4 - Getting Emotional

Getting Emotional... buying is a matter of the heart ...

 Emotion 

The word started out in Latin - movere (to move), migrated through French - émouvoir (excite) and finally into English – emotion. Isn’t that cool? Emotion and movement are joined at the hip. Without emotion there is no movement, no action and, of course, no deal. Emotion is the brain’s ‘first responder’. It rushes in to assess a situation and informs whether to run away screaming or to engage. This all happens before the logical brain has even woken up. In fact, it’s so late to the party that its job is simply to validate what the emotions have already decided. This is true if the customer is buying a fantastic new pair of shoes or a cloud-based international accounting system. 

Why this Matters

Emotion is the driver of actions. When pulled by emotion, sales close more often and faster. And they are a lot more fun. 

Do I have a Problem?

By not actively using the emotional power of buying, your channel members are trying to run their sales engines without any lubrication. There’s lots of friction burnout and even in some cases smoke and flames. It becomes evident in difficult push sales approaches where the sales person is trying to bludgeon the buyer with facts - rather than letting the client’s emotion pull the deal.  It shows in sales collateral that is written in dry, rational terms. 

What Causes This?

As the serious business people we all are, we often dismiss it as irrational – and that’s because, well, it is. But because it is irrational it has great power. 

Here’s what to do:

Help your channel to inject some emotion into their sales processes.Make sure you know which features of your product or service evoke what kind of emotion with your target customers – and include that in your sales training.Examine your ad and promo copy –  is it emotive?Look at how your resellers present products or services to a prospect. Do they engage the prospect’s emotions? Here, hold this. Feel this. Have you ever worried about…? How would you feel if…?

What will be different?

Resellers that can engage prospects' emotions will experience a higher closing ratio and shorter sales cycles.  Wouldn't that feel good? 

Emotion is the fourth in a series of posts on improving sales channel efficiency and flow. It follows Credibility