There is a ton of research that shows that people fear pain more than they enjoy reward. Put another way, they will work harder to avoid potential loss than they will to achieve potential gain.
So how can we use this information to improve our performance as salespeople?
A couple of things come to mind.
First, we need to identify the pain a customer is feeling, or will feel, if they do not commit to a transaction with us. Second, we need to tie our solution directly to that pain.
Let’s say someone is trying to decide whether or not to select a landscaping service. The reward is pretty obvious –nicer looker landscaping. But the pain of either not using a landscaper or choosing a poor one is even more dramatic. The investment the prospect has put into their landscaping could be destroyed by negligence or poor technique.
So, then part of the message becomes:
“Ms. Prospect, you have beautiful green space here, which involved an investment of tens of thousands of dollars. Just this one tree, if it needed to be replaced, would cost $5,000. Allow us to protect your investment and beautify your surroundings by taking care of your landscaping the right way . . .”
Do you see how this works?
We should not dwell on the risk, but we should definitely hit it clearly and with a solution to take advantage of the fact that most people fear loss at a very deep and powerful emotional level.
