Influence Techniques in Sales and Proposals

Emotions over rationality?

It is repeated like a mantra that the client does not buy a product or service, but the benefits they can achieve through them. When solving a significant problem is at stake, or buying the product means meeting their expectations, the price fades into the background. Emotions take over, along with the pursuit of the best possible buying experience. Marketing strategies are moving away from the assumption that before deciding to buy, the client will first analyze everything carefully, run the numbers and compare with other offers available on the market.

The above has its source in behavioral economics. It is based on a departure from rationalism in favor of emotions as the deciding factor in purchase decisions. And though you might think the theory does not apply in B2B, its assumptions hold in relationships between companies too - after all, even the biggest corporations are made up of individual people.

You can read more about emotions in sales in our earlier post.

Factors influencing client behavior

To better understand your clients' decisions and needs, besides emotions it is worth considering the following factors:

Experience. Clients undoubtedly have excellent memory, and if your product or service lets them down once, they will certainly not want to pay for a repeat of a disappointing experience. The first impression is especially crucial. A crowded market does not favor client loyalty - try to stand out, present yourself positively and provide service at the highest level. You can be sure they will come back, and not alone.

Culture. A very important factor shaping the way clients make decisions. Although every person is an individual with their own views, those views are filtered through the culture they grew up in. This should especially interest everyone selling on international markets. A resident of a technology capital will react to an offer differently than someone living in less modern regions - all because of different needs. For sales success, you must account for the specifics of the regions your clients come from and adapt your way of selling to them.

Trends. Hard to predict accurately, with a powerful ability to influence clients. Continuous market monitoring is enormously important - it lets you prepare better for coming changes that may prove decisive for your business.

Age. It determines the client's needs and preferred way of communicating. In B2B you sell to companies, but companies are made of people. A middle-aged person will have a different business approach than a representative of the millennial generation. It is up to you to define the right target group and match the sales process to their needs and preferences.

Personality. It decides the way a person thinks and behaves. In business matters, it influences the decision-making style, among other things. Every client is different. That is why getting to know them in detail and abandoning generalizations is so important. To influence a client's behavior, you must first know it well and understand where it comes from.

Robert Cialdini's methods of influence

Robert Cialdini's book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is an absolute classic that everyone professionally involved in sales should know. The 6 methods of influence it describes will be extremely helpful in honing any salesperson's skills.

1. Reciprocity. As it says, we should always repay the party that did us a favor. We feel obliged to, because we do not want to come across as freeloaders exploiting others.

How to use the method in sales: offer free product samples, offer a free trial period for using the service - the client, feeling you gave them something of yourself, will be far more inclined to work with you.

2. Commitment and consistency. Once we make a decision on something, we feel obliged to keep our word. We want to come across as consistent and credible - both to others and to ourselves.

How to use the method in sales: offer a free subscription or the possibility of testing your product or service for a set time without any fees.

3. Social proof. The principle by which, when deciding what to do, we rely on the choices of other people.

How to use the method in sales: present references from your previous clients in your proposal - their positive opinions will be real proof of the benefits of working with you. Also emphasize how many people have decided to work with you.

4. Liking. We are much more willing to fulfill requests from people we like and feel close to.

How to use the method in sales: personalize your communication with the client - direct yet distinctive messages will make you more memorable and build a certain bond. That will make them more willing to work with you.

5. Authority. The inclination to make decisions comes from yielding to the influence of authority.

How to use the method in sales: name the respected market players you have worked with. If your offer met the requirements of the biggest in the industry, it must be high quality and worth using. Do you hold certificates or industry awards? Show them off - it will also boost your credibility.

6. Scarcity, according to which we assign greater value to what is rare, limited and available to the chosen few.

How to use the method in sales: limited offers, time-limited deals or ones with a set number of spots prove particularly attention-grabbing. Limited availability speeds up purchase decisions, especially when the offer lasts today only or for just 2 hours.

Tips for effectively influencing clients' purchase decisions

• To influence a client's behavior, you must first know it well. Determine what your product or service means to the client and how they use it. With that knowledge, you can suggest new ways of using it.

• Using social proof will be a good idea especially for companies just launching their product or service. At this stage they have not yet earned the client loyalty that motivates purchases.

• Encourage the client to act with rewards. Offer a discount for signing up to the newsletter, or throw in something extra with a purchase.

• Measure the client's experience. Using metrics will let you determine the effectiveness of your actions and adjust them to influence your clients as well as possible.

• Show the client you want to do more for them than just sell. Do not treat them as a chance to earn - approach the closed deal as an opportunity to solve someone's problems. Give advice and tips, and make the client feel important to you and heard.

• Personalize the messages you address to your clients. They will feel important to you, which will make them want to stay with you longer. When you appreciate their presence, they will repay you with loyalty. A professional approach to customer service can also bring you plenty of positive publicity.

• Do not ignore clients on social media. Reply to their messages and react to activity around your brand. Show you are at their disposal in the places convenient for them - it will confirm their belief that working with you was the right decision.

• Maintain regular communication with the client from the very beginning of your cooperation. Regularly ask for opinions about your work. Knowing what needs improvement, you will answer the client's needs better, and they will feel valuable to you, because you listen to what they say and put their suggestions into practice.

How to use influence techniques in a proposal?

1. When creating a proposal, make sure you understand the client's needs and expectations well. Emphasize that it was created especially for them. Otherwise, the client will not want to waste time reviewing a proposal that does not match their requirements.

2. Speak to the client in benefit language. Do not focus solely on the features and advantages of your product or service - emphasize the benefits the client will achieve by working with you.

3. Give up arguing the case for your offer with dry data. The proposal will be much easier for the client to absorb if you use storytelling tricks. Tell a story - during a product or service presentation, 63% of people remember its story and only 5% the statistics.

4. Highlight the satisfaction of your existing clients. Include their references in the proposal - they will effectively raise your credibility. It is worth it: as many as 84% of B2B buyers decide to purchase thanks to referrals from previous clients.

5. Mark the limited character of the offer. Special deals lasting a set time or a limited number of available units will motivate your clients to decide faster.