The Psychology of Sales
3 ways to persuade others (part I)

When we are confronted with a new situation and don't know what to expect we often look around for cues that help us figure out how to act.

Psychologists found that these cues influence our decision-making process way more than we might expect. They made an experiment where participants had to spin a wheel to select a number between 0 and 100. After spinning the wheel, the participants were asked “How many African countries are there in the U.N.?" – a question many people wouldn't know the answer to.

Participants who spun a high number gave higher estimates, while those who spun a lower number gave lower estimates. In both cases, the participants took the number they spun as a cue (even though it was a random number) and adjusted it up or down. They used their initial number as an anchor to base their guess on. But why would anyone orientate themselves on a number that has nothing to do with the question itself?

Even though we might not like to think of ourselves as irrational beings, the anchoring effect shows otherwise:

Anchors don't only influence us when we have to take a guess on a question we might not know the answer to. On the contrary: they influence many of our decision-making processes and how we interpret and see things around us.

So how can this be useful for your sales?

How would you approach someone when you want to ask them for a big favour? Simply by asking straight away? Psychologically seen, this is often not the best approach. Using the "foot-in-the-door" technique will be way more powerful and help you get what you want.

The principle behind the foot-in-the-door technique is simple: start by asking someone for something small. Get the foot in the door. If they accept the small request, they will be more likely to agree to the second and bigger request and you can open the door completely.

It sounds almost too easy, so why does it work?

Here is how you can use this technique for your future sales:

The foot-in-the-door principle is a method of "compliance without pressure" and often leads to more positively perceived results than directly asking your prospect for a big favour. And the great thing is: you can always use it without seeming rude or intrusive.

You probably know the feeling of being overwhelmed by too many choices when entering a huge supermarket. The number of options we have nowadays is almost infinite: we can choose between dozens of different types of pasta sauce, jams, yoghurts and often end up buying the same brand as always. There is an endless amount of products we can choose from. But is having many choices necessarily a good thing?

Psychological research shows that more isn't always better. It might sound counterintuitive, but many studies prove that giving people too many options can lead to a decrease in sales. Episerver found that almost 50% of customers have failed to complete a purchase online because they were overwhelmed by too many choices.

You should always pay attention to how many choices you present your customers and help them during the decision-making process:

Find out what's important to your customer with our 66 questions to navigate a sales process and close any sale fast.