Want to increase your booking rate and work with dream clients? You may be missing out on one powerful part of sales! Before we dive into why emotional selling is so important to infuse into your process, let’s break down the two ways people make decisions when buying.

Logic vs Emotion

To be clear, people almost never make buying decisions from a place of pure logic or pure emotion. It’s typically a combination of the two. That said, emotions are often the catalyst of how we get swept up and make a purchasing decision. On the other hand, logic is how we justify the decision and avoid buyer’s remorse.

So when approaching any sale with a potential client, try to balance both by listening to what they really need (logic) and what they desire (emotion).

Emotions Forge Connection

Want your potential clients to compare you apples to apples with another service provider? Probably not, but if you don’t build a connection with them, you become very replaceable. Know what creates connection? Shared experiences and vulnerability, which can only be discovered by getting to know each other. This can start in an inquiry form or a consult call, but it needs to happen.

Emotions Are Memorable

Did you know (according to psychologist Jerome Bruner) people are 22x more likely to remember information if it’s wrapped up in a story? As humans, we are wired for connection and throughout history, stories have brought us together. Literally, the word history is his story. I rest my case.

But really… Imagine you’re meeting with 3 different wedding planners for your big day. The first two listen and pair you with whatever package they think is best for you based on how busy you are (logic). The third spends time to get to know you and your family dynamic. In conversation, you mention how you love your mother-in-law, but she can sometimes be overbearing. This third planner says it reminds her of a bride she recently had who had the same issue. She shares a story of how she had to distract a mother-in-law who tried to turn family formals into her own personal photo session so the bride could get back to enjoying her day.

Even if all three of the planners told you they’d love to advocate for you to have the best day, you’re going to remember the last one as the most qualified to do so because she told you that memorable story that showed she listened to your concerns. And in the process, she also likely built a connection with you because she revealed a bit more about her personality.

Emotional Selling Techniques

So how do you actually do this outside of telling almost too-perfect stories in response to their fears (which to be fair, can come across as salesy if you do it for each thing)?

Don’t Skip the Small Talk

Take time getting to know them outside of what you offer. People buy from people, not companies. Finding common ground and getting to know one another is the fast track to building trust.

Not to mention, by getting to know them better as people, you’ll be able to serve them better as clients. You’ll be able to get a handle on their personality and what may truly matter to them in regards to your service… even if they can’t see it yet!

Dream With Them

Help them envision what it would look like to work with you by painting a picture for them (built on their unique needs and desires). Again, this can be a combination of logic and emotion, but emotion will make you memorable and build the desire to work with you specifically.

Let’s say you’re doing an estimate for a historical home repaint. You may tell them they have flaking lead paint. And follow it up by communicating it could be a hazard to pets and how moisture exposure can cause wood rot. Both are fair points and something they may need to be educated on, but all this does is convince them they need to paint.

On the flip side, if you spend time learning about their family and how much love they have for the house, you’ll be able to dream with them in a way that gets them excited. Maybe they’ve always wanted to paint their front door bright blue because their son studied abroad in Peru where he learned their belief that it keeps evil away! Maybe you’ll then be able to get them excited about a complementary trim color.

All of a sudden, they go from knowing they need to paint to feeling like they need to hire you to do it because you get them and their vision! You care about them and what’s important to them. That is the power of emotional selling and it comes naturally with a service-based approach.

Emotional Selling is Serving

Who can you make better recommendations to? Your best friend who you know backward and forward? Or a stranger you just met off the street? Simply put, you can serve prospective clients better if you spend the time to get to know them and tap into their emotions! Are you ready to dream with them?

I’d love to get to know you better so I can give you personalized recommendations to improve your conversions from lead to client! All you have to do is take this 6-question quiz (which takes less than a minute) and you’ll get a custom peek into why you’re losing potential clients to competitors!