Why making your prospects think makes them say "no."

Increasingly in sales and marketing, cognitive or behavioral science is playing an important role in understanding how to reach customer where they are and influence their choices. While neuromarketing, like data science, is a relatively new field, when used well it can be a powerful tool.

In his book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman suggests that our minds are really two distinct systems running at the same time.

Kahneman's System 1 and System 2, when you understand how they apply, are powerful allies in the battle to stop prospects talking themselves out of a good decision.

System 1 makes most decisions. It’s the automatic system. If it were a student in middle school, it would be the one who shouts out the answer in class and is sometimes wrong. But that doesn’t discourage its behavior in the future. It’s expert at things you’ve practiced, creates and relies on heuristic shortcuts (though these aren’t always true), uses perception to know how things fit together (though this is sometimes inaccurate) and remembers events with big emotional impacts (though sometimes inaccurately).

System 2 is put to use when System 1 can’t find an answer quickly. It’s the effortful system. System 2 takes care of the things that require mental effort and/or self-control, which are traits System 1 doesn’t possess. It is logical, methodical and rational. But because this takes work, System 2 is reluctant to get involved in the everyday, mundane decisions.

System 1 spends all day every day making choices and reacting to things but lacks focus and self-discipline. It wants to say "yes," especially if the situation is easy to say yes to.

System 2 gets called into action less often but is capable of heavier lifting. This is where considered thought lives, and where the reasons for rejecting purchases come from. Unfortunately for you, it's also where critical thinking for all decisions occur, from renewals to purchases to hiring and firing and assessment of results.

If you want a prospect to make a specific choice, you have to make it easy for them, because that stops them engaging their System 2. Put the easy choice in the path of their fast-moving System 1, and take some time to anticipate and address the questions that might lead to System 2 going to work.

So how do you keep them in System 1?

Let’s look at the traits:

1.      expert in things that are practiced

2.      creates and relies on heuristic shortcuts (though they aren’t always true)

3.      uses perception (which is sometimes inaccurate)

4.      remembers the big things (but not always accurately)

Expert in things (that are well-practiced)

Being an expert is easy, with practice. This trait is where brand loyalty comes from, at least with technology. If your prospect is already a customer, it’s probably easier for them to renew with you rather than go through what they may feel is a painful on-boarding with another vendor.

• I don’t want to change from Apple to PC, I’m already comfortable in OSX.
• I am an expert in the thing I have practiced.

Because System 2 is lazy and doesn’t want to think about learning a new product or system, we can be successful if we can make the prospect’s System 1 understand that it will still be an expert. If your prospect thinks they won’t have a learning curve to negotiate, they are much more likely to say “yes.” We almost never buy the best products, we buy the easiest to understand and use (because the best are often too complex). Help your prospect understand how easy your product is to master - and the results they can get by using it - to keep System 2 from having to do much work.

Creates and relies on heuristic shortcuts (though they aren’t always true)

To keep the prospect using System 1 you simply have to provide information that matches the heuristics they already believe.

• The guys selling print ads have been closing deals like crazy this week, it would make sense for me to switch from digital to print sales.
• When I make big sales it's because I'm good. When someone else does it's because they're lucky.
• Even though I can't say why this design is good, I know it is. Dave's feedback is irrelevant because he thinks it's bad but he can't tell me why.

Whether these statements are actually true or not is unimportant. We believe irrational things and we seek out data to confirm our irrational beliefs. If your prospect has absorbed an idea as though it’s objectively true, address the perception, not the reality. Content marketing can be a valuable aid to shifting the prospect’s perception toward what you need them to believe (hopefully the objective truth). This is also where testimonials take the spotlight: third-party information can help nudge prospect perceptions of your product or service for better or worse.

Uses perception (which is sometimes inaccurate)

Perception plays an important role in our lives. From knowing someone’s thoughts before they say them in a meeting, to associating value with brands based on non-value or non-brand impressions.

• I can see my manager doesn’t think this product has value, even though she hasn’t said anything.
• Dave completely zoned out during that presentation; he probably disagrees with some of the points and we're going to hear about it later.

As much as 93% of how we communicate is non-verbal and is carried in body language, gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice. So it’s hardly surprising that we humans have finely tuned senses of perception. Your prospects can detect when you’re not being entirely forthright, when you doubt yourself, or when you don’t know your product as well as you might. If you want to eliminate those elements, you should practice your sales pitches and answers to questions until you become an expert (see how this is all circular?).

Remembers the big things (though not always accurately)

There are hundreds of examples where memory plays a part in sales. It could be that you have a long relationship with a prospect, or they remember a difficult experience implementing yours or a competitor’s product. They might have heard something good or bad about your company in the news that could sway them, or they might not be able to remember who your company is or what problems you solve.

The issue with memory is that it’s subjective and not always “saved” correctly. We all can recall a time when a wonderful dinner with friends was “ruined” by some small inconvenience. Maybe the server impatiently shuffled you from your table, or you suffered a fraught cab ride home. Whatever happened at the very end, that’s what you remember. Now that whole night is remembered as a “bad night out,” when the truth is it was fantastic until the very end.

If you want to make the sale, doing something memorable and positive, or prompting the prospect to recall a memory that makes them happy will predispose them to like you. In their System 1, they talked to you, had an enjoyable time (talking about good memories) and so now you’re stored in their memory as someone they like and might want to do business with.

The important thing here is that we remember the first and last thing and not much in between. Greet your customers with a smile and send them off with a skip in their step (literally or figuratively) and they'll build a positive impression of who you are and be more likely to talk to you in the future.

So you’re thinking none of this seems like rocket science. And it’s not, it’s neuroscience.

Engage your System 1 by connecting with me on LinkedIn and Twitter. Prove your System 2 is no slouch by sharing this post with your network.