Buyer Psychology

 

This article is going to discuss a theory about the mindset of a buyer. If you’re a sales person, you can use this theory to help you gauge the likeliness and time frame a prospect will likely buy. A salesperson looking for a job can use this theory to help them estimate how high their chances of selling a product with a new company is. It will help sales people build rapport by understanding what their prospect is thinking and feeling. Business owners can even use this theory to help them understand how to position their product for the best chance of selling. It’s a theory about buyer psychology and attempts to explain when someone is most likely to make a purchase. Let’s get into the details.

 

The Prospects Current Mindset

 

The prospect is always thinking. They are thinking before you enter their life, and they are thinking after you leave their life. What they are thinking about before you enter their life plays a major role on your ability to make a sale. Their mindset before you enter the picture sets the stage for your interaction with them. Your prospect could fit into one of two categories.

1. They were thinking about buying something before meeting you.
2. They were not thinking about buying anything before meeting you.

Just to clarify, when I say they were thinking about buying something, it could literally be anything. I do not mean that they need to be thinking about buying your product, although this would definitely give you the best chance of completing a sale. However, if they are thinking about buying any product, they are in the mood to buy.

If the prospect was thinking about buying something before you spoke with them, they will be much more likely to make a purchase. This is because they are already in the buying mood / mindset, and their guard for buying is down.

Many people put up an invisible guard around themselves to protect themselves from sales people and marketing. In effect, they basically tune it out or blow it off as quickly as possible. When the commercials come on TV, they run to the kitchen to get a drink. When a sales person knocks on the door and interrupts their movie, they say they are busy. They aren’t in the mood to buy, so they protect their time and wallet.

 

Examples of positioning

 

Examples of sales people that use this knowledge to their benefit might include a sales person that works inside of a retail store. For example, a phone sales person inside of Walmart will be interacting with people that are already shopping. Another example of this would be a salesperson that works in a theme park. Although the people in the park probably don’t realize it, they are being shown stores and they are constantly spending money the entire time at the park. So a sales person at a theme park is more likely to find someone that is already partially in that buyer’s mindset. A third example of this would be a sales person that works for a furniture store. The customer walks into the store because they are in the buyer mindset.

On the other hand, a door to door sales person knocks on the door and interrupts someone watching the Mario Brothers Movie. This person wasn’t expecting to buy anything at all. Maybe a call center sales person calls someone that was in the hospital with their sick grandmother. This prospect is not in the mood to buy. It will be difficult convincing one of these people to buy immediately in these situations.

 

How is This Different Than Cold and Warm Leads?

 

First, let’s define what cold leads and warm leads are. Cold leads are when you are making contact with people that you’ve never spoken to before and they do not know you exist. Warm leads are people that you’ve spoken to before, or they have requested you to contact them. A warm lead is always easier to sell than a cold lead.

In a way, this idea is similar, but there are some differences. The buyer mindset that we are discussing here doesn’t have anything to do with if they know you or not. It has to do with what they were thinking about before talking to you. So a lead being cold or warm does not influence their buyer’s mindset.

 

Why does Buyer Psychology Matter?

 

Let’s approach this from a different perspective for a moment. A buyer’s mind is kind of like an oven. It takes a while for an oven to heat up and be ready to cook. Buyer Psychology is very similar. It takes a little time for the buyer’s mind to warm up to the idea of buying and once it is warmed up, it’s ready to buy. So if the buyer was previously thinking about something else, it will take a little time for them to warm up.

A lot of sales people with short sales cycles expect their customers to be like microwaves. You hit the right buttons and the prospect lights up with an inner fire to buy. This is incorrect, the human mind doesn’t work like a microwave. To get in the mood for anything, it takes time to develop.

 

How to Maximize Sales With This Buyer Psychology Information

 

This information is not supposed to help you sell more. Rather, it is supposed to give you insight into the mind of your prospect to understand why they do what they do. However, you can extract a few pieces of advice from learning about this buyer psychology.

• Positioning is important. If you position yourself in a place where potential customers are already looking to purchase something, you’ll increase your sales.
• Targeting buyers that are in the shopping mood. For example if you’re trying to stop and sell people at a mall, you’ll increase your chances of selling if someone just walked out of a store. You may have a more difficult time selling to someone walking at the mall for exercise.
• Understanding timing. Your prospect may not be in the mood to buy something, but this doesn’t mean that they won’t be in the mood later.
• Give your prospect a little time to shift into the buying mood. Understand that a prospect will take time to shift into the buying mindset and let them do so. For example, if you’re selling cars and your potential customer is ready to buy and have an appointment. You may need to do 2 things with them, test drive, then go over the terms of the contract. Let them test drive first so they can get in the mood to buy.
• This Helps you build rapport by understanding their thoughts and feelings.

 

To Conclude

 

These are some practical ways that you can use this information about buyer psychology. It’s mostly just an idea to help you understand what is going on inside of your prospect. By understanding what your prospect is feeling and thinking, you’ll be able to help them much better. By understanding buyer psychology, you’ll understand what attitude you should have toward them and how you should speak with them. Insight into how they are thinking is a key aspect to selling well. This information is just as important as understanding what a warm and cold lead is. It’s just as important as recognizing body language. Putting all of these pieces together will give you the big picture about buyer psychology which is a big part of getting better at building rapport. It’s difficult to build rapport if you don’t understand anything about them.

 

Resources

 

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