|
|
Purchase Anxiety: the Why and How it Works for Selling
Every hard-core salesman uses this on a daily basis. You go to the auto malls, you get into a timeshare presentation or even in my industry of MLM doing a 3-way call and you can find purchase anxiety.
This is a simple to understand concept and becomes obvious when you know how it works. In fact you will never feel good when someone tries to use it on you again. But you need to understand why it works from behind the scenes and things become clear.
Here's the secret.
I have a son who’s three. One of the first things I taught him was to have respect to his parents first and strangers second. I do this because it makes sense in the community as well as makes things easy around the house… sometimes. And, of’ course I was taught this at an early age as well.
So when our elementary teacher, person in a suit or police officer comes up to us, we listen to them because they have some authority. As we get older we rebel against certain confines and the police often get the worst of our respect. But as we grow up, we habitually keep the childhood notions to obey authority that we frequently end up rolling over and playing dumb to authority.
If you are buying a car, and you reject the salesmen’s offer, the next thing that happens is the salesmen bring over a stranger. “This is the Manager Stan.”
The manager is obviously a man of high authority and he tries to close you and gets you to agree to buy from him.
The reason this works so well is because people have a hard time saying no and resisting a stranger who is in charge.
Why? Because you were taught as a child to basically follow the leader. This is especially true if the leader is asking you to do something.
Saying NO to a person in authority causes anxiety in people and to relieve that purchase anxiety they will comply with their wishes.
I had a guy just yesterday call me up. I was prospecting him and gave him my card when I found out he was in another MLM. He called and said, “Hey” I wanted to follow up on you. I have this guy named Les from Iowa who is making over $20,000 a month and he wants to speak with you.
What was my initial reaction? I got quiet. I fought with the guy who called on the phone, but I was very respectful to Les. But, still, I listened to Les.
Now, I know the purchase anxiety syndrome, but I decided I wanted to talk to Les because he was successful and I wanted to pump him for information. We had a talk that was supposed to be five minutes last almost half and hour. I got some good information and found there was a mystery in the business that I wanted to understand. So, I will pursue the information on why the mystery but I won’t be doing the business. Hopefully I’ll be writing about it soon.
But many people will listen to Les, and when he gave his close I was very tempted to comply. I didn’t want to have anything to do with the business, but still, the power of authority influenced me. I almost gave a commitment right there.
I wanted Les to like me. I wanted the group to include me. I received a number of compliments and it was nurturing to my soul.
STUPID! Little things like a short conversation with Les on a 3-way call triggers the compliance gene. It’s in our genetic code.
Suddenly, with the tugs, many people are virtually ready to join or at least take a hard second look at the program simply because someone like Les, the man in authority, came in and told me it was safe. Success was available here.
And this works all the time.
Here’s why.
It's uncomfortable and also not easy for a stranger to come over and try to "Help" you and then you have to tell them no.
That's why car dealerships use the manager 3-way trick.
You are being worked. It’s called working the mark.
Does this make the people involved with the 3-way call or the car salesmen a jerk? Not at all. They're simply trying to survive, do a days work and they know how to create purchase anxiety in people which makes people look for relief, in the form of a decision to agree.
Which is a decision to purchase.
No wonder 3-way calls work.
No wonder car dealerships use a STRANGER dressed as the manager to convince and to close the sale.
We were taught as little kids to lay down and listen to people in uniforms, people in an authority position and to be good little kiddies and to be quiet.
It's primal conditioning.
We were also taught that it's safer and we'd live longer if we did.
It's called follow the leader.
It's hard to resist a stranger who is being nice who is asking you to listen and to follow them.
Why? Because our mothers taught us to be polite.
However if you think about it, that rule needed to change as we became adults. But we rarely got any training on thinking and making decisions for ourselves.
You aren't a kid anymore and it's okay to say to the Manager or to the guru on the 3-way call, "No! If what you have to sell is truly worth buying, I don't need to be convinced to buy it."
“Send me a sample!” And then do them the favor of a honest appraisal yourself without the pressure on you. Make your own decision.
I know if I have to convince someone to get into my network then I’ll have to convince them to do everything every step of the way. I don’t want to be mom to a network of people. I want to work with people motivated and on track with our mission.
Don’t be afraid to rattle a few cages.
This is easy stuff now that you know what is going on.
|
|