Let’s talk about fear and greed… But this isn’t going to be the same kind of fear versus greed sales talk you’re used to…
We’ve all heard it before. There are two things that motivate people to buy. Fear, and greed. Figure out what’s right for your product and your customer, and use it.
Thats KIND OF true, if you’re painting with really broad brush strokes.
But human beings aren’t painted with big, broad brush strokes. We’re infinitely nuanced.
Is fear a motivator? Absolutely! In some markets, it’s absolutely critical.
Is greed or desire a motivator? You bet! Again, absolutely critical in some markets.
But those are really superficial manifestations of some deeper psychology.
Let’s get deep!
Instead of thinking about about fear and greed, think about away and towards.
In this particular moment, on this particular topic, your prospect has things they want to move away from, and things they want to move towards.
Some of their desires to move away or towards are small, and less important. Some of their desires to move away or towards are big, and critical to getting them to take the action you desire.
Let’s give some examples.
Let’s talk about money. Investing.
The stock market and economy, right now. Right now the economy feels like it’s in shambles. While the headline numbers put out by the government make it look like everything is peachy, the vast majority of Americans (and really, people in every corner of the world) aren’t feeling it. Investment markets are up, but we can’t quite figure out why. Expenses keep going up, even though they tell us inflation is under control. Everything has gone topsy turvy, and anyone who is paying attention is worried we’ll see another 2008, or worse.
We have a desire, in this context, to move toward having money, and having financial security. We also have a desire, in this context, to move away from risk and financial loss or even ruin. We may be really interested in some big investment opportunity, but we have to be convinced that it won’t bring us closer to what we want to move away from, too. Or, we may be inclined to adopt some kind of financial protection strategy to save us from loss, but we really want to know that maybe it can also help us come out ahead.
In this moment in time, around this particular topic, investors have a handful of things they want to move towards, and a handful of things they want to move away from. The secret is finding out where that sweet spot is, then hitting it.
Or how about Story Selling?
Since I’m doing a launch soon around this topic, maybe we can talk about that. If you’re interested in story selling, it’s probably because you want to move toward bigger financial success, by making more sales. Maybe you also want to move toward feeling more like a master at your craft, and part of that is using stories. Maybe you’re also interested in telling your own story, in a way that attracts the right kind of clients to you.
But also, you feel like you haven’t had the success you want so far, and you want to move away from that feeling of failure. Or maybe you’ve tried using stories to sell, but you always threw them away because you didn’t like what you saw. Or you’ve had a client really trash your story copy, and you never want to feel that way again.
In this moment, in your life, around this topic, you have a handful of things you want to move toward, and a handful of things you want to move away from. I don’t know what it is for you, but something will resonate and get you wanting to learn more about Story Selling.
See what I did there? 🙂
You can do this same thing with any topic, for any market…
Come up with all the things they want — all the benefits they want to move towards. Then, all the things they don’t want — all the fears, frustrations, and failure they want to move away from.
Figure out — through whatever means — what are the most motivating right now. What’s it they want that keeps them up at night? What do they want to avoid or get away from that’s also keeping them up?
Run through that inner dialog that’s filling their mind as they stare at the ceiling at 2 AM.
What’s got their heart racing so much they can’t sleep?
If you can nail ALL the details of that inner dialog, you have them.
And you can bet that for everything they want to move away from, they also want to move toward something. It’s just a matter of where it falls on importance. And how much you then emphasize each.
Now, here’s how you take this to another level…
In addition to away and towards, your prospect is feeling that certain things are possible, and others are necessary.
While necessary most often lines up with away, and possible most often lines up with towards, it’s not always the case.
Maybe they feel like it’s more necessary than possible to move toward a higher income. Maybe they feel like it’s more possible than necessary to become debt free.
There are things that are possible to move towards, and necessary to move towards.
There are things that are possible to move away from, and necessary to move away from.
Those that are necessary — whether away or towards — will tend to be more strongly motivating that those that are mere possibilities.
For example, someone that’s in collections for their debt may be motivated by the necessity of paying it off, versus someone who has put $500 on their credit card yesterday and hasn’t gotten the statement yet.
Or, if someone is approaching (or in) retirement, they may consider it necessary to come up with an extra $30,000, versus a recent college graduate who has their entire working career in front of them.
Find the sweet spot of what’s most necessary to move toward or away from, and you’ll have the greatest chance of getting your prospect to respond…
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
PS: Story Selling is about SELLING, too. If you’re interested in principles like this to help you sell more, you may want to mosey on over to this page and sign up for the wait list.
