You can have the most logical and compelling proposal but still fail to get any response, due to the fact that people are not rational. If you are working hard but seeing little to no increase in sales, this could be attributed to a lack of understanding human behavior.
Successful salespeople and marketers understand universal human behavior well enough to use the right trigger words to get them to take action, each and every time. Let’s talk about the most common human tendencies and how can you use them in your advantage:
People will do more to avoid loss than to gain pleasure
According to research into human behavior, people typically fear loss twice as much as relish success. As a result of this loss-aversion tendency, people are also more likely to stick to existing solutions rather than to risk losing what they have. That doesn’t bode well for new businesses. So what can you do?
Consider offering free trials to lower the risk of going into business with you. Once they start incorporating your solution in their lives, loss aversion will work in your favor. It becomes hard for them to stop using your solution so they will pay to continue using it. Money-back guarantees work in the same way.
People are naturally inquisitive
Curiosity is a human behavior trait that distinguishes us from other species. From a marketing standpoint, this is also why click baits work so well. Whenever we perceive a gap between what we know and what we want to know, we can’t help but seek to close the gap.
Successful companies have made use of stories to draw people’s attention and bring their point across. Stories work so well because, unlike blatant sales messages, it provides the impetus to continue reading/watching. The ups and downs experienced by the protagonist in the story create an information gap that we can’t help but follow.
People are interested in themselves
A statement as old as the time about human behavior says that we, as a race, are always motivated by self-interest.
In marketing, one of the most prevalent advertising clichés is the fact that businesses can’t seem to stop talking about themselves and how good they are, forgetting that people are primarily interested only in themselves. You should seek to understand the needs of your audience and convince them based on their need, not yours.
People believe what they want to believe
People search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. The closer these beliefs are to their identity, the more deeply rooted it will be.
If you are trying to sell someone on something, the last thing you should do is go against their beliefs.
People are naturally lazy
Instant gratification always sells. Being aware of this human behavior principle, however, you can use it for the greater good and build a long-lasting business. For example, we can design our sales process to make it insanely easy for people to make purchases.
On top of that, we can limit the choices we offer to customers to increase sales. Whether you sell jams, music players or insurance policies, you can simplify decision-making for your prospects. Instead of dumping 100 choices on people, narrow it down to three options for them.
Even better, do the thinking for them by recommending a customized solution based on their unique situation. It will be so much easier for them to make a purchase.