Get Your Prospects High

Hey everyone. It's Robert Poole with Growing Your B2B Small Business podcast. Let me ask you a question. If you could get your prospects to buy your product or service and literally get that feeling of a physical high in the process, so much that they love buying from you, would that be worth something to you? I'm guessing only on days that end in Y. Let's talk about how to do that on demand and consistently.

Do you have a small business that sells to other businesses? If so, you probably know that there are plenty of resources for companies that market to consumers or companies that sell to large and fortune 500 type companies. But what about the small businesses in the middle who sell to other companies? Where do we go to get answers? How do we grow our company consistently while still keeping our sanity? That's the question, and this podcast is the answer. If you're listening to this podcast, you're part of an elite group of achievers who aren't willing to settle for just a nine to five job. You're one of the heroes in our society, and you should be proud of it. Welcome to the tribe and welcome home.

Hey, everyone. I hope you're having a fantastic day today. In the last episode, we talked about how to make sure that you have a great day every day and not let the "bad days" throw you off productivity-wise. Today, I wanted to talk to you about a topic that I personally find very interesting, and that topic is, how do we get our prospects to buy from us consistently and not only buy, but absolutely enjoy the process so much that they literally get a high and walk away feeling fantastic? I mean, hopefully we're all in business to serve our prospects. And if we're not, then we're never going to grow consistently or survive in the long run. And that's just a fact, but it's a topic for another episode.

But just as some background before we get started, a few episodes back, I talked about how emotions are involved in selling and how there's this misconception in B2B that somehow it's all about facts and figures and dollars and cents and return investment and those types of things. While those do matter, what's really going on is emotional sales, just like we were dealing with the consumer. If you don't buy that, go back to listen to that episode and I think you may change your mind.

The idea that sales is always emotional is important for this episode's topic. And even when we think we're making a logical decision, if we dig deep enough, eventually we're going to get to the ... because it feels good, which is emotional. Human's emotions are not only what drives us, but most of the time we don't even know what is happening. And we certainly don't consciously choose to get into a specific emotional state. Again, more on that in the last episode, but I mean, how does this apply to growing our B2B companies and sales and marketing in general?

Well, let me ask that by asking you a question. Have you ever sat in front of a prospect and noticed that they seem to be really excited or enthusiastic about your product or service? They went from being in their normal state to a state of smiling. They are actively engaging with you, they're joking, just giving off that energy or excitement. I mean, I think we've all seen that a few times, at least. And that's the kind of sale we want, right? The problem is that most sales people have no idea why that happens. They think, well, they must like me personally, or they're having a good day or whatever. In fact, the joy that's being displayed was triggered by something, hopefully about you as the salesperson, but it could be whether you realize it or not.

And then on the other end of the spectrum, have you ever sat in front of someone who was either flat affect, uninterested, unengaged, and gave off the vibes and the body language that you weren't getting anywhere and you weren't going to get the sale? I know I've been there plenty of times. And when you see that it, as you know, it's unlikely they're actually going to buy. And again, most of us sit there and think, well, I guess they didn't need a product, or I guess they didn't trust me. They couldn't afford it. And a whole list of other justifications as to why they didn't buy.

But again, in most cases, these are not the real reasons. And I'm not saying that these can be actual obstacles preventing the sale. I'm just saying the vast majority of lost sales are not because of these reasons. So what's the difference between these two situations? Why was the one so easy and pleasurable for the prospect and you, and the other like pulling teeth and painful for both parties? Well, it comes down to one thing: you didn't get your prospect high. I mean, I know that's a bold statement and probably a little flippant, but stick with me for a minute and I'll promise that it'll make sense when I'm talking about it.

As humans, our body chemistry is one of the most influential factors in our actions. We do things because we want to and our brain gives us the drug like high when we're doing something we associate with pleasure. And when I say we want to get our customers high, I mean we want to give them the drugs that all humans crave, and those are the ones that give us pleasure. Before all your PhDs go crazy and correct me that the chemicals causing pleasure in the brain are hormones and not drugs, just relax. Yes, drugs are technically chemicals outside the body that we take into our bodies, that in turn have a hormonal effect on brain chemistry, but I'm just using the term drugs to make a point. Besides that, which is more fun to say, we want to get our customers high on drugs or high on hormones?

So regardless, I think all of us can agree that we want to make our customers feel pleasure during and after the buying process with us. I mean, which one of us want our customers to hate the process, hate us and be irritated when they leave the sale with a bad taste in their mouth? I mean, I guess none of us who actually want sales. What's funny, though, is that just as much as we want to help our customers release the pleasure inducing chemicals in their brain, we need to absolutely avoid those chemicals that do the opposite. That's where we get the situation where the deal is a no brainer for the customer and they still don't buy. I mean, there are several chemicals in the brain that affect our pleasure centers and the areas that are activated in a buying process, which basically means the emotional state the prospect is in.

Can you imagine if you were able to magically trigger the release of these pleasure chemicals in your prospect on demand, anytime you want? I mean, that's about as close to pretty money as you can get. But the question is, can this be done? And if so, how do we do it? Well, the first question, can it be done? The answer is yes. As I talked about a few minutes ago, those instances where the prospect got excited to buy and walked away happy, those were actually triggered either by the salesperson or some other factor that somehow caused the pleasure chemicals in the brain to be released.

And this is not just Robert theorizing. I mean, there's a ton of scientific evidence with studies of the brain and what chemicals affect areas of brain during the buying process. And the effect of these chemicals on our brains is just fact. I mean, you can research it yourself. It's pretty fascinating stuff. Like I said, I find this very interesting. So if we know that it can be done, I mean, of course, the question is how can we trigger those chemicals surges of pleasure related to buying our product or service? Well, first we got to know, obviously, what chemicals we're targeting, how they work, and then we can figure out how to trigger them. We don't have to be experts. We just have to know what they do and where to use them in our marketing and sales process.

There are many hormones that trigger the emotions, but in the realm of sales and marketing, there really are five big ones, in my opinion. Those are dopamine, cortisol, endorphins, serotonin, and oxytocin. Let's talk briefly about each one of them, and how we can use them to help our customers enjoy buying from us. I'm going to give you a very rough definition of each of these, and then we'll see how they fit in the sales process. Again, we're talking about generalizations and putting these things in layman's terms so that all the neuroscientists out there don't get hung up on the technical details, but let's go through them one by one.

First is the most fun one, dopamine. If you're excited to buy that expensive sports car, the feeling you get when you get into the driver's seat and hit the gas and you're tearing down the road, all your senses light up with ecstasy, that's a dopamine rush. It's a literal high we give ourselves to feel pleasure. Dopamine also gives us so much pleasure, it's easy to get addicted to it and we want to dow what stimulated it again and again. I mean, that's why drugs like heroin or cocaine are so addictive because they trigger massive amounts of dopamine release. Dopamine is the feel good chemical. We definitely want to give our prospects access to this drug.

And the next one is a little bit of a downer. It's not as exciting as dopamine, but cortisol. We produce this chemical when we're feeling stress or fear. It's release often results in shutting down the rational side of our brain and making us act on impulse. It seems like a negative and not really affecting the pleasures centers of the brain like we're talking about, like dopamine, but if we can link resolving this stress or this fear that they have due to cortisol to our solution, it turns out to be a pleasurable thing. So it's a negative that's actually a positive. You can stimulate it by speaking about the main problem or the main pain the prospect is experiencing that your solution targets.

Next, endorphins. Endorphins counterbalance the cortisol. They stop us from feeling pain or discomfort. If you've heard of the runner's high, that's exactly what that is. The runner's high is that release of endorphins brought on by exercise, that feeling that helps us overcome pain and the stress and the fear that cortisol triggers.

And then second to last, serotonin. Serotonin is known as the happy drug. And this is the chemical in our brains that gives us those overall feelings of happiness, makes us feel calmer or less anxious, maybe more focused. This is the chemical that is affected by anti-depressants like Prozac.

And then lastly, oxytocin. Oxytocin is often known as the love or cuddle drug. It's generally released when we're in situations where you feel a connection with somebody, we're physically touching them even in a non-sexual way. It's a social high that gives us a feeling of safety, and it also creates the need for reciprocation with others when it's being released.

So nice science lesson, Robert, but besides cocktail party trivia, how's that knowledge going to help us sell more and grow our companies? Well, like most marketing and sales topics, as you know, if you listen to this podcast, I like to frame the buying process in terms of the old hook, story, close. I mean, a lot of people don't understand. There's a difference between sales and marketing. And as I mentioned, I did a whole episode on it a while back, but the gist of it is this, though. Marketing is primarily where you're trying to get the prospect a reason to listen to you, and then helping them change their old beliefs with new ones that are more friendly to your product or your service. Sales is the act of closing, asking for the sale, and then giving the prospect a reason to act now, and giving them logical justifications to pull the trigger on the sale.

Where do these chemicals come into play in that marketing and sales process, and how do we trigger them on demand? Well, let's look at it from a hook, story, close perspective. Your number one hook, which is ... comes down to it, it's dopamine. I mean, what is a hook? It's something that stops you in your tracks and makes you pay attention. I mean, what feeling do you get from a good hook? It's a dopamine rush. So we need to hook them with something that brings pleasure, because maybe it's clever, it's funny, it's unique. It's something that our brain says, Hey, what's that all about? And then it looks forward to and gets a reward for figuring it out. Oh, well, they were maybe talking about this. Your brain literally gives you a pat on the back since you figured out what it is. Good boy.

And then stage two, the story. That's where cortisol and endorphins come in, the good story components. We'll have a character you can relate to, the problem they were having, how they used your product or service to solve that problem. And then how they felt afterwards. I mean, we point out the pain and the stress of the problem in the story, which just generates some cortisol release, the problems that the character in the story is having. And then we show the solution in action during the story, those endorphins that kill off the pain of the problem. They reduce the cortisol and let the dopamine keep pumping. And then the prospect feels better that everything's going to be okay.

And then finally, the closing stage and that's where serotonin and oxytocin come in. A big part of the close phase is providing logical reasons so the prospect can justify what they're emotionally feeling. Serotonin can account for us literally being ... we're happy with ourselves for making a good purchase or solving the problem. It's as simple as a sense of accomplishment that I handled that problem. The problem no longer exists, cortisol goes dow.

And then, as far as oxytocin, when we've broken through that trust barrier, and they feel more connected to you or your company, to the salesperson, other people at the company, or even being part of a customer group, that starts to get released. And they feel that connection. That's where the identity shift comes in, where they start to identify themselves as a person who does use your product and who's like other customers and have that connection. And of course, you've got the final thing. You've got the reasons to act, the urgency and scarcity and the fear of loss. What we're trying to do is reduce the cortisol levels again. And we give them a dopamine hit by letting them take action.

And again, that oxytocin comes in play because it's peer scarcity, basically other people want it. It was an interesting article I read and, unfortunately, I didn't write down the author's name. But they talked about a study, how they're finding out that people are not as interested in testimonials of, Hey, I bought this and it's great, but they're more interested in, hey, other people really like this. There were 300 likes for this particular product, or there's a high demand for this product. And that's what seems to release that oxytocin. And people want to be part of that group that agree with what their peers are doing. I'm fascinated by the way the brain works.

I mean, this sounds like a lot, but it's actually not that complicated. And first, let's look at our marketing, including our advertising, our sales messages and any kind of scripts we use. We just need to look at them in terms of these chemicals and make sure that we're trying to elicit them, and at the right time. For instance, if we're trying to hook somebody, I mean, you generally don't want to scare people off with things that stress them out. It's the old, easier to attract bees with honey than vinegar. We don't use a hook that's going to cause stress and fear without an obvious solution, an endorphin hit at the same time, to counterbalance it. So we want to build or evacuate a marketing or sales process for our service example.

I mean, it doesn't matter if this is an online advertisement, and in-person sales presentation, a sales funnel or whatever. The structure is always the same. I mean, so what do we do specifically and how do we take these chemicals into account? Again, let's look at the hook. What kind of hook can we use to get their attention? That's going to give them some kind of pleasure feeling, so, i,e, dopamine. Is there an ad with a funny picture? Is it a headline that makes them say, huh, or what? And then get that dopamine rush after the excitement in their brain of finding out what to behind the strange headline?It's opening on mini story that gives the prospect some entertainment, makes them laugh, builds up some kind of anticipation to a reward.

The better the headline, the intro or the hook, the more dopamine gets released. So it's something we want to spend a lot of time on, and sometimes you just need to test it to figure out which gets better results. And then, right into the story, what kind of story do we need to tell to enlist cortisol and endorphins, and maybe some oxytocin in there, too? I mean, the story needs to involve a character, a prospect that we can relate to, oxytocin again. We need to create some stress, which is that release of cortisol in the form of a problem that your solution solves, and that the character experiences the same kind of stress that the prospect would have. And then it also needs to have a solution that kills the pain of a stressful problem, i.e, the endorphin release. And then last stage, close, and we provide logical reasons to buy. It's a good money value for the money, serotonin.

I'm going to enjoy this dopamine. My peers are going to give me kudos, oxytocin, and serotonin. I'll feel like I've solved a problem, serotonin. Urgency and fear of loss, if I don't buy now, stress and fear, cortisol release, I'm in trouble. But if I buy, endorphins, they fix the potential pain, scarcity. Everyone else wants to be like this or others like it. I want to be part of the group and connect, oxytocin. I like the salesperson, oxytocin.

So again, you think through this process, if we do it in all of our marketing and sales processes, it may seem like work. And yes, it is work. I mean, there are free lunches in this world and they're usually not worth what you paid for them. If you want results, you got to work at it and this takes some time. But if you start with the hook, story, close model, stimulating these five drugs becomes easier each time you do it, and you just have to practice a little bit. Nothing's perfect, but if this strategy worked 25% of the time or if it worked 40% or 75% of the time, would that be worth the effort to put into this? To close that many more sales and increase our revenue? I mean, I know it is at our company.

So let's give our prospects what they really want. I mean, they don't want our product or our service. They want the drugs the process releases, and hopefully our product releases after they buy it. We're all addicts of these brain chemicals, and if it's all natural and used correctly, they're good for us. So don't be stingy, help your prospects get that fix that they really want. That's all I have for today, and I'll talk to you soon.

Thanks for listening today. I know your time's valuable and it's really an honor to serve you. And if you found this content useful, I'd really appreciate it if you could rate the podcast on iTunes and leave a review with your honest feedback, whether it's good or bad. Also, if you're interested in growing your B2B business through direct contact marketing like we do, please call my office at sales [inaudible 00:17:14] and speak to one of our sales representatives. We can chat for a few minutes about your business and what you need most to grow your business, even if it's not our services.

And, as a side note, if you listen to this podcast regularly, you probably know that I have a little pet peeve about using fancy words to talk in code, so to speak. So we're not going to do a quote "discovery call" or a quote "strategy call." Just a quick question and answer call. And yes, if we think you're a candidate for our service, we'll try to sell you. But we're not going to hide behind fancy corporate news, because we know you're smart enough to see through that. We believe in telling the truth and even if it's not what people want to hear. That said, give us a call at (480) 401-1926 if you're interested in talking about how to grow your business and have your best year ever.

Resources Mentioned: 

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