Fourteen Lectures on Consumer Psychology

Chapter 19 The Best Psychological Moments in Sales

Have you ever encountered such a situation: when the consumer has decided to buy or sign an order, the salesman handed out a pen with no ink, or encountered a sudden phone call, the cry of a child, or a sudden call on the street? Accidents, etc., consumers immediately change their minds.This is because the salesman missed the "psychological sweet spot" of the consumer.When a sale occurs, there are many ideas in the minds of consumers at the same time, and each idea points to a possible behavior. Judging and making good use of the "psychologically optimal moment" can help you increase the transaction rate.

In the fifth stage, when it was mentioned that the use of three methods can guide consumers into the decision stage, the concept of "psychological optimum time" was mentioned.The underlying premise of this lecture is that, through the use of various methods, the consumer has now reached the point in time to "make a purchasing decision".The main research object of this lecture is this time point, which can be called the "psychological best time point".For seasoned salespeople, this is the most important point in the sale, and it's where many salespeople get tripped up.Some salesmen have the ability to impress consumers with products, generate strong interest, and generate strong desires, but they can't make a sale end with purchase behavior, because they can't handle this "psychologically optimal moment" that happens things.

Psychological phenomena that often occur in sales

The "psychological sweet spot" doesn't just happen in business buying and selling, it happens in all human-related activities, from the little things like feeding the kids to the big things like the end of the world war. There is a "psychological sweet spot".It can be the moment when the shrewd evangelical minister finds his audience ready for conversion, or when the frivolous libertine feels he will no longer be rejected and can move on to the next step.Whether something is sublime or small, there is a "psychological sweet spot." "Psychological sweet spot" can be included in many situations and is not affected by psychological factors. It is like a timely rain that saves a corn crop or an erupting geyser. It is widely used and often appears in daily life. .In fact, this word will bring people a sense of mystery, so since ancient times, both learned people and ordinary people have thought of describing its existence.

Shakespeare once wrote such a famous poem:
The ups and downs of the world are originally waves,

If people take advantage of the climax and go forward bravely,

It must be successful.

Napoleon pointed to the importance of this moment in deciding the outcome of the war:
"In all wars, this moment occurs when the brave army feels like fleeing, the moment of fear because of a lack of confidence in them. It just takes a little chance, a little bravado to get them back together. In Aller I won a war with 25 cavalry at Orla. At that crucial moment, I pretended to be very relaxed and seemed to be in control. I also sent everyone a trumpet. In fact, two armies confront each other, just like two people fighting with bare hands, anyone can defeat the other and win. When fear appears in the army, it must be firmly grasped, and it must be turned from fear to fearlessness. A person After a lot of battles, you can easily identify this moment. The process of identifying is as simple as adding."

Seizing the "psychological sweet spot" is definitely not as simple and easy as it is written. Salesmen can try it.In fact, this is a severe psychological test.In order to analyze the state of consumers at this psychologically optimal point, salesmen must follow the arrangement of this book and review a series of changes in consumers' psychological activities throughout the sales process.

Consumers always have multiple ideas at the same time
As mentioned in Lecture 2, when a sale occurs, there are many thoughts in the consumer's mind at the same time, and each thought points to a possible behavior.If one of these ideas wins out, the others must die.Therefore, the problem facing the salesman can actually be reduced to how to strengthen the central idea in the consumer's mind and eliminate other ideas.Achieving this goal seems very difficult.Take car sales as an example.When a consumer walks into an auto retail store, he has already been fed the idea of ​​buying a product, but there are many other thoughts on his mind at this time.These thoughts may be that buying a car will drain all the bank balance, or it may be that buying a car will make him feel good.Of course, in addition to the above two ideas, he may also have other ideas, for example, besides the car he wants to buy, he is also interested in several other cars, and he also wants to see those cars.These ideas are bustling and filling his mental activity space. At this time, a picture can be used to represent his mental state. In the picture, there is a concentric circle representing the central idea in the middle of the full moon representing mental activities, and there are many spots of the same size. Different small circles.Each circle represents an idea, and the size of the circle symbolizes the strength of the idea.

It can be seen that the relationship between the idea represented by each small circle and the concentric circles of the central idea is not the same.Some of these ideas stand on the same front as the central idea, while others stand on the opposite side of the central idea.However, whether these thoughts are for or against the central idea, they are swallowed up by the central idea, and the central idea grows until it crowds all other thoughts out of the sphere of mental activity.How to nourish the central idea and let it grow smoothly is a question before every salesman.From a psychological point of view, a salesman is not a car seller, but an operator of consumers' psychological activities.His job is to keep fanning the flames of the central idea of ​​buying a car in the minds of consumers.Apart from this fire, other thoughts about the consumer's life become irrelevant - such as the bank account that will soon be empty, the burden of expensive maintenance on the future car, the loan on the house, the gas bill that was not paid in the last year... all of this, In the face of the raging fire of interest, it will be covered up.The idea of ​​buying a car was rosy until consumers signed checks and installment contracts.

There is a shallow understanding that as long as the salesman works hard to rein in the counter-purchase thoughts in the consumer's mind (preferably by throwing them into outer space), the sales process will be smooth sailing.This perception is wrong and can produce bad results.If the consumer has the idea of ​​buying another car, it is appropriate not to try to dissuade him from it.Every word that says that car is not good will cause consumers to resent.Any behavior that criticizes and denounces the goods of the opponent is considered as low business ethics.It can also be extended further, whether it is the behavior of praising or criticizing a competitor's product, psychologically it should not happen, because the words associated with this idea will cause more trouble.

So how can the consumer get rid of the ideas the salesman doesn't want and reinforce the ideas he wants?The answer is to let consumers notice the existence of the central idea.When consumers pay attention to the central idea, the power of those ideas that the salesman does not want is naturally weakened.If this psychological process were explained in terms of brain energy, the description would be greatly simplified.In the eyes of many psychologists, the brain contains many independent concept systems, each of which can generate a thought.As long as they are supported by brain energy, these thoughts can cause behavioral actions.Now the energy of the brain is distributed to many different systems, and the amount of energy occupied by each system depends on the strength of the concept system.In sales, if the central idea is to become powerful, the brain concept system where the central idea is located must absorb the energy of other systems, until the energy of other systems is completely absorbed, it means the victory of the central idea.

Before returning to the topic of describing sales in a psychological way, it is necessary to pause for a moment and analyze in detail the ways in which the central idea is reinforced.Simply put, this method is to embellish the central idea with concrete material.In this car sales example, the salesman had to describe the specific advantages of the car, such as its powerful power, smooth engine operation, comfortable ride, and elegant decoration.At the same time, he has to come up with many small arguments in support of the central idea, which are background descriptions for the central idea.For example, a salesman can describe how the car takes the customer and his family to camp deep in the forest, or assert how the car can reflect the customer's affluent living conditions, etc.As the power of the central idea grows a little bit, the power of those unwanted ideas in the minds of consumers will gradually weaken, and finally these ideas will naturally disappear.There is no doubt that at this time the central idea occupies the complete dominance of the brain.

Grasp the "psychological best time" of consumers

The process described above developed so quickly that the magical moment was just so rushed. The "psychological sweet spot" occurs one second before the central thought turns into action, when only one opposing thought remains.This is a time of uncertainty!The souls of the salesmen are being tormented at this time. Although they are still calm on the outside, their hearts are full of anxiety.Is the central idea of ​​his carefully nurtured consumer strong enough to overwhelm other ideas with ease?He knows the importance of this last moment, and prays with all his heart that no external stimulus will suddenly come in and upset the delicate balance in the consumer's mind.From the bitter experience in the past, he knows that any slight change at this time may make him fall short.He has seen too many "perfect sales" that fail at the last kick. The reason for those sales failures may be, a ballpoint pen with no ink, a sudden phone call, the cry of a child or a sudden accident on the street. ACCIDENT.

Anything, merchandise related or not, can ruin the entire sale.Every salesman can name a bunch of such "disaster" events.This is why salesmen believe that the "psychological sweet spot" is the most important stage in the entire sale.There is nothing wrong with this thinking.A sales manager said: Many times the reason why salesmen fail is because they don't handle this moment well.They use appropriate sales methods, and also arouse consumers' interest in products and strong desire to buy, but in the end they cannot complete a successful sale.Because they often make two types of mistakes: one is to ask consumers to make a decision too early when the central idea of ​​consumers is not strong enough; the other is to ask consumers to make a decision too late, when consumers The central idea of ​​wanting to buy something is ripe, even rotting.Regardless of which of these two, the salesman's mistake is not to grasp the correct "psychological sweet spot."

How to discover and meet the "psychological sweet spot"

How can people realize that the "psychological sweet spot" has arrived?No doubt, there are plenty of signs that signal this moment is coming.Successful salesmen can often spot these signs.But their discovery is not clearly seen in a conscious situation, so it is often only intelligible but not expressible.If they had to come up with a way to tell, they'd probably say it was all intuitive.

Intuition can be further analyzed through the perceptual pathways that people possess.Many people have emphasized that they can use certain changes in the consumer's body as a signal for the "psychological sweet spot" in sales.For example, the consumer's head or body leans forward slightly, and the muscles of the body contract or expand slightly.The tiny opening and closing of the pupil of the eye will also be caught by a seasoned salesman.Through these signs, he knew that the "psychological sweet spot" was approaching.In addition, other more obvious signs are changes in consumers' language vocabulary.When a professional salesman is talking, he will constantly test consumers and use their reactions to determine whether the optimal psychological moment has arrived.In a sale, a professional salesman will not talk on his own. He will use questions from time to time to test the reactions of consumers during the conversation. Through the enthusiasm of consumers' feedback, he can judge that he is far from the one to make. How far is the moment of decision.

Having recognized the sign that this moment has come, what is the salesman to do next?The following psychological analysis gives a solution.

The first is to control the sales environment so that no events are suddenly inserted into the sales process.Any disturbing events, no matter how slight they may be, mean that a new idea is thrust into the mind of the consumer, so that the original state of equilibrium in his mind is altered.In order to prevent this change from happening, the salesman needs to carefully separate the consumer from the people and things around him.That's why you need to use a merchandise showroom.Another preventive approach is to ensure that the sales environment is conducive to consumers making immediate decisions.When the "psychologically optimal moment" arrives, the salesman must immediately let the consumer make a decision without any hesitation.Contracts must be prepared well in advance, pens must be close at hand, and all these actions must be as seamless as those in a theatrical performance.Sales and drama are similar in many ways, so sales also need to be rehearsed in advance.

The second method is a suggestion.The following design is recommended for the salesman: Assume that the sale is complete—the customer has decided to buy the product—all of which can happen if the salesman is right about the “psychological sweet spot.”At this point, the salesman should continue to ask: "What color car interior material do you like?" or "Would you like us to send the product to your home immediately?" Or comment on the consumer's decision.Through careful observation, it is found that most consumers who have purchased goods hope to talk about the decision they just made for a while after making a purchase decision, so as to prove that their choice is correct.

summary
This lecture analyzes the "psychological sweet spot" and points out that this is a psychological state that often occurs in real life and is widely used in how to optimize sales.Salesmen need to carefully judge whether this moment has arrived.Although this moment is very mysterious, it is not a superstitious phenomenon controlled by gods and ghosts, but a psychological state that naturally enters after psychological conflicts when faced with major choices.Finally, the lecture shows how to tell if the moment has arrived by observing changes in human behavior.Salesmen who have recognized the importance of this point in time hope that they can also understand the psychological state of consumers at this point in time.By grasping the arrival of this moment, the salesman can not only better complete the sales task, but also improve his salesmanship and influence the sales methods used by his peers.

(End of this chapter)