All of the buying decisions we make are emotionally charged.
And I’m not just talking about the big stuff either. It can be anything.
Take the chocolate bar I had with my lunch.
Dairy Milk’s just wasn’t going to cut it. Today felt like a Kit Kat day; the one with the peanut butter in it. I couldn’t say why, it just felt right.
The same, of course, is true of the business buying decisions we make. Only more so.
Whilst choosing the wrong snack could lead to short-term disappointment, choosing the wrong Accounting, IT or Legal supplier is likely to make you feel a whole lot worse.
So when you make the decision, it can’t feel kind of right. It’s got to feel really right.
The Secret Ingredient
You already know what it is.
It’s why you put so much effort into the look and feel of your website.
It’s why you dress appropriately for new business meetings and why you want your prospects to talk to your happy and satisfied customers.
You’re aiming to add the secret ingredient to success – CERTAINTY.
You know that if someone is going to buy from you, they have to feel confident that you are the right people to work with.
The better they feel, the more likely you are to get the job.
Certainty is the reason why people gravitate towards established brands. It’s why they check out Trip Advisor before they choose a hotel and it’s why they head straight for your client list and testimonial pages when they arrive at your website.
They want to feel sure that they are making the right decision.
The problem is the rest of your website. When you focus on trying to communicate how cool your products and services are, you completely neglect to include confidence creating elements into your copy.
It’s all features and benefits, technical information and jargon heavy script.
They’re the reasons why you think people should buy your stuff and have nothing to do with what your customers really want.
While features and benefits may penetrate on a logical level they don’t touch the emotional depths needed to create attraction.
If you’re going to start creating the trust and credibility needed to get the sale you need to get personal. And if you want to get personal, there are a number of things that you should think about injecting into your website:
Personality
Remember, people buy from people they like and the people they like most are people like themselves. So it’s important that your content has personality and that personality in some way reflects the people that you are selling to.
Authenticity
Of course you want to sell your stuff and your prospect is under no illusion that this is what you want to do. But they also want to feel that your heart is in the right place and that you do what you do because you genuinely want to help them.
Help them to understand why you do what you do. Help them to share in your passion and excitement for the work ahead.
Commonality
It’s not enough that you have experience in their sector. Your prospects want to know that you understand the problems they are facing, that you have dealt with them in the past and that you have achieved significant results.
Clarity
The problem with PR people (I’m not singling them out, it’s just that I am one, so I know how it is) is that they think that everybody can speak their language. They believe that everyone has their knowledge and sees the world as they do.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It is essential that whomever you sell to, that you communicate in their language and reserve jargon for your chats round the water cooler.
Reality
We live in a world where sensationalism and giant claims are the norm. Grounding your content in reality is essential. You will lose your prospects very quickly if you are unable to back up the claims that you make.
Leave the spin and grand standing to the politicians.