I attended a seminar recently that talked about the brain. It was fascinating and helped me understand the inner workings by breaking it down into 3 parts. The primitive brain, the emotional brain and the grey matter.
The guy used a plastic model of a brain rather than dissecting a real one, good job too
Stay with me on this one as this will help you sell and influence. Allow me to explain.
The primitive brain is all about instinct, second nature, gut reactions, just the way we are and operate. Customs, beliefs, values. So the first step in selling something is to appeal to the primitive brain. Here we can create:
- Reciprocity by engaging the instinct to return the favour
- Authority by becoming the known expert and Thought Leader. People follow and believe experts.
- Scarcity, play hard to get, don’t be too attached, make your product or service scarce.
Then we appeal to the emotional brain. As Joe Vitale says in his book “Buying Trances”, people will do anything for you if you:
- Allay their fears
- Help them throw rocks at their enemies
- Confirm their suspicions
- Encourage their dreams
- Justify their failures
Then finally we go to the grey matter, the thinking brain, the logical and rational argument for your product. Cost savings, benefit giving, negotiation.
So there you have brainy influencing, Start with the primitive brain – instinct and gut reactions – then the emotional brain and finally the logical brain and you can be justifiably proud that you are using your brain when influencing and selling.
