Have you ever wondered why consumers can’t come to an easy decision and you can’t easily close a deal?
You may have done the research – given them the facts, the figures and told them “logically” why you are the best of the best. Most companies are conditioned to reason with clients through very rational terms that include a surplus of hard numbers and data…especially when trying to close a deal. This is a dangerous trap and if left unnoticed, it could be costing you customers.
Nowhere is this trap more evident than in proposals – but it arises in countless other places, like your homepage and social media.
Everyone knows the easiest thing to talk about is yourself. This is evident in most home pages, proposals and other marketing material that make a first impression that is all about the people who made them, rather than the people they are written for – clients!
If you find yourself spinning in this hamster wheel of numbers, tables and graphs that state why you’re the best, you’re not speaking your client’s language. You’re appealing too much too their ‘logos’ and ignoring the part of the brain responsible for making decisions – the part where emotions are processed. This part of the brain is called the limbic system and it is responsible for all human behavior and all decision-making. People can understand all of the features, figures and facts – but that’s not what will effectively drive behavior. It’s only once people have this initial emotional trigger that they can process it using the facts.
So it’s time to start thinking less about the ‘logos’ and more about the ‘ethos.’ To do this, you need to think long and hard about why you do what you do. If you don’t know what you do, how will you convince someone else to do it too? If you talk about what you believe, using emotionally charged words, you will attract people who believe what you believe. Those are the people you build trust with, who become your loyal consumers.
The golden circle
The third most watched TED video of all time is a talk with Simon Sinek, where he reveals his revolutionary theory of “the golden circle.” It was an extremely simple concept explained with three circles – why, how and what. The “why” is the middle circle and “how” and “what” are surrounding.
He explained that, “all of the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world…all think, act and communicate in the exact same way and it’s the complete opposite of everyone else.”
The theory states that most organizations start with the easiest concept – the “what.” This is our logos kicking in, or our need to define and defend our product using numbers and facts. He says that the most inspiring organizations start from the inside out, defining their “why” first.
“The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have – the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe,” he says.
So it is worth taking the time to consider your reason for getting out of bed in the morning. Once you can convince your client of that – you’ll gain their trust and their business.