Understanding and Applying the Science Behind Decision-making

Do you ever wonder why customers make the decisions they do?

Understanding the science behind decision-making is often the difference between being successful in sales...or not.  When you know how what’s going on inside your customer’s brain when he’s in the process of making a decision, you can actually influence that decision.  

Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman, author of “How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market”, did exhaustive research on the subject of decision-making and put together some eye-opening information. 

Let’s take a look...

According to Zaltman, there are some distinct steps the brain goes through when making a decision.  Objectives are weighed out and then they are classified into their order of importance. A person trying to lose weight on a diet might be trying to decide whether to cheat and have a candy bar.  Consequences are considered. Hum...candy makes you gain weight, not lose it. But, they sure taste good. Maybe a protein bar would be a better choice. Maybe an apple would be even better.  

Then, the process delves even deeper.  The person may embrace some goals of being able to fit back into a favorite pair of jeans or pictures getting on the scales at the next Weight Watchers weigh-in. Or, he might sway over to the other side and begin to justify eating the candy bar. He’s starving and eating it would get rid of the hunger pangs. Since he’s done so well on his diet all week, one little candy bar wouldn’t hurt.  And so the evaluation goes back and forth until a decision is finally reached - one way or the other.

A diabetic might process the situation a little differently.  For him, the consequences of eating a candy bar are more serious.  Should he risk his life for the temporary pleasure a candy bar would bring?  Where a person on a diet might picture an embarrassing weigh-in, the diabetic might envision a trip to the emergency room...or worse.

The same scenario goes on inside your customer’s head when he’s deciding whether to buy your product or not.  The emotionally-driven decision-making system is warring against the rational decision-making side to determine who will ultimately make the call. 

Although the decision-making dilemma is universal, most people aren’t even aware of what’s going on.  That’s because many decisions are reached without much thought at all.

That’s when the automatic system is in charge, saving time and effort in making ‘no brainer’ decisions.  Your customer wants the car. He knows it will make him happy. In fact, he’s sure it will change his entire life because he’ll feel more confident about himself. NOT getting it is simply not an option.  Boom! Decision made without even going to all the trouble of rationalizing and analyzing.

More times than not though, the automatic and reflective systems work together to make a decision.  It’s kind of like the classic “shoulder angel cartoons” where the good angel is sitting on one shoulder and the bad angel is on the other.  Both are giving their orders. “Do it!” “Don’t do it!” “Buy it!” “Don’t buy it!” Finally, one wins out - either the automatic side makes the decision or the brain begins to dig into the information to analyze and reflect before coming to a conclusion.  

When you recognize which route your customer’s brain is taking, you’ll be able to influence him accordingly.  If he’s thinking things through, you can ask if he has questions or concerns and then provides answers for him.  If you sense he’s more in automatic mode, fill his mind with more warm-fuzzy feelings about how good your product will make him feel.  If you are aware of which way he is processing, you can jump in and gently lead him to a beneficial buying decision.

Do Your Detective Work like Sherlock Holmes

Physical reactions can provide valuable clues as to what’s going on inside the mind of your customer when he’s making a decision.  We may note a frown, furrowed eyebrows, or a sigh of relief. His body language may indicate he’s closed-minded because he has his arms tightly crossed.  

Paying attention to unconscious physical reactions can help us figure out what our customers really think or feel because they may not even know themselves.  Plus, even if they do know, it’s been proven that many people aren’t exactly upfront about the reasons behind their decisions.  Why is that? Zaltman says it’s because 95% of all decisions are emotionally ruled.  

Take Chloe, for example.  Chloe is 43 years old. Recently she’s been aware that her age is showing.  It seems like she wakes up with more fine lines and wrinkles every day. The crow’s feet around her eyes are what really gets her.  She also doesn’t like the fact that her husband is two years older than her but never seems to age a bit.  

Chloe has become a little jealous.  It seems her husband is looking less at her these days and more at younger women.  One day she stumbles upon an ad online. “Take 10 years off in 10 short days!” it promises. 

If asked why she purchased the anti-aging kit, Chloe would be quick to say that her decision was based on the fact that the serums and creams were full of nutrients she knew aging skin needed.  They were organic too which was a bonus. There was even a free gift that came with the set and all were on sale for half-price. Chloe would tell you that after reflecting on all the logical benefits, she was sold.

While Chloe did think those facts though, the fact of the matter is that they had little to do with her decision and in fact, she wasn’t even aware of those things at the time her mind was made up to purchase the kit.  She was sold when the ad promised she’d look 10 years younger in 10 short days. She’d have bought the product no matter what it contained. The savvy marketers had appealed to her emotional side then backed it up with ways for her rational side to justify it. 

Knowing...is everything. 

The bottom line is that we have to be in touch with how our customers make their decisions or we’ll never be able to influence them.  That means getting inside their brain, observing their physical reactions, and giving them both emotional and logical reasons to buy.

Creative Neuro-selling Science in Action

If you’re like me, you like to read all you can about subjects that help you, personally and professionally.  I’m enlightened by most authors who write about areas of neuro-selling. But I’m touched by a few that just seem to “get me”. They pick right up on what I’m passionate about and explain those things in a way that goes deep.  Like the saying goes, “Obesess or be average” - I obsess.

David Hoffeld, author of “The Science of Selling”, is one of those authors I gravitate to as you may have noticed. Over the course of his decade of researching and gleaning on what other experts have discovered, Hoffeld puts together some very valuable facts about the brain and decision-making. 

One thing Hoffeld wrote about that really sticks out in my mind is the fact that we make tons of decisions every day.  Therefore, as a defensive mechanism, the automatic system makes most decisions so as not to overuse the reflective side of the brain - as long as no red flags fly up, that is.

The last thing you want as a salesperson is a red flag. There’s a problem though. We all know the importance of creating a sense of urgency when it comes to closing a deal.  Hoffeld warns against this practice though.

When your customer is making a decision, any sense of urgency you place on him may very well create reactance.  Reactance is what happens when you feel your right to choose is being violated - like going on a diet causes you to focus on all the junk food you can’t have.  So what do you obsess about? Cakes, cookies, candy, chips, and things you feel restricted from. That’s why dieting doesn’t work for most people.

The same psychology holds true when a customer feels pressured.  Reactance sets into motion. The sense of urgency you so skillfully implemented has backfired.  Your customer is no longer in the emotionally-based automatic decision-making mode. His brain has switched over to the reflective system and a red flag is up.  In short, you’ve lost your sale.

After showing your client a home, you probably always end the showing with a prompt to get the purchase started.  After all, it’s such a good deal, someone else might buy it.

Although you’re right, they really might, the sense of urgency you are instilling will do one of two things.  It will either do as you’ve intended and caused him to sign the dotted line...or it will send a “danger” signal to his brain. Someone buying a house out from under him can feel threatening.  In addition, he may feel emotionally suffocated by your eagerness.  Suddenly, he’s full of doubt and suspicion. 

A more effective approach would be to create a calm and relaxed, positive atmosphere that brings about happy and pleasant emotions rather than those that cause the brain to sense the need to deep think the decision at hand.  This could be accomplished by emphasizing the family-friendly neighborhood. Talk about the nature park across the street. Bring up the community picnics. The idea is to set a positive, emotionally-based mood that’s conducive to an automatic decision that’s in your favor.

Reducing reactance is imperative. To do this, you’ll want to focus on the fact that he has choices.  That’s why you’ll hear companies say, “We know you have choices and appreciate you choosing us.” Such statements make customers feel safe to make emotionally-based choices.

Even if you only have one product or service, you can still give your customers choices.  You can let them choose how to pay, shipping speed, or offer deals on the purchase of two.  Remember, the object is to set your customer’s mind at ease so he feels comfortable to make the decision to buy.

Giving two choices at the close is another way to reduce reactance at the time of decision-making.  Of course, you can be direct and ask, “Would you like to buy the red...or the blue?” But by now you know that would fire up a myriad of red flags in your customer’s brain. The old fight or flight instinct would kick in and he’d hit the ground running.  But, there are some more effective ways you can close with choices.

“If you purchase your new software today, we can train your team on it Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.”  Not only have you used the word “if” to emphasize the fact you are not pressuring the sale, but you’ve also given them the freedom to choose between two dates. 

With defenses down, your customer can make his decision based on his desire for the product rather than being frozen from the fear of danger.  

The Reactance Theory is nothing new.  It was created by Jack Brehm in 1966. Hoffeld who repurposed the information to help understand decision-making in sales.  

I love to listen to Dan Ariely on TED Talks.  Ariely is a behavioral economist and the author of “Predictably Irrational” as well as a number of other great books.  He’s got a quirky way of teaching that I can relate to. 

One of my favorite Ariely TED Talks is “Are We in Control of Our Own Decisions?”.  In it, he speaks about irrational decision-making. For example, he proves that we are way less in control of our decision-making process than we’d like to think.  “Cognitive illusions” are behind brand and product marketing, he explains. Even though we, as consumers, are very well aware of that fact, we fall for it all the time.  

We know cute babies and adorable puppy dogs sell products.  Still, we tend to buy them. Why? Those products play on our heart-strings and before we know it, we are making an emotional-based buying decision.  

Ariely goes on to say that people don’t know their preferences all that well and that is the reason he believes they are so easily influenced when it comes to decision-making. It’s easier to influence someone who doesn’t know what they want. 

A kid having trouble choosing between a cherry and grape snow cone is likely to pick the cherry one if his friend does.  We are likely to choose products our friends choose too. When you mention the popularity of a product to your customer, your chance of a sale increases. 

We’d all like the think we make rational decisions.  But, on the TED Talk, Ariely clearly proved that we really don’t.  Our decisions are greatly influenced by many things. The good news is that it also means we can greatly influence the decisions of others - just by knowing how.

Ariely went on to say that we can easily see our limitations in the physical realm but not so much so in the mental world.  So, we end up having no clue what all is possible. He believes if we could see how vastly we can change the cognitive capabilities, we could design a better world.  This is especially true in sales where we deal with such things as customers making decisions and the role we can play to influence them. With just a little insight and a gentle nudge here and there, we are more powerful than we dare to dream.

It’s an exciting time in the sales industry.  With great strides being made in neuroscience every day, the sky is indeed the limit to how we can learn to apply it.

As you become more in tune with neuroscience in such subjects as decision-making, hopefully, you’ll find yourself doing the same as I do - digging through books, tuning into podcasts, and checking out every other source available in order to discover new and innovative ways to make the science of decision-making work for you.

-----

How will your sales approach differ now that you know more about the brain’s role in decision-making?

What creative choices can you think of to provide for your customers?