To Boost Sales, Warm Up Your Fingers, Spritz Windex,
And Break Out The iPad
Connections
between physical experiences and ideas present an enormous opportunity, because
they are not just a part of our language--they actively shape behavior.
Two years ago, a group of
researchers brought in 86 people one at a time and had them sit down for a
negotiation game. Imagine you want to buy a new car, they told folks, and
you’re haggling with the sales person. The sticker price of the car is $16,500.
Your job, they said, is to write down two offers: your opening offer, and then
a second offer that assumes your initial gambit has been rejected. What they
didn’t tell people during this little game is that half of the respondents were
given a hard wooden chair to sit in, while the other half got to sink into a
soft cushioned seat. After the offers were collected and they let the folks go,
they took a look at the results: on average, there was no difference in the
opening offer. But once they had to negotiate, the people sitting on the soft
seats offered $350 more than did the folks on the unyielding wooden chairs.
This is just one of dozens of
studies that reveal how your brain is wired to use physical experiences as a
code for ideas. The reason people in the cushioned chairs were willing to spend
so much more money is because sensations of hard and soft are a kind of code
for concepts of strictness and adaptability.
This code is evident in the words
and phrases we use every day. For instance, when I say that someone is “hard
headed,” the word “hard” tells you that I mean the person is stubborn and not
open to change. These connections between physical experiences and ideas
present an enormous opportunity for any company that depends on sales and
marketing to drive their bottom line, because they are not just a part of our
language--they actively shape our thoughts and behaviors.
Here’s another scenario for you to
ponder: In a separate 2010 study, another group of researchers brought folks in
one at a time and told them they had been randomly selected to be the receiver
in a game. The other person in the game--the sender--had been given $4, and had
decided to send the full amount over to the receiver. Any money sent would be
tripled, so now the receiver had $12. Their only job: decide how much to keep
for themselves and how much to send back to that trusting, anonymous sender.
The wrinkle: Half of the people walked into a room that had been sprayed with
one single, solitary spritz of citrus-scented Windex. Folks in the
clean-smelling room sent, on average, twice as much money back to the other
participant.
The sensation of “clean” is code in
your subconscious for ideas of morality and doing the right thing. In any sales
setting, establishing trust in the sales person is a key component to making
the sale. This study reveals that finding ways, either with scent, appearance,
or environment, to create sensations of "clean" can give you a head
start on the trust you need.
The same group of researchers who
did the study on soft and hard also concocted a brilliant study on sensations
of rough or smooth. They had folks come in and complete a short, five-piece
jigsaw puzzle. For half of the people, the puzzle pieces were coated with
sandpaper, while the other half used smooth, glossy pieces. Afterwards, everyone
read an ambiguous social situation, and then provided feedback on the
interaction. Participants who handled the smooth puzzle felt that the people in
the situation were coordinated and cooperative, while those who worked with the
sandpaper pieces thought the whole interaction was difficult and harsh.
Many field forces have moved to the
iPad to present customers with sales materials. iOS is a great platform; it’s
easy to update and allows for visualization and animation. Plus, the hardware
is just plain cool. But this study points out a deeper advantage to the glossy
glass and smooth, curved aluminum body of the iPad: It makes your brain think
ideas like easy, coordinated, and cooperative. This was a big
unconscious advantage the iPhone had when it first transformed mobile
computing, but it can also be an advantage when your sales person is
interacting with a prospect. As they glide their fingers through a pitch,
they’re also triggering the right ideas to create a smooth, easy connection
with your customer.
These are just a few of the more
interesting studies, but there are dozens of experiments showing how little
changes in experience can influence what people think and how they behave. To
start incorporating sensations into your sales strategy, begin by asking
yourself what metaphors customers use to describe your sales people (or what
metaphors you want them to use). Metaphors are verbal clues to the unconscious.
Is dealing with your sales people like a warm hug from an old friend? Or is it
more like driving a finely tuned sports car? In each of these analogies, there
are little experiential anchors that you can build into the touches, smells,
and tastes that accompany an interaction with your team. Incorporating the
right sensations into your sales experience can be the edge you are looking for
to boost your numbers or get a leg up on the competition.
The last example I’ll leave you with
should give you pause if you have ever thought it was okay to shake hands with
a prospect when you’ve got cold fingers. In a series of studies, researchers
revealed that the sensation of warmth codes to ideas of affection and
friendliness. In one study, people who briefly held a hot cup of coffee rated
an ambiguous personality as more friendly, helpful, and trustworthy, while
people who held a cup of iced coffee thought the same person was more distant
and hostile. I think we can all agree that we would rather our reps are seen as
warm and trustworthy.
By
Jacob Braude
http://www.fastcompany.com/3004087/boost-sales-warm-your-fingers-spritz-windex-and-break-out-ipad?partner=newsletter
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