholarship, I thought that once I could convince my
prospect of the great benefits of buying my books they would buy.
One day while I was canvassing, a more experienced student came
along and saw me in my struggle. He had been selling these books
for a while and right away realized my mistake. After he saw that
my prospect was convinced, but not acting, he took the books from
my hands and placed them in her hands and the sale was made. I
was "persuasive" in getting my prospects to desire the books, but
not in getting them to buy the books.

BIG difference.

So just desiring your product alone is not enough. You must get
him to take the action of buying your product, and these are two
distinct steps in the persuasion equation. Sometimes to close the
sale you have to show the prospect what he would lose if he
doesn't act right away, that there are limited quantities and
that the price would be raised soon--arguments if which absent
will leave him to go away and "think about it".

A couple of years ago I was in the market for a used Jon Boat to
do some wide-mouth bass fishing with my son. About every person I
contacted on Craigslist told me that their boat was already sold.
So when I finally contacted an owner the first question I asked
was if anyone else had responded to the ad. Learning that there
were other interested buyers only motivated me even the more to
make a positive decision. So when it came my turn to resell that
same Jon Boat, the first thing I told the second and subsequent
callers was that there were other interested parties. Did this
work? For sure it did.

The bottom line is that you have to make the prospect want your
offer, not merely for what it is but what it would do for him.
And act right away on those desires.

-Ray Edwards