Selling With Emotion

Here's a wild assertion: I think rationality is overrated. Yup. It's true. I realize it's important to have a good foundation with your feet planted solidly on the ground, but rationality has taken over the realm of business (though it has not yet taken over the world of romantic relationships. . .) and we've lost an integral part of ourselves that makes us appealing: emotionality. We have moved from mom and pop businesses into the age of faceless corporations and in doing so, things have become so sterile.

I've discussed in previous articles how to access our clients' and prospect's emotions. Here I'd like to discuss why we should do this. Their emotions and other-than-conscious minds are conduits and our viability as sales people are linked to these conduits.

Our core emotions drive us to take action. The same things that ruled our ancestors, rule us--our need for food, shelter, sex, fight or flight. There wasn't an overabundance of products and services to choose from at that point, there were just the basics. With no thought to the concepts of choice, luxury or affluence, decisions were simple. And yet, we are still hardwired to think about these core needs first and foremost.

In our interactions, we need to have foremost in our minds the goal of appealing to their core. Gut instincts can be honed to be even more powerful than our rational thought processes. And when we combine the two, that is where the real power is.

In an instant, our gut instincts kick into action. In the book 'Blink', Malcolm Gladwell writes about thinking without thinking, that rapid cognition that happens in the blink of an eye. Our rational brains take five times longer to assimilate than do our emotional processes.

Remember when sales was all about 'features and benefits'? The Dale Carnegie method of selling? Well, despite the fact that at our core we are cavemen and cavewomen, we have grown incredibly sophisticated on the surface. We have developed an ability to see through slick, gimmicky sales pitches. We have highly advanced B.S. detectors.

It feels good to be understood and at ease, and we want these responses from our clients. With the right training, we can duplicate these responses over and over. When we access our prospect's and client's values and criteria, combine them with sincerity, honesty and integrity, add in our products and/or services, it creates an emotional alchemy that is easy to feel good about.

At this point in our evolution (depending on your perspective) we have an incredible amount of choice. There are products and services available to us that even a generation ago, weren't even dreamed up. Those of us who know how to access the core of our prospect's emotions are going to be the ones capable of rising to the top in our given fields. By elevating emotions and partially bypassing rationality, we find ourselves with incredible persuasion power.

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to sell to affluent clients using persuasion strategies. He runs unique public and private seminars and offers home study courses, audio/visual learning tools, and coaching programs in persuasion techniques. Find more free articles at www.MAXpersuasion.com/blog. Be sure to sign up for his free report entitled "Yes! Persuasion."