Emotion Moves the Mind

August 14, 2008

What does emotion have in common with moving people into action?

Watch this award-winning public services announcement.
(The opening text reads: An experiment with hidden cameras. Downtown Sao Paulo, February 28, 2008.) Five-year-old Matheus Braga appears in both scenes.

Did the video create a sense of urgency? Did it make you want to do something? Do you think you’ll remember the message?

Why do you think the message in the video works? Two factors make it potent: emotion and contrast.

Emotion:
In the B2B world, it is easy to forget that buyers (like all people) make decisions based on emotion and justify it with facts. Your message needs to wake up the emotion around your buyer’s needs, pains or desires on a personal and emotional level. Powerful messaging is the ability to connect to your buyer with emotion. Emotion leads to urgency and urgency creates a fast track to action. If you are experiencing longer selling cycles, or buyer apathy, there is a good chance that you are not making an emotional connection.

Contrast:
So, what can you do to accelerate your buyer’s emotional sense of urgency? Use contrast. Contrast is the fuel that will ignite emotion into action. This public service announcement used contrast to bring attention to the cause. They could have just shown the problem they wanted to solve – the left side, where the child is left unnoticed. But that would not have been as powerful. The left side solicits a passive response, something along the lines of, “Oh, how sad! Yes, that is a problem.” Showing the contrast solicits a completely different reaction, maybe something like, “Wow, I wonder why people do that. Wait, I think I would do the same thing. Why would I ignore a child who needs more help?” This ad works because all of us are moved by the emotion of an abandoned child.

Your challenge in your selling effort is to search for an emotional connection that will move your buyer. So, where does the search begin? Look at your selling effort from your customer’s perspective. Dig into their pain.

  • What are they struggling with?
  • What needs to change?
  • What are the pressures that they face every day?
  • What frustrations do they express?
  • What personal goals are they not achieving?

Once you have found that specific pain, need or desire, craft a presentation that clearly contrasts the frustration they face today with what life could be like with your solution.

The emotions you stir will connect. The contrast will create urgency. And decisions will be made a much faster rate.

Connect with the heart and you will move the mind.

Leave a Comment » | NLP, emotion, focus on the buyer, old brain, sales messaging, sales training | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Corporate Visions Inc.

Get Through the Mind’s Spam Filter

July 3, 2008

Has this ever happened to you?  You present to a prospect and you know you did a great job because you covered everything.  But in subsequent meetings you realize that your prospect didn’t really retain what you said.

Are you like your prospects? Test your own retention. Watch this video and then read the rest.

 

Don’t worry, you’re completely normal.  There’s even evidence* to suggest that you’re more efficient if you didn’t notice the obvious.  When you “keep your eye on the ball” you filter out irrelevant information.  Your brain’s capacity depends not on the amount of storage but on how efficiently that space is used, therefore filtering out distracting information.  The better the filter, the more efficient you can be at assigned tasks. Your memory’s temporary storage is limited to about three or four items.

What does this mean when it comes to selling?

Imagine how much information you give in any one of your presentations.  What do you think your buyer is filtering out?  It’s anyone’s guess.  If you want the buyer to remember the most important things, you need to keep the presentation focused on 3-4 key messages.  A discussion focused on highly relevant areas of the value ensures engagement and retention.

Three ways to get your message through the mind’s spam filter:

  1. Set your agenda in your buyer’s world with 3-4 things they need that only you can provide.
  2. Contrast their life without your solution versus their life with your solution.
  3. Ask for feedback, early and often.

 

* Reference:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=your-inner-spam-filter

3 Comments | NLP, mind, old brain, presentation skills, sales messaging, sales tips, sales training, visual cognition | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Corporate Visions Inc.