Psychology of Sales is a big part of the business world these days. Everyone from big corporations to Mom and Pop shops are realizing the importance of psychology in the workplace. In fact, many companies have entire sales departments who are solely dedicated to the study of sales psychology. So why is the psychology of sales so important? In this article, we'll take a look at some of the key benefits that come from understanding this field.
According to psychology experts like Brian Tracy and David Norton, there are three main reasons why psychology of sales works: reciprocity, expectation and social proof. Psychology of sales pros explain that one of the biggest factors that drives people to buy is reciprocity. When you have something that you need or want, whether it's a product you've purchased yourself or someone else's, you naturally want to give it back.
Reciprocity is rooted in human nature. You may remember hearing about the Three Little Pigs that sitting in an apple cart and won every time against all odds. The story goes that a young woman left one of them, picked up a carton of apples and tried to sell it to a merchant. None of the Three Little Pigs sold a single carton, but the merchant kept them as a keepsake. This is why we refer to stories like the Three Little Pigs.
Expectation also plays a large role in the psychology of sales psychology. When people anticipate that they will be getting something of value in exchange for their time and money - even if it's just a little something - they're significantly more willing to enter into a sales process. A simple experiment that psychology professionals like Tracy routinely perform involves having participants play a game of Monopoly in which they have a limited amount of property. Tracy then makes promises to give away tickets to their winner if they reach a specific threshold. People who are already very motivated to win will often jump at the chance to win tickets, no matter how small the offer might seem.
The power of scarcity is also a major part of the psychology of sales. The scarcity principle states that something like a discount or a freebie will only be offered to people who are in limited supply. If there is a lot of competition for something like this, there will be only a limited amount of people who are actually going to be able to avail of it. This principle underlies the "limited time and limited space" mentality that many salespeople subscribe to.
In addition to scarcity, psychology experts look to the other major component of psychology: social proof. Social proof refers to the principle that if a group behaves in a certain manner, then other people will likely behave the same way. For example, if you meet someone who is friendly and talkative and she instantly follows you up to tell you her story, then she has developed social proof that you will follow her.
