How to Radically Reduce Your Buyer’s Stress Level During the Sale
From a psychological perspective, customers rely heavily on their memory–specifically their “explicit memory”–when making a purchase decision. That all seems to make perfectly logical sense, right?
A customer hears a sales presentation and then say they need some time to think about it. So they go home to size up the details. At this point, the customer relis on their memory of the sales presentation to sort it all out and make a decision.
Simple, really. Until you introduce stress into the mix.
Studies show that when our brains undergo stress, we struggle to keep everything straight. And in those stressful situations, our memory doesn’t record the experience as explicitly as it would in a non-stressful situation.
This explains why high-pressure sales presentations are effective for on-the-spot closing scenarios, but they are less so when the customer has to “think about it.”
Consider the county fair. There is always a guy selling miracle mops or amazing blenders or all-purpose household cleaners. The pitch sounds very exciting and compelling at the time, and you swear he is searching your soul to find that pain point. How does he know!?
But suppose you walked away to give it a little thought. Chances are you did not go back, and that was because you couldn’t quite remember what was so appealing in the first place.
The buying consideration relies on clarity of memories. But if the sales presentation is stressful on your customer in the moment you are introducing cognitive strain down the road.
Here are three ideas to help you provide cognitive ease for your customer:
1) Study the “Peak-End Rule”
Google it. It’s a fascinating concept. Our memories of an experience are greatly influenced by how we feel at the peak of an experience and at the end of an experience. If you can provide great peak moments and great end moments you are more likely to cement the memory in a positive way.
2) Simplify the Complex Stuff
Brainstorm those moments in the sales process that creative cognitive strain for your customers. You’ll find that complexity is often the culprit. Spend a great deal of time simplifying your explanations in those critical moments. Think of analogies that will provide a comparison. Introduce customer testimonials to explain how others have handled the issue. The more you simplify the greater the sense of cognitive ease.
3) Don’t Talk About Price (Yet)
Beware: the earlier in the process you talk about price the less likely it is that you will get a sale. A premature price conversation lacks context. If the customer has not yet established an attraction to your product they have no way of determining whether the price makes any sense. That confusion will only add stress.
What can you do to simplify your presentation and ease your customer’s stress? Figure that out and you might just get that extra boost of sales mojo.
