People Buy on Emotion, and Justify with Logic

Features. Benefits. ROI. These are all things we hear salespeople pitching all the time. And can we really blame them? After all, this is what most salespeople are taught. Features, benefits, outcomes, and return on investment.

Most of this is solid advice, particularly outcomes and ROI. A smart businessperson isn’t going to buy something unless it puts money back into the business bottom line. However, business owners and decision makers are still human beings, and human beings buy primarily on emotion.

If you’re selling to consumers or individuals, you really need to pay attention here! While is possible – and even necessary – to use profit justification and ROI to sell to consumers, if you’re not pushing their emotional buttons, you’re not maximizing your chances to get the sale.

Let me give you an example: Ten or so years ago, when I was in outside sales, I only bought and wore the best hand-made suits money could buy: Oxxford, Brioni, and even a custom number from Savile Row. These are all brands that most people will never even hear of due to the $3,000 – $4,000 price tags.

I loved the way I felt wearing those expensive suits. As I explained in Cold Calling Is A Waste Of Time, dressing in expensive hand-made clothing increased my sales not because I was impressing anyone else – the average person cannot tell the difference – but rather because of the increased confidence and personal power those high-end suits gave me.

And that’s exactly how I rationalized those purchases. The fact of the matter is that a nicely fitted and pressed $300 suit from Men’s Wearhouse would have done the job just as well. But when it came down to it, I’d browse the racks in Neiman Marcus, and I really wanted those suits on an emotional level. The prices being as high as they were, I then introduced logic into my mind, and used the outcome of increased sales on my part to justify that emotional buying decision with logic.

People do this all the time. Nearly all purchases that take place in the world begin with emotion, and are then rationalized and justified with logic. If you’re not taking advantage of this basic fact of human nature, you’re missing out big-time.

Do this right now: Take stock of the product or service that you sell, and make a list of emotional push-buttons you can use to get people excited about buying it. Then, once you’ve done that, make a list of logical rationalizations that you can introduce into your sales presentation to get the prospect to easily justify the purchase.

Do this, and you’ll find that objections magically disappear and you’ll quickly and easily close sales, and at full price.