Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: Free Workbook: Friction Free Sales and Marketing

It’s finally ready. And it’s free.

What started out as an simple eBook on dealing with sales resistance turned into a 77 page Workbook with dozens of exercises and examples to help you blast through the three types of psychological resistance torturing your customer’s mind.

The three types of resistance are: Reactance, Skepticism and Inertia. Each type has a different cause. Each type has multiple ways of being dealt with.

That’s what this workbook is about.

It’s about knowing what’s going on inside your customer’s mind and making your sales and marketing funnel friction free.

Fill out the form on the right, or the form below this post, to get your free copy. Or, go to the Friction Free Sales and Marketing page to fill out the form there.

I guarantee you it will be worth it.

Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: Exponential Growth Calculator

The Exponential Growth Calculator is a spreadsheet to calculate the impact to your bottom line from small changes in your business. A few days ago I posted an article on the 3 Ways To Increase Revenue In Your Business. If you like, you can go read that first so you better understand the details behind the spreadsheet.

To summarize, there are only 3 ways to increase revenue in your business. They are:

1. Sell to more new customers.
2. Sell more to each customer.
3. Get more repeat sales from existing customers.

This spreadsheet calculates the changes you want to make in each area. You can use it to plan next year and achieve the income growth you want in your business.

You can download the calculator here as a Google Doc and below is a walkthrough with the example so you can see how easily it works.

You won’t be able to edit any variables on the attached spreadsheet.

If you use Google Docs choose “Make a copy” from the File menu and then make your changes on your copy.

If you use Excel or OpenOffice, choose “Download As” from the File menu and save it to your computer.

What You Can Edit And The Incredible Impact On Your Business

First, only change the data in the yellow cells. If you change other cells it will screw up the formulas for the rest of the sheet. So, don’t cause trouble and stick to the yellow cells.

Section 1: Your Current Information

You can choose the time frame of this data if you want. I have it set to annual. You can change it to monthly, weekly, or daily. It doesn’t make any difference on the results. The time frame is only for your information.

Fill out your current traffic. If it’s your website, how many page views of your sales letter? If it’s store traffic or sales, how many people are you sitting in front of or walk through your store during this time frame?

Next, how many of those become New Customers? These are new transactions. In the example above we have 100,000 people visiting a site that turn into 500 new customers (sales).

After that, fill out your Average Sale Per Transaction. If you don’t already know this, take your total income from these sales ($50,000 for example) and divide it by the total number of sales transactions/new customers (500) and you’ll get your average ($50,000/500=$100 average).

Once you’ve filled out these three cells it will automatically calculate your conversion rate and your total income.

Section 2: Increase New Customer Sales

In this section you’ll be able to see what happens if you were to either Increase Your Conversion Rate or Increase Your Traffic (the amount of people that get your sales message). It also computes what happens when you increase both of these.

In this image, the first line is the results from increasing conversion rate. You become better at selling and you sell more. In the example it’s a 40% increase.

The second line is what happens when you get more people to your sales message. You become better at marketing. In the example it’s a 20% increase.

The third line is the result of improving your conversion rate AND your traffic. The increase is 68%. As you’ll continue to see, a small increase in each piece leads to large changes in your business income.

Section 2: Increase Average Sale Per Customer

In this section you can find out what happens when you Increase Your Average Sale Per Transaction. This is the average amount a person buys from you when they checkout. It’s what happens if you can make that extra upsell every now and then. It’s the results of always asking, “Would you like fries with that?”

In the example we went from an average sale of $100 to an average sale of $110. It’s a 10% increase in income. Adjust this to what you think would be reasonable to upsell in your business.

Section 4: Increase Frequency of Customer Purchase

This is where you can find out what would happen when you get some of your existing customers to buy more. Selling your existing customers is the easiest marketing you’ll ever do. Don’t neglect them.

What happens if you can get 10% of them to buy an additional $50 worth of goodies from you?

In this example it’s a 5% increase in income. That may not seem like much but if they’ve bought from you once, and you have quality products or services, chances are you’ll be able to sell more frequently than you think.

If you’re running a monthly service or membership program, this would by your customer retention. How much more would you earn if your customers stayed with you an extra month or two (or five)? When you see these results it will give you even more reasons to spend a few extra bucks to make sure they’re really happy.

Section 5: Total Increase in Income and Total % Change

This section gives you the results when you make a small change in all three areas.

With the examples already in the spreadsheet, the income went from $50,000 per year to $96,600 by making small changes. That’s a $46,600 increase in income.

Or, a 93.2% increase in income from several small changes.

If you were to add up the changes for each individual section they would only add up to a 75% increase (conversion rate 40% + increase traffic 20% + average sale 10% + increase frequency 5% = 75%). However, each improvement compounds the other results. So, instead of a 75% increase you have a 93% increase in this example.

Would you rather try and improve 93% in only your conversion rate (or traffic, or upsells, or repeat buyers) or would you rather make small improvements among all channels?

In this case, I’d say it would be at least 18% less work for you to improve this much, would you agree? 

Enjoy the spreadsheet. If you didn’t download it above, you can download it here.

You can also read The 3 Ways To Increase Revenue In Your Business for some more examples on growth in each area.

Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: Email Marketing: 5 Reasons To Build Your Email List Now

I wrote this originally as a guest post on Blog For Profit last year. After listening to Infusionsoft’s Joe Manna give his PodcampAZ presentation, I thought I’d repost it here since the reasons haven’t changed.

I’ve slightly updated and edited this to reference some changes since last year.  Enjoy.

Email marketing is one of those touchy subjects. Some love it. Others fear it or don’t understand it. Some recent conversations on Twitter say it’s dying or (fill in with new technology of the day) is an email killer (this conversation has been going on for over the last year). When I hear these statements I know this means email marketing will be around for a while.

While building and maintaining an email list can involve a little work, the rewards are well worth it. I’m not going to go into list maintenance, segmentation or, marketing strategies here. And, don’t let those scare you from starting. This is to help you understand why email marketing is important to you today and why you want to build an email subscriber list as soon as possible.

1. Everyone Online Has At Least One Email Address

This is probably the most important reason you want to build an email list. Email is the only form of online communication where everyone participates in. It’s the biggest social network online.

A fraction of all people online have a Facebook, Twitter or Google+ account. Although many people are flocking to drop their brands into these playgrounds, they’re only hitting a small percentage of the online population.

Before you can even sign up for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or virtually any other site on the Internet, what’s the one thing they’ll ask you for?

Yes, they’ll probably ask you for your name and password however, all these sites will ask you for an email address.

Why is that?

Because everyone has an email address.

People read their email. (I’m going to ignore spam and email delivery issues here.)

Unlike most social media options, email sits in an a recipients inbox waiting patiently to be opened. It doesn’t matter if your reader is on vacation. In seven days, when they return from the beach, your email will still be sitting there waiting to be read and it will be one of the first things they go through when they’re back online.

Which leads me to…

2. Email Is Important To People Online

Many people hop on Facebook everyday to find out what aunt Gertrude is up to in Florida. They play their games, share links and patriotic sayings, but they don’t wonder, “What’s the next important business message I’m going to get on Facebook?”

Email is different.

We check it regularly to see if anything important has come in. We have it automatically load on our phones so we can be accessible where ever we are. You never know when your next big deal will come in. Email is where we go to really find out “what’s important?”

Yes, we all expect some junk in the inbox. It’s just like traditional snail mail. We sift through it eagerly searching for something more exciting than the “new process for putting covers on the TPS reports.” We want to see what exciting friend has emailed us. We check to see if smelly Stan down the hall was fired yet.

Email marketing is where you come into the picture. This is where you provide a small escape from the day-to-day boredom of life. You have the opportunity to give your list something of value and brighten their day.

Email is where you’re mixed in with friends and business. You’re on the same playing level. You’re important and that is where the money is.

3. You Own Your List

Over the past couple of years the online marketing masses have flocked to Facebook, Twitter, and now Google+. They preach loudly, “You can communicate directly with your audience.” And, they’re correct. Social media provides wonderful tools to do that. Social media marketing is a great form of permission marketing. You get real time interaction and the ability to create a quick and easy following with hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands of followers and fans with a few simple clicks. But, what if?

What if, with a few simple clicks, Facebook deletes your personal or fan pages? What if Twitter’s fail whale makes a permanent appearance and never leaves? Chances of it happening are slim, right? But, what if?

These are great places to start a conversation and engage readers however, once you’ve been kicked off you’re out of the conversation. You don’t own your content. You don’t own anything.

You can’t access your market anymore. And, if you don’t have an email subscriber list you have absolutely no way of contacting your readers to tell them what happened. None. Bummer. Your marketing strategy was just flushed down the intertoilet.

An email subscriber list is yours. It’s yours to have and to hold, until death (or unsubscription) do you part.

Because it’s your list, you can download a copy and save it to your hard drive. If you have issues with your email provider, you can move it to another provider and magically continue business with little, if any, interruption.

And, since it is yours, it’s an asset to your business. Bonus! If you someday decide to leave or transfer your business you’ll have a tangible asset of value to sell to a buyer and increase the value of your business. (I’m not talking about buying email lists. That’s stupid and don’t ever do it. EVER! I’m talking about selling your business and how an email marketing list, like a customer and prospect list, increases the value of a business.)

4. It Is Pure Permission Marketing

When a reader signs up for your email subscription they’re raising their hand and showing interest. They want more information. Give it to them.

If you’re using a double opt-in email provider (you are using double opt-in, right?) you’re ensuring your subscriber actually wants you to contact them. First they give you their email address. Next, they have to click a link in an automated email sent to confirm they signed up. These are hurdles for them to jump through. It’s a qualifying mechanism. This is permission marketing.

Now it’s up to you to keep them happy.

Many “big shot” internet marketers get you on a list and then pummel you with affiliate offers for every big launch that comes up. That’s not a great way to run a strong permission marketing list. It does work but you’ll lose a lot of the list over time and constantly need to look for new subscribers. If you want to keep your list active provide value more often than you’re promoting offers.

Send a newsletter every month or two weeks. Provide unique content not available on your site. Hint at the next big idea coming to their inbox soon. Give them a reason to stay subscribed.

They’ve given you permission. They’re not just a fan or a follower, they’re a member of your community. A member is more valuable than any Facebook fan or Twitter follower.

Give your subscribers a reason to stay on your list because you want to scream…

5. Show Me The Money!

Visitors come and go. Maybe they’ll click on a banner ad or buy your product but once they’re gone, they’re gone.

If they subscribe via an RSS reader then they’ll read your content in a 3rd party reader and rarely visit your site. They miss all your money making mechanisms on your site.

Email allows you to send them the post, a teaser, or whatever copy you want to use to drive your subscriber back to your blog or shopping cart. It forces them to see your ads and other money making mechanisms on your site.

Plus, and here’s the fun part, you can email special offers for your products/services without publishing it live on your site. If you want to have a special money making weekend you can send an email or two that lead back to a special page on your site with a unique offer just for subscribers. Or, you can send an affiliate offer of a product you recently fell in love with and want to share with your email subscribers. Either way, it’s a more responsive way to making money than publishing a post to your site and hoping people will see it. It’s the original social media business strategy.

6. Email: The Original Social Media Listening Spot – Bonus Reason!

Social media marketing is about jumping into the conversation going on with your customer and prospects right now. Well, when you have an email marketing list you can easily ask for a response to whatever topic you work with. It’s a targeted social media marketing campaign.

Consumer behavior can be changing and fleeting. If you want to know what’s going on in the mind of your customer, you can spend all day monitoring and waiting for people to mention you and the subjects you’re involved with. Or, you can send an email to your email list and ask them to email you their thoughts.

Many people are afraid to leave comments on blogs or make public statements to you on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ pages. They don’t want to be publicly embarrassed.

Email is considered private. It’s between two individuals. When you treat your subscribers with respect and ask for opinions you’ll get them.

Direct marketing, to me, has always been about the relationship you have with your customers. You have to be open and willing to accept all responses. Treat them with respect, listen to their opinions, and you’ll be in a better position to respond if you hear something along social media channels.

How Soon Will You Start?

If you have any experience with direct marketing or permission marketing you may have heard, “the money is in the list.” If you haven’t started building an email list then I hope this is a friendly jolt to start building your email subscriber list today.

It doesn’t require much effort to maintain and, just like other pieces of the online marketing puzzle, once you start you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it earlier. It’s the best way to build a relationship and create customer loyalty.

If you’re using email now, what motivated you to start building your list? If you’re not, what’s stopping you?

If you haven’t signed up for email updates yet, do it now below!

Here are some more popular email providers I recommend.

• Aweber – Probably the most popular and respected system out there. This is great option for new or experienced marketers. Their support is top-notch.
• Mailchimp – Has been growing rapidly and a great start for those new.
• SendPepper/OfficeAutoPilot – They’re easy to use and offer growth for fully automated marketing.
• Infusionsoft – When you’re ready for fully automated marketing system.

Image Credit AOL Jacket lazzarello.
Image Credit Email Address Sean MacEntee.

Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: The 3 Ways To Increase Revenue In Your Business

You work hard to move a new customer into your pipeline. You network. Maybe you pay for advertising. You work for links to your website. Anything to get those precious people into your sales funnel. Anything to make sales. Anything to give you the opportunity to help your customer and help yourself in the process.

You want to increase revenue without increasing your expenses. There are many tips and tricks you can find online. However, they ultimately fall into one of these three categories. And, as you read through them, you’ll find multiple ways to increase revenue in your business.

Big doors swing on small hinges. When you understand these three principles you’ll realize you’ve only cracked open a very large door and have left a large amount of revenue sitting outside.

1. Increase The Number Of New Customer Sales

Of the three ways to increase revenue, this is the most obvious solution and the one most businesses work to improve.

There are two ways you can increase new customer sales:

• Sell your stuff to more people, or
• Convert more existing prospect to buy your stuff.

These seem the same but they’re two slightly different details. And, they both revolve around your conversion rates.

So, what are your conversion rates? How many people buy who visit your website, walk through your doors, receive your marketing, etc.? If you don’t know your conversion rates then you need to start measuring.

In order to sell your stuff to more people you can increase the traffic to your website or store. This involves more advertising, networking, etc. You’re working around your existing conversion rate and playing the numbers game in sales.

For example, if you have 100 visitors and 5 buy something then your conversion rate is 5%. If you want to double your sales based on this, you’ll need 200 visitors to make 10 sales. Fairly straight forward and simple right?

Your other option is to increase your conversion rate. If you don’t want to work on getting more visitors you can work on increasing your conversion rate from 5% to 10% so you can sell those 10 items.

Increasing conversion rates has become a hot topic recently because of the big impact it can have to increase revenue. For example, if you’re currently converting 50% of your visitors and you increase that to 60% it’s not a 10% increase in revenue. That’s a 20% increase in revenue.

That’s a huge impact!

It’s important you’re measuring these numbers so you can deeply understand the dramatic difference any small changes will make on your bottom line.

2. Increase Your Average Sale Per Customer

Now that you’ve started to convert more visitors into sales, you want to make sure you’re able to get as much money out of each customer as they’re willing to spend.

In most small businesses the sales process is some random series of events. There’s no systematic way to upsell or bundle products and maximize the revenue per customer. Many big chains do it but the mom and pop, main street business, or blogger hasn’t really embraced this. Often there’s the sense of community and a fear of offending your customer (you really won’t but it’s a common fear).

In my first insurance agency, I remember looking at our reports that showed the average auto insurance policy premium of our agency compared with others in our area. Our average premium was $770 for a six month policy and the rest of our district was only $701. We were 10% more per customer.

This additional revenue meant I had to service 10% fewer customers to earn the same income as the other agents. This led to lower staff expenses, time spent on policy changes, etc. It also meant our customers had better protection then the average agent because we were offering more and they were buying. We had a systematic process each agent went through when discussing coverage and options to yield this additional income.

It was critical. It was required!

When you go to almost any fast food franchise you get an upsell via two different processes.

The first thing they do is bundle products together. You probably only want a hamburger and drink. But, for an additional 20 cents you can bundle the fries into your meal. This would save you 90 cents if you bought them separately (it’s on sale so I have to upgrade! Yes?).

Then, after you place your order they ask you if you want to “go large” or “super size.” This is only an additional 24 cents. So, why not take the large? The Illusion of Value has been created and they’ve extracted the additional revenue out of your wallet.

Search through what you offer. What can you offer after the initial sale? What can you bundle? What can you add to existing products/services and create a premium offer (ex. a silver, gold, and platinum level)?

You may not think what you sell could be bundled however, you’ll be surprised how you can bundle many random things and, because it’s a bundled “savings,” you will sell more stuff.

You may not want to do this because you don’t want to offer a discount on a bundled item. You’re making a big mistake. If you weren’t making the additional sale in the first place this discount is found money. Naturally, you want to be profitable so make the numbers work and think…

Where can you create the illusion of value?

3. Increase The Frequency Of Customer Purchases

What are you doing to get customers to buy your products more frequently? Do you mail or email your customer often enough?

I hear you thinking to yourself:

“I don’t want to spam my list!”

Or:

“I don’t want to my customer and prospect list, they may unsubscribe or tell me to stop mailing.”

Okay. Good points.

How about this?

What if you make extra sales from those that stick around? What if you make a lot of extra sales from those that stick around? Would it be worth losing the complaining part of your list if you create a few more happy customers? (I hope you said “Yes!”)

Of the three ways to increase revenue in your business I’ve found this to be the most neglected. I believe it’s mainly because of the fear of pushing too hard or asking too often.

Naturally, you want to provide value so you aren’t seen as a greedy business person. You can offer discounts, coupons, frequent buyer programs, etc. to get customers to come back more often. Repetition of your offer will also increase curiosity and desire in your product. A discount can give them that extra nudge to move ahead and invest in your offer.

You can think of many creative ways to get people to buy more frequently. I love an example in the book Priceless about a movie theater that gave customers a Loyalty Card. The first visit to the theater each month was regular price. Each visit after the first the customer paid less and less. The number of tickets sold to card holders went up 22%. They also earned additional revenue from concessions. This was a win/win for everyone involved.

If you only offer one or two products or services, hw can you increase buyer frequency?

Find similar businesses that support what you do and offer their products or services to your customers for commission. If you’re selling online, look into affiliate marketing. There are many missed opportunities for any business to increase their revenue with the products and services of another’s when you begin to search around.

Where Will You Start?

If you don’t have any statistics for your current conversion rates, average sale per customer, or the frequency of customer purchases you want to start measuring where you’re at now! Then, as you begin to really understand those numbers, dive into each of these three ways to increase revenue.

As I said at the beginning, big doors swing on small hinges. As you work on each of these areas, you’ll realize the enormous door of opportunity has only been cracked open and you’ll be able to swing it wide open.

Image Credit familymwr.

Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: Eliminating Buyer Resistance Part 4 – Inertia

This is the fourth post in the series on buyer resistance. This will cover the third type of resistance called Inertia¹. The initial post, The 3 Types of Psychological Resistance Buyers Experience That Kill Your Sales, is an overview of the 3 types of resistance in this series. It summarizes what’s behind each type of resistance.

What Is Inertia?

“Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion.” – from Wikipedia

Inertia is your most challenging form of resistance. It isn’t about you, your offer, or the sales process.

Inertia is rooted in your buyer and stems from his life experience.

It can be his past failures and disappointments replaying over and over in his mind. It can be his belief he already owns/knows what you’re selling. Either way, this stops him from considering any decision.

Inertia sometimes appears before you have a chance to present your benefits. And, if he won’t consider your offer, it doesn’t matter what benefits you present.

Other times, he reads your sales letter or listens to your offer yet he won’t commit. Something from the past keeps him from moving forward.

Here are the 6 ways to bring your buyer out of this inertia and pull them back into your product.

1. Disrupt and Reframe Resistance

You’re in a trance…most of the day. Almost every moment of every day you’re in some form of trance. You’re unconscious automatically runs the show. Your conscious mind is distracted with little things and your unconscious keeps you alive, safe, and functioning.

Your customer is in a trance too. His unconscious is working hard to keep him protected and safe. It runs the same routines day in and day out. This trance is behind the resistance called inertia.

Snap your buyer out of his trance.

As they say in traditional sales and marketing, “You have to get the customer’s attention.” This will help you do that and make more sales in the process.

In research², students went door-to-door selling note cards for charity. In the some households they said a packet of 8 cards was “three dollars; it’s a bargain!” This approach sold 35% of the households. Some households were told they’re, “300 pennies; it’s a bargain!” This disruption, the change from “three dollars” to “300 pennies” almost doubled sales to 65%.

They also tried other versions of the phrase with “it’s a bargain at 300 pennies” and simply “they’re 300 pennies.” These sold in the 30% to 35% range, the same as the control phrase “three dollars; it’s a bargain!”

When the students disrupted the customer’s thought with “300 pennies,” it allowed the sales message “it’s a bargain!” to bypass the resistance. It creates a brief state of confusion allowing the message to be accepted. (If you’re familiar with Milton Erickson and his use of confusion in hypnosis then this will sound familiar. If not, that’s okay too.)

In a similar study¹, college students sold cupcakes at the school for 50 cents. Randomly they said, “I’m selling this half-cake for 50 cents, it’s delicious!” or “I’m selling this cupcake for 50 cents, it’s delicious!” The percentage in sales results were the same as in the 300 pennies research with half-cake outselling by almost double. Because “half-cake” is not a common way to say cupcake it interrupts thought and allows the message “it’s delicious” to slide by the inertia.

How Much Fun Will You Have With This Technique?

My bride always laughs at me when I do this but I love it. Plus, it’s a great way for you to practice watching interrupts work.

Wherever we go, almost always I ask whoever is helping us, “How much fun are you having today?” instead of “How are you?” I’ve asked this question to thousands of people for over 10 years. I love how it opens people up.

It’s an obvious interruption. When was the last time anyone asked you that question? You usually hear a routine “How are you?” and reply with a mindless, “not bad and you?” Neither of you in the conversation, if you want to call it a conversation, will remember the interaction.

The elegance of the question, “How much fun are you having today?” assumes you’re already having some fun today and asks you to recognize how much of it you’ve actually experienced.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a panacea to make people excited about life. Most people often reply, “none, I’m at work.” But they’ll smile or chuckle when they say it.

After their reply, I’ve altered their perception. If they said “none,” I can now say something as simple as, “That’s too bad. I promise you’ll start having fun now that I’ve been here.” (with a grin) They may give a goofy reply. It doesn’t matter. I get to practice working with resistance and I get to make someone’s day a little better. And, I have a little fun myself.

I started asking this because I noticed most people don’t recognize the fun in life. It only takes a little attention to enjoy things more.

Give this a try the next time you’re at a grocery store, restaurant, bank, wherever. Ask the checkout clerk or the waitress, “How much fun are you having today?” (Emphasize “you” in the question and remember the word “today” to give them a time frame to process the question. Also, make it sound playful.) Notice how they react.

Let me know in the comments below, or through the contact page, what you experience. If you run across any challenging replies I’d love to help you out.

How To Use Disrupt And Reframe In Writing

The first step in copywriting is to get attention. This is why your headline is so critical. You want to grab your reader by the eyeballs and make him want to keep reading.

Here are a couple of classic headlines that use a Disrupt and Reframe technique as an example:

“Amazing Secret Discovered By One-Legged Golfer Adds 50 Yards To Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks And Slices…And Can Slash Up To 10 Strokes From Your Game Almost Overnight!” – John Carlton

How I Made A Fortune With A “Fool” Idea

At 60 Miles Per Hour The Loudest Noise In This New Rolls Royce Comes From The Electric Clock – David Ogilvy

Notice how these headlines take a basic idea and make you think, “How?”

How could a one-legged golfer help me improve my golf game? How can a foolish idea make someone a fortune? How can an electric clock be the loudest thing in a car at 60 miles per hour?

What these examples do is create a slight state of confusion in your mind, which briefly jolts you out of your trance. Then, while you’re in this brief state of confusion, you pay attention and the suggestion (your product or service benefit) is allowed to drop in and arouse curiosity.

It’s that simple.

2. Boost Your Customer’s Confidence

Obviously, you’re an intelligent person or you wouldn’t be reading these posts. Most people give up and let life take them from one situation to the next. They never fully consider the ways you can influence the outcome. You should be proud of yourself for realizing you have control over many areas of your life. And, you should be proud you’re making these moments even better.

How do you feel about that?

I am sincere when I wrote it. I deeply believe you’re an intelligent person. Anyone searching to improve their life and learn more about how people behave is intelligent. You should be proud of yourself, if you weren’t.

If you felt a little proud, were you feeling pride before you read this?

In reality, we all have fears and our failures haunting us from the past. They lay there in your unconscious and get triggered to keep you from making the same mistakes again.

Do you remember that time a teacher said you probably won’t amount to much? Or, maybe a parent said you were destined to achieve great things and you don’t feel like you’ve done that yet? Maybe you wanted to start a business and haven’t or you’ve failed? Maybe you didn’t get that job or promotion you wanted because you screwed up? Maybe you bought something that didn’t live up to its hype?

I’m sure you can find all the areas you’ve failed in the past (if you want to feel bad for a while).

However, I don’t want you to feel bad. We all have this baggage. It’s part of life and part of learning. (Put any negative feelings aside now and feel proud again )

Your customer is not looking back at his past failures as examples where he can change and grow. Instead he has a feeling sitting in the pit of his stomach. It’s a pain that grows whenever someone reminds him of taking a step forward.

This is inertia. It’s a protective reaction everyone has and you have to build confidence in your customer so they’ll feel strong enough to buy.

The goal is to give the customer a sense of pride, confidence, and success for their past.

Have you ever been around someone that always makes you feel better than you think you are? When you start talking about your inabilities they have a magical power that transforms everything about you. There aren’t a lot of people out there like this so when you’ve met someone like that, you remember.

In essence, that’s what this is like. You want to be able to give your customer the confidence they need to use what you’re selling. You don’t need to lie to him. There’s success in everyone. You have to be able to pull it out.

When I would discuss retirement planning with customers I had to show the amount needed at retirement so they could live comfortably. It’s always a large sum and will overwhelm anyone who isn’t already financially set. One way we could ease the fears is to show the success they’ve had at managing their finances up to today. It could be as simple as pointing out they’ve saved $500 over the last year (a big feat for many of people). After building on the small successes we can start moving to the next decisions.

In a sales letter it’s a little different. You don’t know each person’s challenge and success. You have to make assumptions.

If you’re selling to beginners make sure it’s easy enough for a beginner to use. Demonstrate the simplicity and compare it to things they’ve most likely accomplished without frustration.

If you’re selling to an advanced market you want to give examples an experienced user would relate with and has completed successfully. With an advanced market it’s okay to explain your product isn’t for beginners. By excluding beginners you’re giving those past the beginner stage a bit of pride; they’re part of a special group. They’ve passed the ‘beginner’ stage and qualify for this next step.

Hopefully, when you read the beginning of this section you felt a little better about yourself. I complimented you as an intelligent person and told you how you were better than the average person. This too is an example of building confidence.

Now, as you continue feeling better about yourself, continue reading through then next few examples. It’s okay to stop occasionally and reflect on how this will help you. That’s what intelligent people do anyhow.

3. Wear Them Down

Constant repetition. E-mail follow up. Repeat mailings. Eventually their curiosity will build up to inquire.

In traditional face-to-face sales, I don’t encourage using this technique. Your customer will feel like you’ve mentally beat him up until he buys. If you’ve ever bought a car through a dealership you can probably relate to this technique. They wear you out with constant trips to the manager. The need to see if management can meet your price, get approval for financing, check if the car you want is actually on the lot, etc. It’s not a pleasant experience. Don’t do this to your customers unless you want them to feel bad later.

In marketing, this technique is a bit different. When you have someone on your email or mailing list, repetition increases the chance your customer will buy.

Online, you can email your offer in various ways every day. Naturally, you want to make sure you’re providing value beyond just a sales pitch. If you fail to give any value, you’ll only end up with a high unsubscribe rate (or worse, marked as spam).

However, email marketing is practically free for you to increase the mental impressions you make. This repetition increases curiosity and desire. Have you ever received multiple emails and eventually clicked back to the site to read more about the product? That’s this process at work.

It’s similar in direct mail. A few years ago, in my old insurance agency, we rolled over $1.6 million into retirement accounts directly from our monthly newsletter in 12 months. We never directly mentioned investments but routinely discussed taxes, retirement planning, and IRAs. After a few months we started receiving calls from people wondering what to do with their old 401k or IRA. These turned into appointments and into a dozen sales. The repetition in the newsletter did the selling and generated the interest.

Marketing caveat: If someone asks you to take them off your list remove them immediately. Your email system should include a 1-click unsubscribe option to comply with spam laws (in the USA).

With that said, as long as someone is willing to read your offer you have the ability to influence him and can take advantage of it.

4. Offer A Choice

Imagine you made a search on Google and clicked a link to arrive at a website. On the website there was a brief description about what you want. Then it reads “to better help you please choose one of two options, “Are you a male?” and “Are you female?” What would you do?

When you arrive at a website you’re searching for something specific. As good as Google is at finding the right website, you’re never sure if you’ll get what you expect. When you’re presented with an option like this, you’re more likely to click an option…and actually read the page after you click.

With inertia, you’re stuck. You’re not moving in any direction. One of the ways to get you engaged and moving (in any direction) is to give you a choice. It gets you focused on answering the question and moving out of the stuck state.

One place I’ve fallen for this is on a sales letter for a product I don’t want to buy. It’s usually a product where I already own something similar. However, I read the sales letter anyhow because I’m I’m curious what they’re offering. When I get to the “Buy Now” button there are a couple of payment options. I can pay in full for $100. I can pay with two payments for $50 or with 3 payments of $35 each (these are examples, obviously).

When this happens, I start thinking to myself, “well, I can make three $35 payments easily without it pissing anyone off at home (my bride)…” This decision took me from my stoic position (“I already own this”) to choosing which payment option is best for my situation today (“I can afford to get this too now”). I’m sucked back into the buying process.

Once you’ve made a choice, you’re engaged again. If you remember Newton’s Laws of Motion, an object in motion (or rest) remains in motion (at rest) unless acted on by an outside force. You’re job is to give a choice to take them from their resting position and get them moving in your direction.

In the example where you choose “male” or “female” on a website, you’re getting your customer to make small commitments. Once he makes the initial decision, he’s more likely to read the page. One commitment leads to another.

Start with small decisions to get him started moving, then increase the involvement. The point is simply to get him into the process so he begins moving.

Now, when you’re done reading this, are you going to sign up to get this entire series on resistance as an EBook with all the additional worksheets? Or, will you read the other sections before you sign up?

5. Minimize The Request

You want to make sure your customer can easily accomplish what ever it is your offering. Making the request seem small makes it easy for your buyer to take those first steps. This works really well when you also Boost Your Customer’s Confidence.

Minimizing the request was explained in detail in part 2 on dealing with Reactance. Go read that article for specific examples on How To Minimize A Request.

6. Acknowledge Inertia

This was also discussed in part 2 on dealing with Reactance. I know you may not want to click the link and read that article after you finish this one, but reading the examples there will give you very unique understanding of the lessons.

Yes! I just used the technique, Acknowledge Inertia, in that paragraph. By writing, “I know you may not want to…” I’ve acknowledged the resistance you may have had. Again, Inertia is something from your buyer’s history that stops them. When you acknowledge it, it’s like loosening the lid on a jar. The jar is still not open but, now that it’s loose, it’s a lot easier to remove the lid and open it completely.

Now, after you finish this post, go read part 2 in the series.

What’s Next?

This is the last in the series on the 3 Types of Psychological Resistance and how to overcome them.

Sign up below to receive the eBook on Resistance for free. It will be packed with more details and examples on overcoming each type of resistance. There will also be worksheets and other material to help you work through every situation.

You’ve made it through this post so you obviously understand the importance resistance plays when you want to get people to do what you want. You’ll love how the worksheets bring all this together into easy to use format.

Subscribe below and get the free eBook when it’s finished.

If you missed the first 3 posts in the series you can find them here:

• The 3 Types Of Psychological Resistance That Cause You To Lose Sales
• Eliminating Buyer Resistance Part 2 – Reactance
• Eliminating Buyer Resistance Part 3 – Skepticism

¹ From the book Resistance and Persuasion by Dr. Eric Knowles.
² Davis, B., & Knowles, E. S. (1999). A Disrupt-Then-Reframe Technique of Social Influence. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 76(2), 192-199.

Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: Eliminating Buyer Resistance Part 3 – Skepticism

This is the third post in the series on buyer resistance. This will cover the second type of resistance called Skepticism¹. The initial post, The 3 Types of Psychological Resistance Buyers Experience That Kill Your Sales, is an overview of the 3 types of resistance in this series. It summarizes what’s behind each type of resistance.

What is Skepticism?

Skepticism is the type of resistance you’re probably most familiar with. It’s what most training in marketing or sales teaches you to deal with. Many of the techniques below may seem familiar. With that said, understand these work best with a unique type of resistance. You need to understand where your customer is coming from to make sure you hit all areas that work best with him.

Skepticism is resistance against the offer. It has to do with the features and benefits of what you’re selling. Will they work for your customer?

If you’re selling in person you may have a customer with multiple questions or arguments about why your product won’t work. You’ve probably discovered how arguing back doesn’t resolve anything. If you have a skeptical customer, use these six methods to eliminate his Skepticism.

1. Offer Guarantees

You’ve seen guarantees before. They come in various shapes and sizes. There are 30 day, 90 day, 1 year, and lifetime money back guarantees. You can have a low price guarantee like Best Buy where you beat competitors advertised prices by 10%.

Guarantees are the easiest and fastest way to eliminate Skepticism. If you’re not offering a guarantee, I can guarantee (yes, I know) you are losing money. Consumers want some sort of security behind their purchase. Nothing seems to be stable anymore. Your customer wants a business he can trust and will stand behind its product or service.

A guarantee is even more important for your smaller, less know businesses. Everyone knows Wal-Mart will allow you to return your purchase. And, there’s a certain quality expected when purchasing a known brand like Starbucks. If you’re new to a market put up a big sign so EVERY customer knows you stand behind your products.

Hyundai made a huge impact in the auto market because of their 10 years or 100,000 mile warranty. No other car in that price range, or other price range at the time, offered a warranty like that. Why did this work? Hyundai eliminated doubt about the quality of their cars. Their cars were reasonably priced and allowed you to concentrate on the benefits of the Hyundai line without the nagging worry of future repairs.

What if you sell online? I think it’s even more important to make your guarantee easily visible. You have no credibility, no history, and no store for an angry customer to burn down if they lose control. It’s critical for you to give a strong guarantee. You also want to make it known you can be easily contacted in case they want to use your guarantee.

What type of guarantee can you give?

That depends on the type of business you have. The most obvious is the “Money back” guarantee. You could use a 30, 60, or 90 day money back guarantees. But, if you’re bold, I recommend you test a one year, or lifetime money back guarantee. You may be surprised to find your return rate going up very little while your conversion rates increase significantly.

In my insurance agency we couldn’t give a money back guarantee. Instead, we created a 4 Point Guarantee and gave to each prospective customer. It read:

1. Money Back Guarantee – They can refund any unearned premium when they cancel their policy. (all companies do this)
2. Privacy Guarantee – We wouldn’t sell their name.
3. No Pressure, No Hassle Guarantee – Make buying insurance easy!
4. Total Client Satisfaction Guarantee – They have my commitment to their satisfaction. As you can see, it’s really nothing special. However, like Claude Hopkins writing the Schlitz beer ads in the early 1900s, this may be the same process every other company is using but we’re the only one telling the customer how we do it.

Be creative.

What can you guarantee to increase the security your customer feels when they buy your product?

2. Reframe The Offer

The context of an offer can be as important as the offer itself. One reason you become skeptical is because the context doesn’t fit just right with your offer.

In the book Switch the authors, Chip and Dan Heath, discuss how a couple of researchers in West Virginia influenced people to eat healthier and, more specifically, consume less saturated fat. They identified whole milk as the specific target since it’s the largest source of saturated fat in American’s diet. Their goal was to get people to drink 1% or skim milk instead of whole milk.

Instead of pitching a traditional message saying whole milk is fatty, they reframed what drinking a glass of whole milk means in fat content. Their marketing showed how drinking one glass of whole milk has the same amount of saturated fat as eating five pieces of bacon. Basically, they reframed the context from a cold, creamy, delicious drink to drinking the unhealthy grizzle from a frying pan. Not yummy and it worked.

If the milk industry is reading this, you may be able to sell more milk by changing the label from 1% and skim milk to 99% fat-free or 100% fat free milk and targeting more health conscious consumers. And, it is simply another way to reframe.

Were you thinking it could be difficult to reframe ideas? Think of it from a perspective of playfulness instead. When you’re playful you allow your brain to go in directions it wouldn’t normally consider. This freedom allows you to make random connections you need to reframe your offer.

3. Reframe the Resistance

To state this simply: Instead of letting the resistance stop your customer, use the resistance as their reason to buy.

You can also reframe the resistance itself. It can be changed from something stopping a person from buying you can use the resistance as their reason to buy.

Have you ever had a situation when the person you’re influencing starts asking multiple questions? You can sense a bit of resistance on their part. When this happens, say something like,”These are some great questions. You’re obviously considering this decision very seriously. These are the type of questions that allow you to become completely comfortable with you’re decision to buy today. So, what else do you want to ask before you start?”

This turns the questions from becoming stopping points into a reason they want to start. It may seem like a simple play on words but it does much more. It creates a link in your customer’s mind that more questions asked means more reasons to buy.

If you’re using it in copy on a sales letter, and you know there may be resistance, tell your reader to be skeptical. Write out, “I want you to feel a bit skeptical as you read this. There’s a lot here you’ll want to approach with an open mind. And, as you continue reading, you’ll get to the end and feel confident you’re making the right decision to buy now.”

Simple, no?

It’s okay to be skeptical about how this will work. Spend some time thinking about it. After you’ve used reframing a few times you’ll see how it works and find easier and smoother ways to address it in your own words.

4. Take Your Customer Back To The Future

What would you say if I asked you to help me move tomorrow?

If you’re like most people you would mumble something about how your aunt has plans to take you butterfly hunting with members in her aging butterfly society group. Or some other excuse.

On the other hand, what would you say if I asked you to help me move in a few months?

While the outcome is the same, the time of the decision and action to be performed change. It is moved from a decision now to a future decision.

Resistance is something that occurs now, in the present. You don’t want to take a risk NOW. You don’t want to choose NOW. You don’t want to commit yourself NOW.

If you can move the decision into the future your buyer will feel less pressure now.

People generally think more positively about the future. The decision, while it’s being made now, actually feels more optimistic and hopeful because of this internal time shift. In essence, it disassociates you from the pain and stresses of a decision today and into a more optimistic and positive state.

This isn’t putting off a sale. This is changing their perception of time.

You’ve probably seen this in a retail environment. This is (was) a common practice many major retailers use a couple of times each year. They offer you “No payment for 90 days” or “Interest free financing for 12 months.”

Maybe you don’t have the money now but in 90 days you might. So you’re a little less resistant and maybe you’ll make that purchase with their 90 day credit agreement. Or you don’t have enough money now, but you can easily make payments over the next 12 months and avoid their hefty interest fees. Right?

These have you moving your purchase decision out into the future 90 days or 12 months down the road.

If you don’t have the ability to use it like a retailer, you can change it up a bit. Ask your customer, “If you were to imagine what it’s like 12 months from now, after deciding to start today, how good does it feel to know you made the right decision now?”

Okay, I loaded that question with a few twists in the language but, it gets him imagining the enjoyment of what it’s like to own your product over the last 12 months.

This creates a time distortion effect. He’s imagining what it’s like after he’s already made the decision and is looking back at how good the decision was to have made…today.

That may not overcome a “no money” objection but it moves your customer past their skepticism today so they can imagine what it’s like as the proud owner of what you’re selling.

Now, what if you were to imagine a year from today and look back to today as the day you started using this technique? Notice all the times you’ve been able to use this technique. How much more has this helped you to make your life better?

5. Change The Comparison

In a past life, I was in the cemetery business selling cemetery and funerals to people who are still alive. It’s called pre-need cemetery and funerals (And is probably the only thing you can sell and really say it’s “pre-need.”).

When I had a customer at the cemetery, I would drive them around in a golf cart to let them get an idea of where everything is located. As we drove around the cemetery, I would explain how they could own a small private mausoleum for two people for only $75,000. We also had some lovely private estates that allow burial for up to 8 family members. It has a private, nicely manicured garden area and they start at $30,000 (a much better option per person but the mausoleum is truly more beautiful, in my opinion).

If you’re like most of my customers you’re probably thinking, “Holy crap that’s a lot of money to die! I would never spend $30,000 to be buried. Just throw me out in a pine box” (A pine box/casket was over $1000, if that really is your plan.).

Part of the reason I did this was to test and see if the bigger sale was something that might interest them. But, what I didn’t understand at the time was, I was giving them a price (comparison) point to reference what the cost of a cemetery space is now. Most people who come to a cemetery don’t have any idea what costs are involved for a funeral, a cremation, or a burial. I gave them a point of comparison and when I explained a single plot is only $1000 they weren’t as shocked.

Remember this: No decision is made in a vacuum.

No matter what you buy you are always referencing that decision against something.

If you sell how to get rich quick, your customer is weighing his options against his future income potential and what he makes now. If you sell an eBook, you’re compared against traditional books and other media. If you sell seminars, you compare against other media for learning. In all of these you’ll also compare against having to put food on the table and random ideas other people put into your customer’s head.

In our insurance agency, our marketing emphasized the fact we could shop eight different insurance companies with one phone call or by filling out our easy online quote form. Most people are familiar with the major insurance company’s marketing to call them for one quote from that company.

Our marketing changed the comparison. It explained how you could spend at least two hours calling eight different insurance companies or you could call us for 17 minutes, and we’ll quote eight for you. We could save you time and money. We were able to change it from just a money decision to a time and money decision.

So give your customer the reference point for comparison. Even if it’s an “apple to orange” comparison, give it. It’s important for you set the comparison points so your customer isn’t guessing and using his incorrect reference points.

6. Create Distractions

Have you ever felt confused and overwhelmed when buying something? Not information overload confusion. The type of confusion where you feel like your questions haven’t been answered but you bought their product anyhow?

This is a technique used when there are flaws in the product or service. And, instead of fixing those flaws it’s easier to distract away from them by pointing out other advantages or creating confusion around the flawed parts.

This is not a great technique to use and I won’t spend more time on it here. I don’t recommend it and I only use it for my own personal entertainment.

Work on fixing your product so you don’t have to distract away from issues. It will be better in the long run and reduce refunds and unhappy customers.

What’s Next?

These six techniques can be overwhelming too. They work best when you have a Skeptical customer. They work when your customer’s resistance is against the offer you’re presenting.

Take these techniques and run with them playfully. Find the way they work for you.

The next article in the series is on the type of resistance called Inertia. I call these buyers, “the lump.” You’ll find out why next time.

If you haven’t signed up for email updates, do it now.

When the series is completed they will be edited (again), combined with additional material and fancy worksheets for you to begin implementing. Imagine over the next few months changing the way you persuade. Sign up for email updates now.

If you missed the first 2 posts in the series you can find them here:

• The 3 Types Of Psychological Resistance That Cause You To Lose Sales
• Eliminating Buyer Resistance Part 2 – Reactance

¹ From the book Resistance and Persuasion by Dr. Eric Knowles.

Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: Eliminating Buyer Resistance Part 2 – Reactance

This is the second post in the series on buyer resistance. This will cover the first type of resistance called Reactance¹. The initial post, The 3 Types of Psychological Resistance Buyers Experience That Kill Your Sales, is an overview of the 3 types of resistance in this series. It summarizes what’s behind each type of resistance so you can see what’s next.

What is Reactance?

Reactance is experienced when you feel like you’re being pushed into buying. It’s a reaction evolved from the sales process. As the pressure builds and you begin requiring commitments from your customer, they begin to pull away. Something inside causes your customer to jerk away, disagree with you, raise objections, or stop reading your sales letter.

This form of resistance can also develop at the beginning of the sales process. For example, I have a strong reaction when I know I’m going to speak with a salesperson. I don’t like to answer questions beyond “yes” or “no.” I hold back. I know what a salesperson is looking for. I know their “tricks.” I don’t want to be baited and sold. I want to buy. And, when I start to hear the sales speak I immediately go into a negative state. This is another form of Reactance.

So how do you eliminate this reactance in your buyer?

7 Ways To Eliminate Reactance In Your Customer

1. Make It a Relationship, Not A One Time Sale

Nobody wants to feel like another notch on the headboard of your sales career. Yes, it’s important to watch your sales numbers and pay attention to your conversion rates, cost per lead, etc. However, when working with your list, niche, tribe, or whatever you want to call your prospect base, emphasize your relationship with them. Make them understand this isn’t a quick sale for you, even if it’s the only thing you sell.

It is funny to me how over the last few years, social media is buzzing with how they’re changing the sales process. As many there say, “you’re finally able to build a relationship with your customer base.”

I disagree.

Good marketing has always been about building a relationship. We did it with direct mail and newsletters 15 years ago (and in my businesses last year). Letting your customer know you’re here and plan to be around to help out in the future goes a long way. Social media is simply another way to extend the relationship experience.

Nowadays, blogging for the small business is becoming your way to build a relationship. It helps establish your credibility and knowledge. A blog is more than a single page website with sales information. You’re providing value before and after the sale. Your goal is to become an advisor in the eyes of the customer instead of a salesman only out to empty their wallet.

2. Use Stories To Create Distance From The Resistance

Stories have been used for thousands of years to pass along teachings without creating resistance. A story causes you to turn off part of your brain. You get immersed in the flow of the characters and allow the message to easily sink in.

Stories don’t have to be long drawn out tales. You can easily create a story by saying, “I had a customer like you once… and this is what happened with him/her…”

Then, as you continue the story, match the situation your buyer is experiencing. Go through their problems and objections. Show how your previous customer was able to move past his concerns with your solution. The person you’re telling the story to will begin relating those issues to himself. And, he’ll begin the process of finding solutions for himself.

It really is that easy. In fact, when I told a friend of mine about this solution he gave it a try. He was hesitant at first but decided to use it with the next person he had to deal with. He told me how nervous he was. He thought the customer would see through his story. As he got into it, he said his customer sat there listening intently and ended up buying, relating the story back to why he was okay with buying today.

Did you realize I just used the story principle in the last paragraph?

Another way to create a compelling story is to talk about yourself. First, remember talking about yourself is generally a bad idea. You never want to brag about how how wonderful you truly are. However, you can easily tell a story that makes you a hero, demonstrates your intelligence, how you solved the problem their in, whatever. It’s your life story, you find the solution. (If you want a great book on life stories you need to learn to tell, get The Story Factor by Annette Simmons.)

Last, the easiest way to create a persuasive story is with the “it’s just like” strategy. Using this strategy, you can easily create quick, off the cuff stories with layers of meaning by adding “it’s just like…” to the end of your sentence. Then, follow up with what it is like that would eliminate his resistance.

If this seems a little confusing that’s because it’s just like most new things you learn. Over time, and with practice, it becomes a lot more easy and natural.

Get it? (See my post on how to quickly create persuasive metaphors for more on the “it’s just like…” strategy.)

3. Minimize the Request

Obviously, big requests create more resistance than smaller requests. Whether your request is to buy your product or to opt-in to your email list, you want to make the request seem like a minimal commitment on their part.

In research by Cialdini & Schroeder², volunteers went door-to-door asking for donations to charity. When they added the words “even a penny will help” to the end of the request, there were 21% more households that donated. Not bad. What makes this even better? The amount the average person donated was almost the same in both options. That’s a huge impact.

They received a 21% increase in  the number of households that donated and the same amount of money was given from each household!

Amazing.

My Pay-Per-Click Example:

When I was running my last insurance agency, we used pay-per-click marketing to generate a large portion of our leads. The typical quote form on most insurance websites is several pages long. You fill out some information then click to the next page and fill out more. It feels like there’s no end in sight.

I made our quote forms one page. We still required all the same information, it was just on one page and not five. It was also a lot of personal information like names, address, birthdates, vehicle information, etc. for everyone on the policy. In our tests, one ad with the words, “Fill out our fast, 1 page quote form” outperformed others drastically.

Even though we were still requiring almost the same amount of information, we made the request seem simple and short. We told them it was a “fast, 1 page quote form.” (Also, the form itself reduced resistance because the visitor could see all the information required on the form and could easily determine how fast they could fill it out.)

How about another example where you can use this?

Let’s say you have a product with two price and feature options. Your “Basic Package” is the lower priced product and gives all the features most buyers need. Your “Complete Package” has premium pricing and gives your customer all the features plus a bunch of extra stuff beyond the Basic Package.

One way to test the Minimize The Request method is to put copy similar to this near the purchase options on your sales page, “If you were hesitant about how much this will help you, even the Basic Package will help you …”

This is language you want to seriously test instead of using as is. As much as I’d like to say this improves copy every every time, all markets are different.

4. Say “Yes, and…”

This method is easier to use in verbal rather than written persuasion. But, I’ll show you a nice twist you can use for writing copy.

You may not agree completely with your customer and you don’t have to. However, you don’t want them to know you don’t agree. They believe it and the easiest way to change their belief is to agree with them and then present your ideas.

When you reply to your customer’s question, here are three replies you want to keep in mind:

• “No” creates resistance.
• “Yes, but” says you agree, but not fully, and still want to push your ideas.
• “Yes, and…” demonstrates you’re listening and you agree with your customer.

Notice how you can make the problem worse by using the first two? It’s not that it will ruin a sales presentation completely but it can create additional challenges.

So, when your customer objects, reply with, “Yes, and this will be a good choice because…” and lay out your reasons. He’ll be a lot less willing to argue with you, if at all. Why?

You’re not arguing with him. If you’re agreeing you can’t be arguing. You’re simply taking his comment and continuing on with it. Essentially you’re reframing what he said in an agreeable manner. “And” is a powerful little word in influence.

Give it a shot.

Over the next few days, with your friends or family say, “Yes, and…” when you get reply. Tell me how this changes your interactions. You’re probably in a habit of saying “no, but…” and will have to practice to break it. Once you do, email me or leave a comment below and let me know how it changed things.

Using “Yes, And…” in writing…

If you’re using this in writing, here’s a quick lesson from Ericksonian hypnosis. (This works even more powerfully in speaking but is a way to incorporate “Yes, and…” in writing.)

Ericksonian hypnosis is, what we call, conversational hypnosis. Milton Erickson pioneered these concepts. One of the key ways he found to get people to go into trance is to “pace and lead” with his words and body.

Pacing is saying/writing something that is true or common knowledge. If I was doing hypnosis, these would be things like, “you’re sitting here” “you hear my voice” “you’re thinking.” These are things that are all true. When you hear them a part of your mind says, “yes.”

Leading is saying what you want your customer to do or believe. Again, more examples from hypnosis, “You’re beginning to relax” “You’ll make the changes necessary” “You’ll follow my suggestions.”

Do you notice the difference between the two? Basically, one is stating what’s true (pacing) and the other is making stuff up (leading). Everything you say or write falls into one of these two categories (either a pace or a lead). And, when you follow this structure below you’re feeding your reader the, “Yes, and…” statement. They’ll be thinking “yes, yes, yes, and…” inside their head.

Here’s the structure:

You start with 3 pacing statements and then a leading statement. Like this (with a blatantly boring example).
Pace, pace, pace, lead…
You’re reading these words (pace), there’s a lot of ideas available to you (pace), there’s something here you want to learn (pace), the things you learn will make a big impact in your life (lead).

Then, two pacing statements and then a leading statement.
Pace, pace, lead…
As you use what you’ll learn (pace), you’ll come up with other ideas (pace), which will help you make better use of these tactics (lead).

Then, one pacing statement then a lead.
Pace, lead…
These tactics aren’t known by most of society (pace), so you can use them wherever you want without fear of being caught (lead).

Then you can randomly use pacing or leading statements throughout the rest of your copy.

The point is to gradually build up to statements and behaviors the reader may not fully accept as true. In traditional sales, this would be a version of building a “yes” set. The theory being if you get someone thinking, or saying, “yes” they’re more likely to continue thinking, or saying, “yes” when you ask for the order.

After you’ve finished reading this, go read classic sales letters or listen to political & religious leaders speak (search YouTube). Try to find where they go from pacing to leading. You’ll notice how they blur the lines of fact and making up stuff as they’re speaking/writing.

This structure takes some practice. It will also cause you to write more. Which, in essence, will help you build your skills even more.

5. Acknowledge The Resistance

When people complain, often they just want to be heard. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that their complaint isn’t valid. Usually, it’s a simple psychological need to let it out. We want to be acknowledged and validated. This method allows you to address the resistance and validate what’s going on in your customer’s mind before they even know it’s there.

A good sales letter will always bring up objections and address them. What are the reasons against your customer buying your product? What thought would be gnawing at them in the back of their mind? Find those and tackle them one at a time.

For example, if you were selling a coaching package, you can address any resistance by stating, “Some people may not want the entire 12 month coaching program because…That’s okay. (a version of ‘yes, and…’) The people that do want this go for it because…”

Not everyone will use this technique in their copy. That’s okay. Those that do use it will find it’s something worth testing to see how well it helps increase conversion.

6. “Reverse” Psychology

Reverse psychology was briefly touched on in the first post of this series. You probably did this, or were victim of it, first when you were a child. Basically, you’re telling someone you want them to do the opposite of what you really want them to do.

When my oldest daughter was in preschool she told me some of the kids wouldn’t play the games she wanted to play. I told her when she wanted to play with them to say, “Hey, I have a great game to play! But…um, well…never mind, you wouldn’t want to play this fun game…” and then start to walk away.

The next day, when I picked her up I asked how her day was. She was beaming because she got several different kids to do things she wanted to do. (proud daddy)

My bride does this with me all the time on difficult decisions (because I have the mentality of a preschool kid). It drives me nuts because I know what she’s doing. She prefaces her requests with, “I know you won’t want to…” and then asks me to go to the opera or some other horrible thing.

Even though I know what she’s doing, because of the form of the request, I have to listen to make sure I don’t have a knee jerk reaction.

You get the point?

Now, remember to use this with care.

If the person isn’t resistant to the idea, using this could backfire and actually cause resistance. I’m sure you’ve been in a situation where this backfired so I’m not going to go into it much more. Use with care.

7. Direct The Resistance Where It’s Useful

This is one of my favorite techniques. Ever.

If you’re on social media sites, like Twitter or Google+, you may have seen this from certain social media personalities. It’s a great way to build expertise and following without creating resistance.

Since we all have a need to resist at some level, instead of waiting for the customer to tell you his objections, tell him what he should be reacting against. Sounds complicated, right?

How the social media gurus use it is by pointing out what everyone is doing wrong. They’ll post something like, “If you +1 your own post on Google+, you’re doing it wrong,” or, “if you’re using direct mail to lists to build leads, you’re doing it wrong.”

While this somewhat implies a solution, all it’s doing is pointing out where you should be angry. Then, when you run across this situation you can say inside, “yeah, social media guru was right, that’s annoying.” He gets to look like the good (smart) guy. Then, since this is true, other things he posts slips by without you questioning his validity or expertise.

Pretty fancy, right?

You may recognize it as version of the good cop/bad cop you see on TV and movies. You’re giving your customer a bad guy to rally against so he will “confess” or trust you, the good guy.

If you don’t have an industry to move people against, like the social media “experts,” you can point to small flaws in your product or service to resist against. You can point out the shipping time is going to be longer than usual. Point out how that’s a problem because your customer wants to get this as soon as possible. It, in a way, distracts from other issues that would’ve arrived and gives the person a place to focus their emotion.

Tell them where to be resistant and it won’t surprise you later.

What’s next?

This wraps up Reactance, the first of three types of buyer resistance. The next post we’ll dive into skepticism and what you can do to eliminate it from your customer’s mind.

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When I’m done with this series they articles will be combined into an eBook with fancy worksheets. I want to make implementing these even easier. If you were hesitant, I understand that you probably didn’t want to be on another email list. And, that’s okay. Your information is safe and it’s the only place you’ll get the worksheets to shortcut your implementation process. Sign up now.

¹ From the book Resistance and Persuasion by Dr. Eric Knowles.
² Cialdini, R. B., & Schroeder, D. (1976). Increasing compliance by legitimizing paltry contributions: When even a penny helps. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 599–604.

Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: The 3 Types Of Psychological Resistance That Cause You To Lose Sales

Most marketing and sales training concentrate on ways to make the product and service you’re selling more appealing. They give you ways to build your message up so your customers drool with excitement. However, they don’t address the underlying resistance customers have when approaching their buying decisions.

We all have some sort of resistance when buying. You know the time when you really wanted something but there was that thing inside you that wouldn’t let you buy it. That’s a form of buyer resistance. This resistance is also a major cause of buyer’s remorse and product returns.

When you address the resistance beforehand you can not only help more people buy your product, you will allow them to feel more comfortable during the process. This comfort will stay with your customer and reduce the number of returns, complaints, and make your life easier.

There are three types of resistance.¹ Each has it’s own cause and unique way it stops your customers from buying.

Reactance

Reactance is a resistance to the sales process itself. It’s the little kid inside all of us that says, “No I’m not!” Or, “you can’t make me!” It’s the hostile customer that won’t open up and is afraid of being sold.

One example is marketing online. If you do any marketing online, you’ll find a lot of people complaining about long sales letters. Their natural rant is, “the long online sales letter doesn’t work” and, “I won’t buy anything with a long sales page like that.”

They’re right. It doesn’t work…on them.

If this is you, you have a triggered reactance to that type of sales letter. It’s not that the sales letter itself doesn’t work. It’s that they don’t like the process. The reality is these sales letters work with many people or they wouldn’t continue to be used.

On the other hand, if you want to market to people that react negatively to the long sales letter, you need to address this reactance from the start or build sales letters without the long-form appearance.

One way to address it is using “reverse psychology.” It’s the “you may not want to do this but…” Use this carefully because it could elicit resistance that wasn’t there. However, when it works, it’s one very effective method to address reactance.

Skepticism

Skepticism is what you hear about in most marketing and sales training. It’s your customer who’s suspicious of you, your product, or your company. If you’re selling in person, he always has another question. Your customer is resistant to buy because of his suspicion.

The most common way you’ve probably heard to deal with the skeptic by offering a guarantee. By offering the guarantee you help remove the doubt and fear behind his disbelief. This doesn’t add any benefits to the sales message. It simply lowers the resistance. And, the best part, it doesn’t cost you anything to implement or add to your product.

When addressing skepticism, realize your ideal customer wants to buy what you’re selling. Your customer understands the benefits. More bullet points on your sales letter may help but it’s highly unlikely.

Think of it like this, your customer is standing at a wall, yelling over it to you. He wants to give you money. He is wondering how to climb it to get to you. He doesn’t believe there’s a safe way to get over it though. Once you explain there’s a safe elevator that will take them up and over he will hop on and bring his wallet with him.

Inertia

Inertia is the biggest challenge you’ll face. I call this person “the lump.” He’s simply unresponsive to anything you offer. He doesn’t want to change. It’s nothing against you or your offer. He has a fear of choice or a fear of committing to anything.

When I was in the insurance business, this is what I commonly ran across. Insurance isn’t something people seek enjoyment from buying. They usually have a car, home, life, health, or business insurance policy and don’t have any reason to change. They’ve never had a problem (aka reason to change). They fear changing and losing out if they switch companies.

It’s the same with your customers. He’s resistant out of self-preservation. He has lived his life up to now without your product and survived. Maybe you’ll make their life worse.

Who knows?

One of the best ways to deal with this is to acknowledge the inertia. You can say, “I know you probably don’t want to deal with this issue…” This helps them put it in place and sense that you understand his struggle associated with the decision. You can then continue on with your message.

Your Opportunity!

The most beautiful thing about addressing resistance issues: you can sell more without having to stack any additional benefits or cost. When you’re adding bonuses or throwing in special discounts to increase the attractiveness of your offer you’re spending more and pushing your customer to buy. The resistance is still there. And, it can rear its ugly head later.

Reducing your buyer’s resistance allows you to walk side by side with him. You won’t have to push or pull him in the direction you want him to go. As you move in one direction he’s right there by your side. Both of you happily get where you want to go with little struggle along the path.

This is the first article in my series on resistance. I’ll go into more detail on each of the sides of the resistance triangle. You’ll learn more on how the resistance is created and multiple ways to eliminate or reduce your buyer’s resistance.

Sign up below to learn these secrets to resistance
The process to reduce resistance isn’t for everyone. It may not have the sex appeal of flashy headlines and bullet points but it’s important to understand.

And, after you sign up below, you can imagine yourself a couple weeks from now, looking back on this first post as the start of something new and wonderful for your business.

¹ From Resistance and Persuasion by Dr. Eric Knowles. While this is a very good book it is a textbook and very academic. In other words, not an easy read.

Another article from PersuasionTheory.com. You can find the original article here: You Just Can’t Polish A Turd

When I was younger I ran a car and truck club for a group of guys with lowered trucks and cars. Yes, this was around when Hammer Pants were cool so it was a while ago. However, we loved our trucks and took great pride in customizing them with beautiful paint, solid (loud) sound systems, and custom interiors. We were the guys with the fancy cars booming down the road pissing everyone off at 1 am.

One year we we partnered with another club and put on a local car and truck show. Hundreds of beautiful cars and trucks showed up. They compete in various categories for cars, mini-trucks, full-size trucks, etc. One class of judging was called “under construction.”

The under construction class was for the cars and trucks that weren’t finished. The owner would show it even though it wasn’t completed (painted).

There was one guy who went from show to show in his “under construction” truck. It had dozens of modifications and there was something new welded or fastened on to make it more customized.  Each show there was another change but it still wasn’t painted. And, it kept getting more bizarre looking.

While we were judging it, I commented to another judge that even if it had the best paint job it would still be an ugly truck. He said to me, “So true. You just can’t polish a turd.”

That’s stuck with me ever since and, I think you’ll agree, it applies to so many areas of business and life.

Here are two examples of turds you just can’t polish that I’ve learned to stop letting bother me and let go. It’s made a huge difference in my life and business.

1. The Magical Marketing Wand

When I was in the cemetery business, There was one area of the cemetery where we couldn’t sell the property. They were cremation niches and the location plain sucked. There was a lot of traffic nearby, it was noisy, it was hard to walk to, and it seemed to always be in the sun (In Arizona, that’s a big deal).

We would offer sales on the spaces and lower the price but people always wanted something else. They wanted something in the shade, near the stream, away from traffic, whatever. It had to be somewhere else.

The problem wasn’t the sales message or the marketing. It wasn’t the pricing. The product was a turd and the cemetery will have to live with it.

Every business is overflowing with great ideas. Unfortunately, not all are going to be winners. When that happens, they come to their marketing and sales department. They think we’re Harry Potter and can take our magic wand to turns a pile of crap into a piles of cash.

What happens? No matter how much marketing magic we apply, it’s still a pile of crap that stinks once it’s in the customer’s home. You’ll get a return. You’ll get complaints. You’ll pay for not cutting your losses.

When you run into this problem, let it go and move on. There’s no pride gained in chasing failure.

2. Some People Just Stink

You know that customer from hell? Have you had one of those before? Maybe two?

Maybe you have a friend or coworker that just can’t get it together. All they can do is make big promises and even bigger excuses.

When selling, dealing with customer service problems, or friends, there’s that person who always blames every problem the run into on someone else. A customer expresses interest in your product (or bought it) and makes every excuse why it’s not for them. Or, they can’t figure out how to work it because there’s fighting in the Middle East.

These are they type of people that will apply for jobs but won’t show up for the interview. They talk about all the great things they’re going to do but don’t do them. You try to follow-up after they call and never return your calls. They keep emailing about problems but won’t listen to any advice you want to give them. So, if you’re smart, you call them on their bullshit and they keep leading you on.

You don’t need the stress and anxiety. If you’re a salesperson, stop chasing dead leads. If they’re a customer that gives you headaches, refund their money and ask them to never contact you again.

I’ve spent almost half my life learning how to get people to change behaviors. It can be done. You need to have have enough time and patience. But, why would you spend weeks or months with someone when you can let them go and free up the time and emotional energy so you can take on 2, 3 or 8 other customers that want to work with you?

Clean The Stench From The Air

You can’t polish a turd. It doesn’t matter how much perfume you put on it, it still stinks. If it’s a crappy product, let the learning fertilize your new ideas.

If it’s a crappy prospect or customer, cut them loose and let them fertilize someone else’s problems.

I’ve had to do this with friends. I don’t think they’re bad people they’re just heading in the wrong direction and when someone doesn’t want help, I’m not going along for their tortured ride.

Where in your life can you let these things go?

What difference will it be in your life and business when you do?

Image credit Phil Thirkell at Flickr.