How to Sell More Using Behavioural Thinking
Most of what we think we know about how people make purchasing decisions is just plain wrong.
Most often we observe how our theories around what people will buy, how they will buy, and when they will buy just don´t play out. Our decision making process is like a big lab experiment. Under very controlled conditions we can predict what is likely to happen. Then start factoring in more variables or make a controlled test enviornment more realistic and things will start getting a lot less clear. Would you like to you why?…I thought so :)
You see, we have this sneaky yet amazing thing called the human brain that is as marveleous as it is misterious. Simply put, human brain function is extremely complex. We are constantly receiving stimuli both from within our bodies and from our environment. Each new input keeps the machine that is our brain working, adjusting, evaluating, & creating new thoughts, emotions, sensations, & perceptions. There is a whole lot of stuff going on. Most of it happens without us even being aware of it. It´s as if part of your body is running a marathon and your aren´t consciously aware of the effort, or the the route during all of those miles.
All of this brain function causes people to behave irrationally. The famous behavioural scientist, Dan Ariely made the term quite popular outside of the academic realm after publishing a very successful book called Predictably Irrational on this very topic. People are emotional, impulsive, irrational and highly infuenced by context. It´s the gift and curse of being human.
Can we use the concept of Irrationality to boost Sales?
Since we can´t change how our brains work, the only effective strategy is just to work with what you´ve got. I´ve tried this myself. Once I decided to embrace this idea I saw big changes. Sales became better, bigger, & easier. The product being sold it didn´t matter so much. The secret is in the process used to generate sales.
What´s important :
- Present yourself, the product(s), service and company in a way that´s aligned with how our brains actually work
- Figure out and how, when and why your customers are able to listen to ceratin information and then be willing to act upon it
- Context is key
- It´s not about you its about them. Atleast at first if you can´t get them engaged it is going to be a hard sell.
How did I revamp my approach to selling?
First I took a hard look at my modus operandi: That means basically everthing I was doing that I had learned as best practice whether that be in school and over more than a decade working in international business. I reviewed my actions and aproach with scrutiny.
Second, I challenged my asumptions. I reflected on what I had done looking at what worked and what did not. What was the “textbook thing to do”? When did that work and in what instances did it not? What weird or crazy ideas been extremely efective? When did “fate” or the forces of nature seem to play a role in allowing things to just fall into place with seemingly little effort? Was it really luck or was there something more to it?
Align your offering with customer behaviour.
Looking at things from this new viewpoint, a clear pathway to success emerged. Achieving success seemed to be rooted in a simple yet extremely powerful concept. Align your offering with the way customers actually behave. Not how they think or they think they behave, but their actually observable behaviour. Its a method based on observation, on active and acute listening, on seeing instead of watching customers,on not talking to but talking with customers and then merging all of it with some out of the box and creative thinking.
The idea is not to get into your customers head, but instead recognize the behaviors that result from everthing going on up there.
Base you ideas not on what people say, but on what they actually do.
This is how you can sell more using behavioural thinking. And you know what, you might just see some amazing results. I certainly did!
