Emotionally Centered and Logically Dispersed...Oh My!

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