Do You Ever Use the Priming Effect to Close a Sale?
I love analyzing stuff.
Recently, I’ve been fascinated by the findings of psychological studies on the buying process. For example, here’s the short version of an interesting psychological experiment.
It starts with a group of people being shown pictures of food. The leaders of the study showed participants a word with a missing letter and asked to fill in the blank. Here’s the word:
S O _ P
Participants quickly filled in the missing letter and almost always came up with the word “SOUP.”
Next, a different group of people viewed pictures of bathing, washing, and cleaning, and were then asked to do the same thing – fill in the missing letter:
S O _ P
This time, participants overwhelmingly came up with the word “SOAP.”
The puzzle was identical in both instances. Only one factor changed – the context of the puzzle.
Psychologists call this the priming effect. Our brains look for clues in the world around us, and these data points give us the context by which we make decisions.
In another interesting study, the leaders of the study asked the participants to hold a pencil between their teeth while reading a joke. They then asked the participants to rate how funny the joke was.
One group of participants held the pencil from side to side, like a dog fetching a stick. Another group held the pencil by the end, like they were drinking from a straw.
Consistently, those who held the pencil from side-to-side found the joke funnier than those who held the pencil by its end.
Why? Because, holding the pencil between your teeth from the side initiates a smiling action; holding a pencil by its end more closely emulates a frown.
Facial posture appears to have had a direct effect on how participants rated the joke.
This, too, is the priming effect. Our brains react according to the way they were primed.
There are numerous applications of these findings that relate to the sales world. But for the purpose of this article, I’ll focus on one – the implications of the priming effect on the way we utilize testimonials.
More often than not, salespeople use testimonials as an after-the-fact influence technique.
We demonstrate the product, show off all the flashy features, and then we talk about the many happy customers who are benefiting from ownership.
The implications of these studies suggest that the very same testimonials would be far more powerful if salespeople shared them before the big pitch. Sharing positive testimonials at the beginning of the sales process primes the customer to have a greater level of appreciation of our product.
Consider this true case study from one of my clients.
A salesperson selling no-maintenance roof gutters shows up at the home of a prospect. Very early in the conversation the salesperson says, “I know this area well. In fact, we installed gutters for Jack and Jennifer Thompson the next street over. He had fallen off a ladder cleaning his gutters. He was fine, but for him that was the last straw.”
That’s it. Don’t belabor that point. Don’t ask a closing question. Just casually mention the journey of a different customer and transition to some other topic.
Testimonials are powerful because of what psychologist Robert Cialdini calls the principle of social proof. Essentially, people often do things that people like them do.
The value of the product is given validation because someone in my position has gone before me and been pleased with the outcome.
Used early (and properly) in the sales presentation, testimonials have a powerful positive influence on prospective buyers.
So try using the priming effect in your next sales presentation. Research indicates it’s a GREAT way to start!
