7/29/2019 Evoke Emotion! How to Sell and Influence

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48 InsuranceNewsNet Magazine November 201048 InsuranceNewsNet Magazine November 2010

andalistof

otherexpressions

thathelpyousell!

Ive always wanted to use that as a

title to an article. I love the sound

of it. And honestly, I struggledbetween using AAAARRGGGHHH!and AAAAAAHHHHH! but believe

youll agree that I chose the right one.

The point of that expression? The

fact that it represents an emotion, anoutburst of feeling. Say it again, right

now. Did our title come flying off your

tongue as a good feeling, or one of dis-

gust, possibly despair?We open todays column with a feeling

because the understanding of emotions is

one of the least understood, and certainlyleast taught, concepts in selling.

Heres what you want totake away from this article:

You must evoke emotion when you

converse with prospects.

How best to do this? By crafting your

questions so that they create, not sim-ply a logical, but a gut response from

your buyers.

How do we know this is important?

How do we know it works?

The study of neuroeconomics is acombination of research from the fieldsof psychology, economics and neuro-

science. It looks at the role of the brain

when we evaluate decisions, categorize

risks and rewards and interact witheach other.

Almost every study on decision-mak-

ing reveals that when a buyer decides to

buy, she or he is first driven by emotion,then validates or rationalizes logic.

Therefore, as a sales professional, we

need to understand that evoking emo-tion during a sales call is key to help-ing buyers buy. If you neglect to cre-

ate an environment where an emo-

tional response occurs, youll end up

with a clinical, ratio-nal prospect who

decides with their

head vs. their heart.

If this fascinates youand you want more

information, youll be

captivated by the stories, research and

applications from Jonah Lehrers book,

How We Decide.Corporate America understands this

quite well. For example, during the

writing of this article, BMW came out

with an automobile commercial that

illustrates this point:BMW: How you make people feel is

as important as what you make.

We dont just make cars, we make joy!

It is accompanied with many images,all connected with the word joy, a

powerful emotion.

Its time for sales pros in America tointentionally adapt these practices as well.The basis of all our questioning strat-

egies centers on evoking emotion first.

Which means we need to understand

BYDANSEID

MAN

Almost every study on decision-making

reveals that when a buyer decides to

buy, she or he is first driven by emotion

7/29/2019 Evoke Emotion! How to Sell and Influence

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November 2010 InsuranceNewsNet Magazine 49

experience (muchlike Bill Clintonsclassic I feel yourpain) , but the

boss question is areal rough one. Your buyer will most

likely go right back to that place andtime where his manager, executive orowner just went off on the poor per-son for letting thi s mistake happen inthe first place.

We will never let anything like thathappen to you again. This mightbe your follow-up comment. It getsemotions back on track for the buyeras he or she will begin to experiencehope, satisfaction, trust or relief (perour list of emotions).

So, again, your job is to evoke emo-tion and form a bond with the buyer.Here are some examples that show youhow you can do this through each stepof the sales process. There are liter-ally dozens of questions for each cate-gory. I recently designed a sales train-ing program for one financial servicesfirm where we crafted 37 questions touse with prospects, including this crazyresponse below:

Were too old to buy an annuity.Not really, we have sea turtles olderthan you as clients.

Laughter (and surprise) generates agut response that spikes emotion andbonds you with your buyer.

If you dont find your voice in any thefollowing five, create your own ques-tions and add emotion to increase theirpotency in front of those prospects. Iveitalicized underlined the words that addemotion to the question.

Qualifying & DisqualifyingHow fast do we want to get this

frustratingselection made and off yourplate, so you can get back to your otherresponsibilities?

Clarifying Buying Process(How do they buy, whos the key

decision-maker?)

Do you battle a board that helps makethis decision, or will they pretty muchrubber-stamp anything you like?

Defining Success, Goals and

Problems (That need attention.)Youve had somestressfulvendor rela-

tionships in the past, whats the best wayto help you know youve made the rightchoice here?

Finalizing the SaleSo, I give you a proposal with the num-

bers we discussed and the timing thatfits and youll be happy to get started?

Follow-up with the New ClientIs everything good? You happy? Can

I do anything differently to make thingseasierfor you?Your emotional connection is increased

by using words that help, plus facialexpressions and tone of voice to reinforce

your empathy with their current conditionI coach sales pros to feel like they were

talking to a best friend, to the point wherethey could grab them by the shoulders,shake em and say, Youve got to havethis! Your life will be changed forever witha simple yes! You get the picture yourown emotions reveal the depth of your

belief in your solutions.Heres a quick review before you go put

this all into play. First, the emotional component of questioning cant be underes-timated. Remember the research dataon how decisions are madetheyre firstbased on emotions. You must build emo-tional word choices in your questions.

Secondly, find your voice make surethe questions you use reflect your per-sonality and personal words and phrasesMake sure you ask questions with authen

tic interest in the answers and use emotionin your voice and face as well.Let me know how things go when you

make these adjustments to your currentquestioning practices.

For a chart o f the 48 emotions ,

send Dan Seidm an an email :

Dan@SalesAutopsy.com.

Laughter generates a gutresponse that spikes emotionand bonds you with your buyer.

AAAHHHH! AND OTHER EXPRESSIONS THAT HELP YOU SELL |BUSINESS