The Triggers of Success: How to Trigger a Successful Sale through the Power of Psychological Triggers.
A desire to buy something often involves a subconscious decision. In fact, I claim that 95% of buying decisions are indeed subconscious.
Knowing the subconscious reasons why people buy, and using this information in a fair and constructive way, will trigger greater sales response -- often far beyond what you could imagine.
I recall a time when I applied one of these subconscious devices by changing just one word of an ad, and response doubled. I refer to these subconscious devices as psychological "triggers." A psychological trigger is the strongest motivational factor any salesperson or copywriter can use to evoke a sale.
There are 30 triggers in all, some of which I will reveal to you in a moment. Each trigger, when deployed, has the power to increase sales and response beyond what you would normally expect.
There are triggers, for example, that will cause your prospect to feel guilty if they don't purchase your product. Let me give you an example. Whenever you receive in the mail a sales solicitation with free personalized address stickers, you often feel guilty if you use the stickers and don't send something back -- often far in excess of the value of the stickers. Fundraising companies use this method a great deal. You receive 50 cents worth of stickers and send back a $20 bill.
Another example are those surveys that are sent out asking for you to spend about 20 minutes of your time filling them out. Enclosed in the mailing you, might find a dollar bill included to encourage you to feel guilty, and entice you to fill out the survey. And you often spend a lot more than one dollar of your time to do that.
Guilt is a strong motivator. I have to admit that I've used guilt in many selling situations, in mail order ads and on TV -- with great success, I might add.
I call one of the most powerful triggers a "satisfaction conviction," which is a guarantee of satisfaction. But don't confuse this with the typical trial period you find in mail order, i.e., "If you're not happy within 30 days, you can return your purchase for a full refund." A satisfaction conviction is different. Basically it takes the trial period and adds something that makes it go well beyond the trial period.
For example, if I were offering a subscription, instead of saying, "If at anytime you're not happy with your subscription, we'll refund your unused portion," and instead said, "If at any time you're not happy with your subscription, let us know and we'll refund your entire subscription price -- even if you decide to cancel just before the last issue."
Basically you're saying to your prospect that you are so sure that they'll like the subscription, that you are willing to go beyond what is traditionally offered with other subscriptions. This in fact gives the reader the sense that the company really knows it has a winning product and solidly stands behind the product and your satisfaction.
Is this technique effective? You bet. In many tests, I've doubled response -- sometimes by adding just one sentence that conveys a good satisfaction conviction.
I received an e-mail from a company, a subsidiary of eBay, requesting my advice. They had an e-mail solicitation that wasn't drawing the response that they had expected. What was wrong?
Looking over what they had created, I saw several mistakes, many of which would have been avoided if they knew the psychological triggers that cause people to buy. Let me give you just one example.
In the subject line of most e-mails that have solicited me, I have been able to tell, at a glance, that the solicitation was for a specific service or an offer of something that I was clearly able to determine. Examples such as "Reduce your CD and DVD costs 50%," Or "Lose weight quickly," pretty much told me what they were selling. Was this good or bad?
The problem with those subject lines is that the reader was able to quickly determine: 1) that it was an advertisement; and 2) that it was for some specific product or service.
Most people don't like advertising. And most people won't make the effort to open their e-mail solicitation if they think they are getting an advertising message -- unless they are sincerely interested in buying something that the advertisement offers.
The subject line of an e-mail is similar to the headline of a mail order ad, or the copy on an envelope, or the first few minutes of an infomercial. You've got to grab somebody's attention and then get them to take the next step. In the case of the envelope, you want them to open it. In the case of an infomercial, you want them to keep watching, and in the case of an e-mail, you want them open up the e-mail and read your message.
The key, therefore, is to get a person to want to open your message by putting something into the subject area of your e-mail that does not appear to be an advertising message -- one that would compel them to take the next step. And the best trigger to use for this is the trigger of curiosity.
There are a number of ways you can use curiosity to literally force a person to take the next step. You can then use this valuable tool to put a reader in the correct frame of mind to buy what you have to offer.
Once again, all the principles apply to every form of communication -- whether it be advertising, marketing or personal selling. And to know these triggers is the key to more effective communication and most importantly, the avoidance of costly errors that waste time and money.
How to Instantly Double the Response of Any Ad, Letter or Web Promotion
Masters of marketing know a secret that most business people don't. I'm going to share it with you now: You can go from losing money to making money - sometimes, a *lot* of money - just by changing a few words.
What words are those? The first words... in any letter, ad or Web page. The words that make up the headline.
Recently I was speaking to a business group about writing killer copy, and to make my point, I took that day's edition of USA Today and covered up all the headlines on the front page with inch-wide white correction tape. I asked them what was wrong with the newspaper.
"No headlines!" they blurted out, almost all at once.
"Then why," I asked, "do so many of your ads not have headlines?"
It's a fact: We have been conditioned to decide what to read based on the effect a few choice words have on our thoughts and our feelings. With books, it's often the title. With articles in the newspaper, it's the words in a headline. With a magazine on the newsstand, it's the headlines on the cover.
Whether you know it or not, we decide whether or not to read ads, letters and Web pages the same way.
So, if that's the case, how do you write headlines to make people want to read your copy, and get interested in doing business with you?
Make your headline create a vivid picture and/or stimulate a strong feeling.
In your business, many of your conversations are logical and factual. That's the nature of business - and to do otherwise would be considered "unbusinesslike."
However, about the worst thing you can do for your promotion is to have a strictly factual, logical headline at the top of your Web page, letter, ad, flyer or postcard. Oh yes, the headline has to be believable and make sense. And what your headline says has to be supported by logic and facts later in your promotion.
But remember that the purpose of your killer copy headline is to stir the emotions of your prospect in the direction of buying what you have to sell... and to get your prospect interested in reading what comes next in your copy.
Here's an example for a hypothetical product that helps children do better at school.
First, an ineffective headline:
Children who don't do well at school will have many problems later on in their lives
Now, a more effective headline:
"Daddy! Daddy! I got straight A's!" he said proudly. Suddenly my son's future was looking much brighter...
Notice how the first headline states a fact but does not stir emotions in a big way. The second headline, using the same number of words (17), conveys 1) excitement 2) pride 3) hope for the future, and it also creates a beautiful scene in the reader's mind of a happy parent-child situation.
Action: When you are preparing or revising a promotion, take the time you need, or get the help you need, to write a great headline that creates a vivid picture and stimulates strong feelings in the mind of your prospect.
Use headlines that make your prospect instantly understand your most important benefit.
One of my favorite pieces of advertising is a headline (and an old slogan) for a plumbing service. I'm not that big on plumbing, personally - it's the kind of thing you wish would work perfectly all the time so you never have to think about it!
Why, then, am I so fond of an old plumbing headline? Because it's a great example of making your prospect instantly aware of the benefit of your service.
The company is Roto-Rooter.
The headline is as follows:
Call Roto-Rooter - that's the name - And away go troubles, down the drain!
Wow - is that perfection in a couple of lines, or what? You get 1) a call to action 2) company identification and 3) a visual description of the benefit.
That's hard to beat! If you've ever had a stopped-up drain, you know exactly why this would be of benefit to you!
Killer Copy Point: Show your headline to people who are
unfamiliar with your product and company, but who would be good prospects for what you are selling. See how slowly or quickly they understand what you are saying - especially, what would be the benefit to them. Keep rewriting your headline until these people instantly "get it!"
Make your headline pass the "Shortcut Test"
Imagine all you were allowed to do was run your headline plus a toll-free number... as a classified ad. Ask yourself this question: Would it generate inquiries for you in that form?
I'll give you an example from my own business. I'm taking the headline and subheadline from a long-copy print promotion for my product called Killer Copy Tactics:
Money-Making Secrets Every Business Owner Needs
For years, sales copywriting experts have quietly made millions with these little-known secrets. Now you can use this information yourself. Call (000) 000-0000
I used this example for purposes of illustration. Read it again, and ask yourself if these words alone, printed in the right location, wouldn't prompt qualified prospects to call for more information?
Killer Copy Point: Put your headline and subheadline through the Shortcut Test. Make sure that these words alone plus a toll-free number are likely to generate a response from qualified prospects.
The art of writing headlines is a special skill well worth the time and effort it takes to develop. There are many known statistics in direct marketing that bear repeating here:
· Five times as many people read the headline as read the ad or letter.
· Changes in headlines have produced documented increases in sales of 200%, 500% and, in one extreme case, 1,850% more sales!
· It's a good idea to write 15 or 20 headlines for your letter or ad, and use the "leftover" headlines as part of the selling copy itself.
Become a student of headlines and a connoisseur of great headlines. Collect them, think about them, practice writing them. The reward for your efforts will show up every time you get another order or inquiry that you never would have gotten if you didn't make the effort!
The Hypnotic Power of Confusion
"Did you walk to work or carry a lunch?"
Huh?
My father asked me that question more than 25 years ago. I still remember it. Why? Because it's a ridiculous question.
A famous comedian in the 1950s used to ask people, "Got a banana?" The question might make sense if asked in the right situation, but he asked it everywhere. I've forgotten the name of the comedian, but I still recall his question. Why? Because it's strange.
As I write this, I am creating new business cards for myself. I decided to add a confusing line to it. After some fun brainstorming with my girlfriend, I settled on, "Ask me about the monkey."
Why is "Ask me about the monkey?" worth putting on my business card? As with my father's question and the comedian's question, it stops your brain in its tracks. It makes you pause. It makes you focus on ME. The theory is that once you stop someone with a confusing line, you can then implant a hypnotic command right after it.
In other words, if I write something like, "Apples desk fly dirt," and then follow it with, "Read my new ebook," the chances are very high that you are going to want to read my new ebook.
Why? Because the first line jammed your mind, and the second line slipped into your brain while you weren't looking. I've just upped the odds that you will buy my new e-book. And if you don't, of course, it doesn't matter because I never really told you to go buy it. See?
The same thing will happen on my new business cards. Since I'm now known as "The World's First Hypnotic Marketer," I wanted a strange, confusing line on my new card. When someone sees, "Ask me about the monkey," and then asks me about the monkey, I can simply point out that I practice hypnotic selling and I just got them to do what I wanted.
The Japanese practice this "hypnotic confusion," but probably unknowingly. A friend of mine who flew to Japan reported to me that the English phrases on all the Japanese products were bizarre. A tube of toothpaste might say, "Green days you not sing." A box of cookies might say, "Wood above fish."
How can you use this secret right now? Don't be afraid to be confusing. People tend to sort out whatever you say anyway and make sense out of it using their own terms. If you are describing your product in great detail, be willing to toss in something odd. It may increase sales.
If not, swirl up!
3 Killer Secrets for Closing the Sale
"Inherently, each one of us has the substance within to achieve whatever our goals and dreams define. What is missing from each of us is the training, education, knowledge and insight to utilize what we already have." -- Mark Twain
FACT: Selling is the only profession wherein your potential earnings are beyond what 95% of the world's population could ever earn - but only if you know how to close the sale. Selling is a wonderful profession -- but because it is oftentimes difficult to become successful at it, it is also considered one of the toughest professions in the world.
As a salesperson, you need to be thankful that making the sale is so difficult, because if it were easy, the field would be flooded with amateurs -- and the amount of money you could earn would be greatly reduced. Your job is to find ways to make the sales process easier so that you can become one of the highest paid people in your field, if not the world.
The Major Challenge in Selling
Closing the sale is perhaps the most stressful and challenging part of the sales process. This is where the rubber meets the proverbial road.
Hi, I'm Brian Tracy -- and there are secrets I know that can unlock the real firepower that lies dormant in your very own selling skills, and these secrets will change the course of your sales career forever. I'm going to reveal 3 closing secrets that can easily triple your sales in the next 90 days.
You may have heard about me through my high-powered sales seminars attended by approximately 400,000 men and women each year in 23 countries - or perhaps you have come across one of my 16 best-selling books or 300 learning programs.
The 3 killer secrets that I'm about to reveal are excerpts of techniques I've taught to salespeople all over the world, many of whom have gone on to become the biggest money-makers in the sales industry. I guarantee that if you master these lessons and practice them faithfully, you will at least triple your sales within the next 90 days.
Killer Closing Secret #1: The Preference Close
The first technique is the Alternative Close -- also called the Preference Close. It is based on the fact that people like to have choices. They don't like to be given what may sound like an ultimatum to either buy it or not buy it.
To apply this technique, you simply structure your close by saying, "Which of these would you prefer, A or B?"
With the alternative close, whichever one the customer selects, you would have made a sale either way. You should always try to give the customer two choices. Even if you are selling a single product, you can give him two choices with regard to payment, or delivery. For example, "Would you like this delivered to your office or to your home address?" "Will that be MasterCard or Visa?" "Would you like the ATM 26 or the ATM 30?" And so on.
Killer Closing Secret #2: The Secondary Close
The second closing technique is the Secondary Close. This is extremely popular. It is a way of helping a customer make a big decision by having him make a small decision that infers the big decision. Instead of asking the customer to go ahead with the product or service, you ask a question about a peripheral detail, the acceptance of which means that he has decided to buy the larger product.
For example, you could ask, "Would you want this shipped in a wooden crate, or would cardboard be all right?" "Would you like us to include the drapes and rods in the offer?" "Did you want the standard rims or would you like the customized racing rims on your car?"
In each case, if the customer agrees to or chooses the smaller item, he has indirectly said, "yes" to the entire offering. People often find it easier to agree to small details than they do to making a larger commitment. That's why this is sometimes called the Incremental Close, where you get commitment bit by bit to the entire offer.
Killer Closing Secret #3: The Authorization Close
The third closing technique is the Authorization Close, which is often used to conclude multimillion-dollar transactions. At the end of the sales conversation, the salesperson simply asks if the prospect has any questions or concerns that haven't been covered. If the prospect has no further questions or concerns, the salesperson takes out the contract, opens it up to the signature page, places a check mark where the customer has to sign, and pushes it over to him saying, "Well then, if you will just authorize this, we'll get started on it right away." The word "authorize" is better than the word "sign." A check mark is better than an X. Offering to "get started right away" is better than sitting there hoping for the best.
However you do it, be prepared to ask for the order in whichever ways seem appropriate at the moment.
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