Why You Need Emotion to Close Sales

Luke Acree

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Customers are convinced by logic, but they buy based on emotion.

You can use reason to overcome every objection your prospect has, only to find that they still won’t close. That’s because people need an emotional push before they’re ready to commit to a major purchase.

People who sell cars know this. That is why, once you’ve told them what kind of car you’re interested in, the first thing they do is have you take that car out for a test drive. They do this so you establish an emotional connection with the car before the two of you start talking numbers.

I’m an avid musician, and I have been since I was 11 years old. I remember an experience where I went to buy a keyboard. After trying out a few different models, I knew for sure which one I liked best. But even though I knew, logically, how much I wanted that particular keyboard, I somehow couldn’t bring myself to swipe my card. The reason for my hesitation was that I had an irrational fear: the fear that I was making the wrong choice. Maybe there was a better deal or better keyboard out there for me.

If you’re in real estate, you’re going to come in contact with buyers who may act irrational during the negotiation, during the offer stage, and again after the inspection—wanting things to be fixed before the closing that maybe won’t be fixed. All of this is driven by the fear that they’re going to make the wrong decision.

When you’re working with a client who just won’t let go of irrational fear, here’s what you need to do.

Acknowledge the logic

As I mentioned earlier, logic gets people to the table. You need to convince your prospect that you’re offering value. Position what you sell as the key to something they want or the solution to a problem they’re experiencing. Once the value of your product is given, you can move on to the next step.

Build camaraderie

Even if you think your prospect’s fear is irrational, in their mind, that fear is legitimate. Rather than trying to simply brush their concerns aside, acknowledge their emotions instead. Tell them how you’ve been there, too, or have had a client who felt the same way. Then, when your prospect feels understood, you can challenge them to overcome their fears.

Make the emotional appeal

When we’re trying to close a deal here at ReminderMedia, we understand that it takes an emotional appeal to cross the finish line. We can tout our sales, our testimonials, and our high customer satisfaction rating on Facebook. But, ultimately, all our prospective customers really care about is whether we’re going to help them grow their business.

We ask for 2% of their trust, so that we can build the other 98%.

When you’re facing hesitation from a prospect, emphasize the bottom line: what you can do for them, and how you’re going to do it. Acknowledge their hesitation, then ask them to take that leap of faith with you.

At the end of the day, we’re all emotional beings. Contrary to popular belief that making decisions is some cold, logical process, research has suggested there’s a major link between the emotional parts of our brains and the choices we end up making.

That connection is why you need to appeal to emotion—to inform people’s decisions and trigger action. Use your passion and your energy to get that reluctant prospect to commit. Then, once you’ve won them over, you can make good on delivering the great service you’ve promised.

Written by Luke Acree

Luke Acree, President of ReminderMedia, is a sales fanatic, a marketing evangelist, and an expert team builder. Luke has worked with tens of thousands of agents over the years, helping them understand how to connect with their client database in a way that generates leads, secures repeat clients, and captures referrals.