#106: Why People Buy Your Product (the psychological blueprint)


Read time: 4 min

Today, I will share why customers buy and how to leverage the most important persuasion levers into your sales process.

If you want to get good at selling, stop reading books on sales and start paying attention to human psychology. When you begin to understand and incorporate the different psychological levers into your sales process, it will drastically improve your ability to win deals.

The problem with most posts or books regarding founder sales is they focus on the execution, or the technique, without explaining the psychology of why people say yes.

Make the decision obvious. Then make it easy.

~Alex Hormozi

One of the best books ever written on the topic of persuasion is Influence by Robert Cialdini. In the book, he explains six principles for engaging prospects in closing business. Those principles are:

1. Reciprocity

2. Consistency

3. Social Proof

4. Authority

5. Likability

6. Scarcity

I will briefly break down each of them and explain how we coach clients to implement and incorporate them into their process.

1. Reciprocity

As humans, we are hardwired to reciprocate favors. The principle of reciprocation leverages the human tendency to feel obligated to give back when we receive something from others. It creates a sense of indebtedness and increases the likelihood of compliance or a favorable response to a request or offer. This is exactly what we want when selling.

Implementation

One of the highest compliments you can give another human being is genuinely listening to them. Listening demonstrates respect, empathy, and a genuine interest in understanding their challenges, feelings, and experiences. It raises the price of your stock and makes the person feel more connected to you. During the discovery call, when you ask questions, get into the habit of always asking follow-up questions to the answers they provide. This is demonstrating real interest. People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care. You can only do this effectively if you listen. This is the principle of reciprocation. If they feel like you’re listening, they are more inclined to divulge more and more information. The more information you have, the more leverage you have. The more leverage, the higher the probability you close. Listen to understand, rather than listening to reply.

2. Consistency:

The principle of consistency highlights the human desire to be consistent with our past beliefs, commitments, and actions. Once people make a choice, they tend to stick to it to maintain internal coherence. It's sticking to your word and following through on what you said you would do. Persuasion can be achieved by aligning your value proposition with the prospect's needs. This is why the discovery call is so important.

Implementation

Consistency is the key to the entire sales process. We achieve this by understanding the prospect's needs and walking them through the process. Each time they proceed to the next stage, they make small commitments to themselves. Small commitments are consistent with what they need. In other words, as they move forward, they stay consistent with the problems they need solved, conveying that our process is addressing those needs.

3. Social Proof

Social proof suggests that people tend to follow the actions or behaviors of others, particularly when they are unsure about what to do or how to act in a specific situation. We look for what others are doing or saying to validate our thoughts. Reviews, case studies, logos, and testimonials are all social proof. Landing one big logo can provide huge leverage in proving to prospects that you are credible.

Implementation

We incorporate social proof into the process through case studies and testimonials everywhere and anywhere potential prospects live. We add LinkedIn profiles, website, decks, and other customer-facing collateral, logos, case studies, and testimonials. This is by far one of the biggest needle movers in gaining confidence and credibility.

4. Authority

People follow those perceived as credible, knowledgeable, or in positions of authority. This is the idea of uniforms. Police, firemen, doctors, lawyers, and security personnel wear uniforms to convey authority.

Implementation

Throughout the buying journey, you must convey that you are the authority. This is done in 2 ways. (1) Knowing your shit. You’ve built a company around solving problem(s) in the space, you need to be able to articulate that clearly. (2) Controlling the conversation by conveying assertiveness and not being a pushover. I see this often. Clients are afraid to be assertive. They allow the prospect to control the conversation. Don’t do this. They come to you because they have a problem and believe you can solve it. You’re the one wearing the lab coat. That needs to be conveyed throughout the buying journey. People do business with other people who are assertive. This conveys confidence and competency, and confidence closes deals. Always be the authority by controlling the buying journey.

5. Likeability

People are more inclined to do business with people they like. You increase your persuasive power by building rapport, LISTENING, and establishing a genuine connection. Your vibe attracts your tribe. Ideally ,your ICP should be your tribe. You need to understand them. 

Implementation

The science behind selling is listening. When you listen, you can ask really good questions. Here are examples of how to begin questions. 

• I’d love to zoom in on ______ and better understand ______.

• You mentioned ______, what does that look like?

• When you say ______, how do you define that?

• What do you see as being the_________?

• How do you think about_______?

• Help me better understand_______.

Questions that begin with these statements build trust, competence, and rapport in the eyes of the prospect. This is how you become more likable and move you closer to the close.

6. Scarcity

The principle of scarcity suggests that people perceive something as more valuable when it is limited or scarce in availability. It creates a sense of urgency and fear of missing out (FOMO). It drives individuals to take action or purchase to secure scarce resources or opportunities before they are no longer accessible.

Implementation

This is why we create the offer. The offer is designed to do four things. (1) To generate revenue quickly. (2) To get them using and validating your product fast, with zero risk. (3) Identifying indications of PMF. And (4) creating scarcity (FOMO) that triggers them to decide quickly. Here’s an example.

We are willing to extend you an offer that completely protects your downside risk and maximizes your upside. The caveat is that we will only extend this offer to you for 2 weeks.

Would you like to hear it?

For $1000, we guarantee that we can deliver on _______ and _________ in the next 30 days, and if we can’t deliver, we’ll refund you the $1000 for the inconvenience and allow you to use the platform for free for the next 30 days. Again, we’ll extend this offer for the next 2 weeks. All we ask is once you’ve validated that our tech will work, I want two favors from you (i.e., principle of reciprocation) (1): To move forward on an annual agreement. And (2) to use you as a case study to share with other potential customers. Is that fair enough!!

6 Takeaways

1. Reciprocity: Listening and asking great follow up questions.

2. Consistency: Having prospects make small commitments.

3. Social Proof: Sharing wins with case studies, testimonials, and logos.

4. Authority: Controlling the conversation and conveying confidence.

5. Likeability: Build trust, rapport, and competence by listening.

6. Scarcity: Make them feel special with a limited, exclusive offer.

That’s it for today, folks.


See you all next week!

Darren

P.S. Connect with me on LinkedIn here! (write newsletter in the note with the invite)

P.P.S. If you’re a venture-backed company interested in coaching, book a call here.

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