When our passions, or emotions, are aroused, the emotional side holds the rational in check, insinuating itself in precedence and importance in the decision-making process. We are simply “hardwired” this way through a fast-track neural network where rational thought runs indirectly connected with the body’s functions.
Emotions actually stimulate the mind three thousand times faster than regular thought, verifying that in most situations, emotions move a person to act faster than rational thought ever could. This is one of the underlying reasons why our choices are based on approximately 80% emotion (Emotionally Centered) and 20% on selective logic (Cognitive Consciousness).
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.” Dale Carnegie
We are logically dispersed, first of all, because our rational thinking (logic) is not at the core of our natures; emotions are at our core, and logic is thus dispersed out from the decision-making process. Secondly, we are emotionally centered and logically dispersed because of the way in which logic is used to support the emotional decision to decide and act. Logic is used only to the extent that it supports the emotional decision to buy or act. In other words, the use of logic is scattered (dispersed); it only becomes relevant and useful at various points in order to justify an emotional decision or act, such as the decision to buy something.
We are Emotionally Centered Creatures that are Logically Dispersed in our Thinking to Act & Decide
It is a well-known fact that the physiology of our brain is divided into two clear and distinct hemispheres. Although connected, the two hemispheres possess separate functions and traits. The left side is the quantitative side of our thinking. It is detail-seeking, rational, factual, and analytical in its processing and understanding. It is the rules and regulations side of our mind that crunches the numbers, counts the“debits and credits,” plans each step, organizes into parts, reasons logically and puts things in their literal context. It is triggered by information and gives place to the quantifi able. It is stirred by statistics and satiated with a diet of facts, figures, and data.
On the other hand, the right side of the brain is that part of the mind that puts each piece together; forms pictures; gets a feeling; and is stirred by stories, visuals, humor, and vocals. It understands the meaning and relevance of things. It is the conceptual side of the brain where beliefs, hope, and intuition reside. And, as a matter of fact, it is also the seat of our emotional centeredness and instinct and our urge to decide to act on something.
Once we understand this point—that our emotional selves and decision-making abilities are right-brain functions—we, as sales experts, “will immediately see the relevance of learning to speak the language of the right brain,” both literally in our sales discussions and practically in our marketing and sales strategies.
Don’t Be a Half-Brained Sales Professional
Don’t be the kind of sales professional that is always trying to appeal to the logic of the left brain when speaking to customers. Be in your right mind, stimulate the customer’s emotions, and understand their emotional centeredness for what it is—the natural and dominant factor triggering the customer’s impulse to buy.
I am not talking about sales manipulation. That is an entirely different thing and a concept I wholly reject. I am talking about being a complete sales expert—one who uses logic, reason, and accurate data and features to support the emotional criteria of why someone would buy a product or service for themselves.
All the facts, all the logic, all the rational reasons for buying something are vain unless we make contact emotionally with the customer. It is not the “what it is” that closes the sale and prompts the customer to buy; it is the “what it does” for them in meeting an emotional reason or need for buying that moves them to action. I call that the “emotional criteria” for buying.
“Action springs out of what we fundamentally desire…and the best piece of advice which can be given to would-be persuaders, whether in business, in the home, in the school, in politics, is: First, arouse in the other person an eager want. He who can do this has the whole world with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way.” Harry Overstreet, Influencing Human Behavior
Whatever the emotional criteria for wanting to buy, the sales expert must uncover it in order to present the most compelling reason (right-brain stimulus) to the customer for buying.
Sales pioneer and insurance legend, Ben Feldman of East Liverpool, Ohio, sought the customer’s emotional reason for buying through a strategy he called the “disturbing question.” He would ask the hard questions of people, the emotional questions, the questions that struck at the heart and core of what people face, and pointed out how we, in the insurance industry, could assist them in avoiding or minimizing the risks that they face every day.
In the insurance and financial services industry, this is the one critical skill that separates the “good” from the “great” sales professionals.
“Customers are not always right. They make mistakes; they forget things; they get confused. But customers are always emotional.” Jannelle Barlow & Dianna Maul, Emotional Value
Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu
Monday, January 25, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
We "Do Things" because We Desire Things...
All the facts, all the logic, all the rational reasons for buying something are vain unless we make contact emotionally with the customer.
It is not the “what it is” that closes the sale and prompts the customer to buy; it is the “what it does” for them in meeting an emotional reason or need for buying that moves them to action. I call that the “emotional criteria” for buying. “
Action is Directly Tied into our Emotions...We "Do Things" because We Desire Things...
"Action springs out of what we fundamentally desire…and the best piece of advice which can be given to would-be persuaders, whether in business, in the home, in the school, in politics, is: First, arouse in the other person an eager want. He who can do this has the whole world with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way.”
Harry Overstreet, Influencing Human Behavior
Whatever the emotional criteria for wanting to buy, the sales expert must uncover it in order to present the most compelling reason (right-brain stimulus) to the customer for buying.
Be Disturbing...Speak Disturbing...Be Disturbing...And You Will Succeed in Sales
Sales pioneer and insurance legend, Ben Feldman of East Liverpool, Ohio, sought the customer’s emotional reason for buying through a strategy he called the “disturbing question.” He would ask the hard questions of people, the emotional questions, the questions that struck at the heart and core of what people face, and pointed out how we, in the insurance industry, could assist them in avoiding or minimizing the risks that they face every day. In the insurance and financial services industry, this is the one critical skill that separates the “good” from the “great” sales professionals.
“Customers are not always right. They make mistakes; they forget things; they get confused. But customers are always emotional.” Janelle Barlow & Dianna Maul, Emotional Value
Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu
It is not the “what it is” that closes the sale and prompts the customer to buy; it is the “what it does” for them in meeting an emotional reason or need for buying that moves them to action. I call that the “emotional criteria” for buying. “
Action is Directly Tied into our Emotions...We "Do Things" because We Desire Things...
"Action springs out of what we fundamentally desire…and the best piece of advice which can be given to would-be persuaders, whether in business, in the home, in the school, in politics, is: First, arouse in the other person an eager want. He who can do this has the whole world with him. He who cannot walks a lonely way.”
Harry Overstreet, Influencing Human Behavior
Whatever the emotional criteria for wanting to buy, the sales expert must uncover it in order to present the most compelling reason (right-brain stimulus) to the customer for buying.
Be Disturbing...Speak Disturbing...Be Disturbing...And You Will Succeed in Sales
Sales pioneer and insurance legend, Ben Feldman of East Liverpool, Ohio, sought the customer’s emotional reason for buying through a strategy he called the “disturbing question.” He would ask the hard questions of people, the emotional questions, the questions that struck at the heart and core of what people face, and pointed out how we, in the insurance industry, could assist them in avoiding or minimizing the risks that they face every day. In the insurance and financial services industry, this is the one critical skill that separates the “good” from the “great” sales professionals.
“Customers are not always right. They make mistakes; they forget things; they get confused. But customers are always emotional.” Janelle Barlow & Dianna Maul, Emotional Value
Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu
Monday, January 18, 2010
People are Different, yet Everyone is the Same
"(People) are different in fundamental ways even though they all have the same multitude of instincts
to drive them from within.” Carl Jung
People are emotional creatures. Yes, logic does play an important role in our day-to-day ability to function and think. But it is our emotions that drive us to decide, to act, to choose or not to choose, to respond to the situation at hand. In the sales arena, it is our emotional nature that overrides all else in moving us to buy—not logic and not the cold, cruel facts of product features and service offers. It is our emotions that rule the day.
“All emotions are, in essence, impulses to act, the instant plans for handling life that evolution has instilled in us. The very root of the word emotion is motere, the Latin verb “to move,” plus the prefix “e-” to connote “move away,” suggesting that a tendency to act is implicit in every emotion.”
Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence
Those emotional impulses to act that Daniel Goleman refers to are wrapped in a cognitive consciousness we call “logic” or “rational awareness.” This is an area of the mind that deals only with the facts of things. It is at this cognitive conscious level or logical realm of our minds that we support the emotional motives for decision-making, or as Goleman says, our “tendency to act.”
People are Emotionally Centered and Logically Dispersed
I refer to it as being “logically dispersed” in our thinking and decision-making process to buy. In other words, logic is dispersed throughout our thinking and is used selectively to support the emotional decision to buy. We disperse facts and rational thought whenever there is a need to justify the emotional motives for buying something.
For example, I buy a red sports car for fun and the appeal it has in making me feel youthful and successful; I justify it logically to my wife that it was a good purchase price, a once-in-a-lifetime deal, and that we will save money in the long run because it is great on gas. I know it is weak logic…but it is logic nonetheless. We go through this emotionally centered, logically dispersed cycle every time we purchase something.
Emotion then Logic...Emotion then Logic...Emotion then Logic...It's a Cycle We All Go Through
“As rational human beings, we like to think that logic drives most of our decisions. But the fact is, in most persuasive situations, people buy on emotion and justify with fact. People may be persuaded by reason, but they are moved by emotion.” Harry Mills
It is emotion that causes us to drop our natural defenses and distracts us from the sales expert’s intention to persuade. It is emotion that requires less effort to process mentally than logical thought or argument. It takes more mental effort to process facts than it does an emotional appeal. Emotional stories are more interesting than facts. Emotional contact through imagery, music, vocals are all much easier to recall than factual evidence.
Emotions rule. Why?
Again, the reason this is true is because we are emotionally centered creatures first and logical in nature second. Logic is used only to the degree that it supports the emotional reason why we buy things.
That is not to say that logic, the cognitive consciousness, is divorced of the emotional connection and our ability to act or decide. In fact, logic and emotion are intertwined. They are partners that are dependent upon one another, jointly affecting the overall impulse to buy. But it is the emotional center that exerts the greatest force on our urge to purchase something.
Scientifically, the evidence is overwhelming as to the fact of our emotionally centered nature and its link to act, to decide and to buy. Research that began over 150 years ago examined the relationships between emotions and reasoning skills. The ability to act and decide is lost when areas of the brain that govern emotion are damaged through accident or illness.
Dr. Antonio Damasio, neurologist from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, completed and published a study in 1994 confirming that patients with damage to the emotional triggers within the brain demonstrate “terribly flawed” decision-making ability yet they show no deterioration in IQ or cognitive ability.
“Despite their intact intelligence,” Dr. Damasio states, “they make disastrous choices in business and their personal lives and can even obsess endlessly over a decision so simple as when to make an appointment.”
The Sales Professional that Makes the Customer Feel the Best, Wins!
"As rational human beings, we like to think that logic drives most of our decisions. But the fact is, in most persuasive situations, people buy on emotion and justify with fact. People may be persuaded by reason, but they are moved by emotion.” Harry Mills, Artful Persuasion
Therefore, heed the lesson being shared here; anytime someone decides to buy a particular thing, from a particular person, in a particular place, it isn't for logical reasons at first. It's all about how they feel during the buying process.
More specifically, it is about how your particular product or service will satisfy an emotional need that the customer has and how you, the sales professional, and your place makes the customer feel in the process.
How do you make people feel during the sales process? The answer to that question will determine how effective you are at closing the deal.
Get Emotional...and Get Selling...Get Going...
Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu
to drive them from within.” Carl Jung
People are emotional creatures. Yes, logic does play an important role in our day-to-day ability to function and think. But it is our emotions that drive us to decide, to act, to choose or not to choose, to respond to the situation at hand. In the sales arena, it is our emotional nature that overrides all else in moving us to buy—not logic and not the cold, cruel facts of product features and service offers. It is our emotions that rule the day.
“All emotions are, in essence, impulses to act, the instant plans for handling life that evolution has instilled in us. The very root of the word emotion is motere, the Latin verb “to move,” plus the prefix “e-” to connote “move away,” suggesting that a tendency to act is implicit in every emotion.”
Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence
Those emotional impulses to act that Daniel Goleman refers to are wrapped in a cognitive consciousness we call “logic” or “rational awareness.” This is an area of the mind that deals only with the facts of things. It is at this cognitive conscious level or logical realm of our minds that we support the emotional motives for decision-making, or as Goleman says, our “tendency to act.”
People are Emotionally Centered and Logically Dispersed
I refer to it as being “logically dispersed” in our thinking and decision-making process to buy. In other words, logic is dispersed throughout our thinking and is used selectively to support the emotional decision to buy. We disperse facts and rational thought whenever there is a need to justify the emotional motives for buying something.
For example, I buy a red sports car for fun and the appeal it has in making me feel youthful and successful; I justify it logically to my wife that it was a good purchase price, a once-in-a-lifetime deal, and that we will save money in the long run because it is great on gas. I know it is weak logic…but it is logic nonetheless. We go through this emotionally centered, logically dispersed cycle every time we purchase something.
Emotion then Logic...Emotion then Logic...Emotion then Logic...It's a Cycle We All Go Through
“As rational human beings, we like to think that logic drives most of our decisions. But the fact is, in most persuasive situations, people buy on emotion and justify with fact. People may be persuaded by reason, but they are moved by emotion.” Harry Mills
It is emotion that causes us to drop our natural defenses and distracts us from the sales expert’s intention to persuade. It is emotion that requires less effort to process mentally than logical thought or argument. It takes more mental effort to process facts than it does an emotional appeal. Emotional stories are more interesting than facts. Emotional contact through imagery, music, vocals are all much easier to recall than factual evidence.
Emotions rule. Why?
Again, the reason this is true is because we are emotionally centered creatures first and logical in nature second. Logic is used only to the degree that it supports the emotional reason why we buy things.
That is not to say that logic, the cognitive consciousness, is divorced of the emotional connection and our ability to act or decide. In fact, logic and emotion are intertwined. They are partners that are dependent upon one another, jointly affecting the overall impulse to buy. But it is the emotional center that exerts the greatest force on our urge to purchase something.
Scientifically, the evidence is overwhelming as to the fact of our emotionally centered nature and its link to act, to decide and to buy. Research that began over 150 years ago examined the relationships between emotions and reasoning skills. The ability to act and decide is lost when areas of the brain that govern emotion are damaged through accident or illness.
Dr. Antonio Damasio, neurologist from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, completed and published a study in 1994 confirming that patients with damage to the emotional triggers within the brain demonstrate “terribly flawed” decision-making ability yet they show no deterioration in IQ or cognitive ability.
“Despite their intact intelligence,” Dr. Damasio states, “they make disastrous choices in business and their personal lives and can even obsess endlessly over a decision so simple as when to make an appointment.”
The Sales Professional that Makes the Customer Feel the Best, Wins!
"As rational human beings, we like to think that logic drives most of our decisions. But the fact is, in most persuasive situations, people buy on emotion and justify with fact. People may be persuaded by reason, but they are moved by emotion.” Harry Mills, Artful Persuasion
Therefore, heed the lesson being shared here; anytime someone decides to buy a particular thing, from a particular person, in a particular place, it isn't for logical reasons at first. It's all about how they feel during the buying process.
More specifically, it is about how your particular product or service will satisfy an emotional need that the customer has and how you, the sales professional, and your place makes the customer feel in the process.
How do you make people feel during the sales process? The answer to that question will determine how effective you are at closing the deal.
Get Emotional...and Get Selling...Get Going...
Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Human Touch
Forgive the recent indulgences of the Jim Tressel Song and the Ohio State University Rose Bowl videoclip. Just one more venture beyond the marketing & sales posts. A new Pencast #10 has been posted as an appeasement in the meantime.
Otherwise, I would like to share with you something a friend gave me some time ago.
The Human Touch
’Tis the human touch
in this world that counts,
The touch of your hand and mine,
Which means far more
to the fainting heart
Than shelter and bread and wine.
For shelter is gone
when the night is o’er,
And bread lasts only a day.
But the touch of the hand
And the sound of the voice
Sing on in the soul always.
by Spencer Michael Free
Where there is connection...midnight brings 'bout the day in the human heart.
Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu
Otherwise, I would like to share with you something a friend gave me some time ago.
The Human Touch
’Tis the human touch
in this world that counts,
The touch of your hand and mine,
Which means far more
to the fainting heart
Than shelter and bread and wine.
For shelter is gone
when the night is o’er,
And bread lasts only a day.
But the touch of the hand
And the sound of the voice
Sing on in the soul always.
by Spencer Michael Free
Where there is connection...midnight brings 'bout the day in the human heart.
Copyright © 2010 - Tony Cefalu
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sell the Experience
Retention & Attraction-"Sell the Customer the Experience"
Herb Kehlleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines said, "I keep telling them (visitors to Southwest Airlines) that the intangibles are far more important than the tangibles in the competitive world because, obviously, you can replicate the tangibles. You can get the same airplane. You can get the same ticket counters. You can get the same computers. But the hardest thing for a competitor to match is your culture and the spirit of your people and their focus on customer service because that isn't something you can do overnight and it isn't something that you can do without a great deal of attention every day in a thousand different ways."
Years later after his comments, Southwest still remains one of a few profitable airline companies out there today. Much of that has to do with Kellehers philosophy of the intangibles.
What was Kehlleher saying? He wasn't saying that the tangibles don't matter. Certainly, a quality product is a requirement to be an impact player in any market. And by the way, Nationwide has without question quality products. So then, what is it that he is saying? What is it that he is saying that we can walk away with that can help us in our business?
What he's saying is that the tangibles are intertwined with the intangibles…Like good customer service and a positive emotional buying experience are inextricably tied to an extraordinary customer experience; the tangible elements of product and service coupled with the intangibles of a positive customer experience are what differentiates us from the competition.
The tangibles are so easy for us to measure and reproduce, for that matter. We point to them on reports and have promotions that look at the bottom line results. It's what we are used to…that's why we focus on them. It's the intangibles that allude most sales professionals. They are those things that the customer experiences and feels and, in the great majority of cases, ultimately relies on when deciding where to buy...and from whom they will buy it from. To put it in "insurance speak", that's customer retention and customer attraction.
Call it the E-Factor, for Emotion Factor. Whatever name you give it, the truth remains the same. Emotions rule. Experiences matter to customers particularly when they buy and make choices. The E-Factor is the difference!
The Transaction of Business is Never an Emotionally Neutral Event...Never.
So, what are your customers experiencing when they walk into your office? How about when they call in? What about at claim time? Is their experience a positive one…at least from the standpoint of how easy it is to get in touch with someone.
Do you consciously react in appropriate ways to their situation? I mean, are you consoling when consoling is appropriate? Are you understanding when understanding is appropriate? Do you follow up with handwritten notes…as may be appropriate in a death claim? Do you have a system of visiting the family when a death claim occurs?
Do you make "quality control calls" to see how everything is going as could be done with an auto or homeowners claim? By the way, isn't claim time an inherently emotional event for customers anyway? What better opportunity exists to reinforce positive experiences than by having a set strategy at claim time that "goes the extra mile" for a customer.
Sell the customer the experiencde...and all other matters will fall into place.
Copyright © 2009 - Tony Cefalu
Herb Kehlleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines said, "I keep telling them (visitors to Southwest Airlines) that the intangibles are far more important than the tangibles in the competitive world because, obviously, you can replicate the tangibles. You can get the same airplane. You can get the same ticket counters. You can get the same computers. But the hardest thing for a competitor to match is your culture and the spirit of your people and their focus on customer service because that isn't something you can do overnight and it isn't something that you can do without a great deal of attention every day in a thousand different ways."
Years later after his comments, Southwest still remains one of a few profitable airline companies out there today. Much of that has to do with Kellehers philosophy of the intangibles.
What was Kehlleher saying? He wasn't saying that the tangibles don't matter. Certainly, a quality product is a requirement to be an impact player in any market. And by the way, Nationwide has without question quality products. So then, what is it that he is saying? What is it that he is saying that we can walk away with that can help us in our business?
What he's saying is that the tangibles are intertwined with the intangibles…Like good customer service and a positive emotional buying experience are inextricably tied to an extraordinary customer experience; the tangible elements of product and service coupled with the intangibles of a positive customer experience are what differentiates us from the competition.
The tangibles are so easy for us to measure and reproduce, for that matter. We point to them on reports and have promotions that look at the bottom line results. It's what we are used to…that's why we focus on them. It's the intangibles that allude most sales professionals. They are those things that the customer experiences and feels and, in the great majority of cases, ultimately relies on when deciding where to buy...and from whom they will buy it from. To put it in "insurance speak", that's customer retention and customer attraction.
Call it the E-Factor, for Emotion Factor. Whatever name you give it, the truth remains the same. Emotions rule. Experiences matter to customers particularly when they buy and make choices. The E-Factor is the difference!
The Transaction of Business is Never an Emotionally Neutral Event...Never.
So, what are your customers experiencing when they walk into your office? How about when they call in? What about at claim time? Is their experience a positive one…at least from the standpoint of how easy it is to get in touch with someone.
Do you consciously react in appropriate ways to their situation? I mean, are you consoling when consoling is appropriate? Are you understanding when understanding is appropriate? Do you follow up with handwritten notes…as may be appropriate in a death claim? Do you have a system of visiting the family when a death claim occurs?
Do you make "quality control calls" to see how everything is going as could be done with an auto or homeowners claim? By the way, isn't claim time an inherently emotional event for customers anyway? What better opportunity exists to reinforce positive experiences than by having a set strategy at claim time that "goes the extra mile" for a customer.
Sell the customer the experiencde...and all other matters will fall into place.
Copyright © 2009 - Tony Cefalu
Sunday, January 3, 2010
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