Arouse Emotions, Don't Sell Logic

by Tom Hopkins


What is the emotional process that leads to a purchase? It begins with a new development in the buyers' self-image. That is, the buyers see themselves in a new way — as the owner of your product or service and all the status it affords them.



If the projected purchase is small in relation to the buyer’s income, the self-image change need only be small. But if the purchase is a large one, the change in self-image that makes the purchase possible will be large. Such a change can come about very quickly. It can take place within a few minutes, or even within a few seconds.



Champion salespeople are adept at spotting these changes in self-image as they occur during sales presentations. They are quick to reinforce the buyers’ realization that they can have, enjoy, deserve, need, and are worthy of the marvelous new goodie they like. Do that, and they won’t just like your product; they’ll want it, need it, and realize they can’t get along without it — then they’ll buy it.



First, be genuinely interested in doing your best for them. Once they see that you’re on their side, they’ll begin to like you and trust you. Then, they will tell you what they’re seeking to accomplish. Make an intense effort to see the world through your client’s eyes.



Second, use your expertise to guide your clients to the best solution your inventory provides them.



Third, wait for positive stimulus. If they’ve found something that helps them achieve whatever effect they want, reinforce their image about that purchase.



The key is to be disciplined to wait for positive input. Unless you do that, you’ll find yourself puffing something they don’t like, and before you know it, you’re caught in a web of obvious insincerity.

The mere fact that you’re a salesperson will arouse their negative emotions and they’ll have a tendency to fight you. Your future clients are either emotionally for you or against you — and you can divide your chances of selling them by a hundred if they’re against you.


To get a thorough education on the emotions that sell, sit down with your children and study the TV commercials they watch. You’ll see advertising that goes straight for the emotions.

You see, logic in sales, is a gun without a trigger. You can twirl it all you want, but you can’t fire it.

Emotion has a trigger. You can hit the target with it. Every time you generate a positive emotion, you're pulling the trigger on another accurate shot at closing the sale.

No skill that you can acquire in sales will enhance your earning power more than learning how to arouse emotions in your buyers in ways that are positive to the sale. The exact words that you use will depend on your offering, your personality, your buyers, and market conditions.

Positive emotions trigger sales; negative emotions destroy sales. As you work at developing the skills to evoke emotions in your clients, always keep that concept in mind. You can destroy sales as rapidly as you can create them through the clumsy use of, or the lack of control over, the emotional setting. Also remember that your actions, manners, words (how you say them), your grooming, and your clothes are all things that trigger emotions in your future clients — whether you want them to or not.



People will react emotionally to you. It is important not to have them react with fear, anger, or disgust. To see some salespeople approach clients as though they had just fallen off the garbage truck, you’d swear that they don’t realize that future clients have feelings, too. Clients suffer the effects of fear when a salesperson comes on too strong; clients get angry when a salesperson patronizes them; clients feel disgust when a salesperson is non-professional. Play the odds. Always be professional when meeting new people. Do that and you’ll close more sales.