DO TESTIMONIALS REALLY WORK? PART II:

By Marilyne Woodsmall

WHEN TO USE THEM AND WHEN NOT…

In our prior discussion, I talked about the Evaluation People Pattern™. This critical Evaluation People Pattern™ determines how an individual makes a judgment. In the context of sales, this pattern reveals how an individual makes a judgment to buy a product or service.

If you remember, there are two types of people when it comes to the Evaluation People Pattern™: Internal People and External People. Individuals who have what we call an Internal Referential Filter don’t want to hear about what other people are saying about a product or a service that they are thinking about purchasing. On the other side of the coin, there are those who have an External Referential Filter. They need to know what other people think before they purchase something. Remember, too, that there are some Internal People who will rely on what another person is saying if that person happens to be a proven expert on the product or service and has accurate information.

It makes a huge difference whether you are selling to someone with an internal pattern or an external pattern. Most Internal People think that the public at large is totally lacking in awareness and taste when it comes to making evaluations or judgments. In fact, our term, the Science of Idiots™ is quite apropos here, since Internal People view External People to be idiots for the most part. The former ask in referring to the latter: How is it possible to be such an idiot as to need another person’s opinion before buying something?

On the other hand, External People can’t imagine how a person can buy anything in life without getting feedback from others. They think that Internal People are idiots for not wanting the opinion of other people.

So what can you do to tailor your sales communication, whether one-on-one or on your site to reach these types of people? First, let us consider External People. If you are dealing with External People there are two viable strategies. One, you can position yourself as their external point of reference. The second strategy is to have people they respect or admire talk about your product.

The first strategy means that you have to be knowledgeable about your product or service as well as be trustworthy. Even sleazy car salesmen types don’t fare well here. Customers are much savvier than you may think and they certainly don’t want or need the traditional hype that has worked in the past in certain niches. The best rule of all is to always come from a place of integrity. In our work professionally modeling top salespeople over the years, my husband and I have always found that the best of the best have integrity and also create trust among their customers. I’ll delve more into this topic in a future article.

The second strategy involves telling your customers what people they respect have to say about what you are selling or providing. This means finding out who those people are for your particular customers.

In brief, with External People:

1. Provide as much information or referral material that you can.

2. Give as many testimonials as possible (more is better than less here)

3. Stress what others think about your product.

4. Have them see and or hear others’ reactions to your product or service.

5. Know that they are easily influenced by others.

Now, with Internal People, the strategy is totally different. With them you want to go out of your way to avoid telling them what other people are saying about your product or service. In fact, an Internal People will think less of you if try to sell your product based on testimonials or based on others’ opinions. They simply will view you as another idiot who has no clue about things.

In brief, with Internal People:

1. Suggest that they have their own internal check regarding the buying decision.

2. Stress that it is up to them and not up to you, as to whether to buy or not.

3. Avoid giving testimonials.

4. Tell them that you know that they are ultimately making the buying decision.

5. Know that telling them what others think is useless and may cost you the sale.

Also, remember that if you are an expert and or have someone else’s expertise to present regarding your product, it may be helpful to the Internal Person and only if the information is from an expert and is relevant.

In summary, it is critical in sales to know what criteria your customers are using when buying anything. This is why it is so important to appeal to both the Internal and External People in your presentation. In this way, you cover all possibilities; and you increase your sales as well as avoid missing half your customers and thus, avoid losing sales.

The Great Computer Wars Part 1 – Options And Procedures

Learn what is going on behind the seen that can impact your bottom line.

The Activity People Pattern from Personality Language ™.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Me, Me, Me

All sales, all persuasion and, in fact, most things in life, depending on one’s values, revolve around one basic question. The question that lies at the basis of all sales and influence is the following:

What’s in it for me?

Most people ask this question subconsciously to one degree or another. Interestingly, it also happens to be a question that many people disregard. (As we shall soon see, this basic question is directly connected to a behavioral pattern that is our motivational trigger which we call the Motivation People Pattern™.) In our everyday interactions with people, whether in sales, in negotiations, or in general life situations, notice how often people do things because there is some benefit to them.
There is a common reframe that people use when it comes to this question and it is that they do things out of so-called “enlightened self-interest.” One cannot really say that this has anything to do with enlightenment anyway, so for all practical purposes, the word “enlightened” with self-interest is basically an oxymoron more than anything else.

The reality is that, in general, people do things that are in their self-interest. The bottom line is that people do things because there is something in it for them. This being the case, there is an important question that arises. It is the following:

If a person doesn’t do things that aren’t in his or her own self-interest, then why should one expect other people to do things that are not in their self-interest?

Let’s take sales. It would be naïve to believe that people will buy things simply because you would like them to do so. If you want customers to buy something, then you have to provide them with something that they want. In fact, all sales and influence boils down to this very point. So, if you want your customers to buy from you then there are two things that you have to do:

1)Figure out from their perspective what it is that they want or need or what they want to avoid.

2)You have to determine what it is that you have which they want and be willing to give it up.

In other words, determine what is in it for your customers from their perspective and not from yours. Remember that you don’t get something for nothing. In order to receive, you have to give something to your customers. This is the golden rule upon which all human interaction is based.

It is amazing how many people in the world continue to believe that they can get something for nothing. They think that by flattering or pleading with people, that these individuals will simply give them things for nothing. If you happen to force someone to give you something without a reciprocal exchange, then the person will feel cheated and may lash out at you with what we call “The Three Dragons”: Remorse, Recrimination and Revenge, each to different degrees.

The essence of sales is to provide your customers with one of two things: either provide them with something that they want or else help them to avoid what they don’t want. The Motivation People Pattern™ reveals this very powerful secret of human behavior. From our previous articles, remember that the Motivation People Pattern™ identifies two different motivational mindsets: 1) move toward and 2) move away from. Either you are going to give your customers something they want (move toward people) or else you are going to help them to avoid something that they don’t want (move away from people).

As we have explained in previous articles, once you know the motivational trigger of your customers, then you will know whether they are move toward in orientation or move away from in orientation. If they are move toward, this means that you offer them carrots, or incentives and things that they want. If they are move away from, then you offer them sticks, or things that they don’t want or offer them things that they want to eliminate or to avoid.

So a knowledge of the Motivation People Pattern™ will enable you to understand and to satisfy the “What’s in it for me?” principle of human behavior of your customers and of anyone for that matter. And the Motivation People Pattern™ is just one of the People Patterns™ that make up what we call “Personality Language”™. It will enable you to cater your sales copy or sales presentation to your respective customers’ motivational triggers, and, thus, increase your sales, as well as create trust, the key to all interaction.

Personality Language ™

Personality Language ™  Insight July, 2009

Real World Communication:

The Power of People PatternsTM and Personality LanguageTM

You are about to enter into a new way of seeing the world and of understanding the nature of true communication.

All of human interaction comes down to one simple question:

How is it possible to be an idiot?

Seriously, answer the question to the best of your ability. There is no one correct answer. We think that people are idiots because they are stupid, crazy, dangerous, mean and vindictive and or they are angry. There is also the possibility that they are here to make our lives miserable and often do.

Think about it. It is a typical human response to think of others who don’t act like us to be idiots. The real reason that we think that people are idiots is because they think differently than we do, they behave differently than we do and they react to situations and to people differently than we do. Furthermore, they value different things than we do.

The truth of the matter lies elsewhere. The real truth is that everyone is, in fact, an idiot. There are actually many kinds of idiots in the world. The real idiots are the ones that don’t realize that they are idiots.

So the key is to find out what kind of idiot you are and then to determine what kind of idiots are around you, whether at the office, at home, or wherever you may be on any given day or in any given situation.

Now, given the fact that we are surrounded by idiots all around the globe in the most unlikely of places, there are several points which you need to understand from the start.

1 Know your outcome: You need to know how you want a person to respond to your communication.
2 Next you need to pay attention to the person to find out if the response that you are getting is the one you want.
3 If it is not the one you want, you have to tailor your communication to the particular People PatternsTM of the person with whom you are communicating.

Remember that it doesn’t have to make sense to you. It just has to make sense to the person or to the people in your given communication exchange. To understand what makes sense to them, you have to understand their combination of People Patterns(tm) which are the basis of what we refer to as Personality LanguageTM.

Once you can present your message in terms of their values and their model of the world, it becomes undeniable.

The bottom line is that you just have to understand how the different types of idiots in the world think and behave. This is what People PatternsTM and Personality LanguageTM will do for you. This knowledge imparts a great deal of power, much more than you realize at this point in time. It is the power to influence and to persuade others in a positive way that leads to the outcome that you desire.

And, if you don’t do this, you won’t get your outcomes. You won’t get people to respond the way you would like them to respond. You will waste a great deal of time, resources and effort in a futile attempt to badger, cajole or force people to do what you want them to do. All this to no avail.

Let’s give you a specific example of how to apply a specific People PatternTM to the sales process. Given today’s tight economy you need an edge that will help to increase your sales and connect to your prospects as well as to your existing customers on whom you should focus more than ever.

Imagine you are selling a car or anything for that matter, and you excited about the features and benefits of your product. You are totally focused on the merits of your incredible car or product and as such, you talk about the amazing features and benefits that you have to offer. Whatever you are selling, you are enamored with the features and benefits of your product instead of focusing on the real triggers in the mind of your prospects that spur them to buying your product.

Loving the benefits of your product is great and certainly comes through in your communication. The problem with this is that you are missing out on half of a given customer base. When you speak about the benefits of your product, you are conveying a message that computes in the minds of approximately 50% of your customers. How can that be?

How is it possible for such idiocy to occur? Well, we are talking about a particular type of idiocy that reflects a person’s motivation to buy or not to buy. In fact, it is the form of idiocy that reveals why people are motivated to do anything if life.

It all comes down to the Motivation People PatternTM. People buy for one of two reasons. People buy either because:

1 they want to have, to get or to obtain something

2 they want to avoid something that they don’t want.

People who buy because they want to have or to get something are called Move Toward people. So in selling them your product, you will want to focus on the benefits and features of the product that provide them with what they want. You will want to tell Move Toward customers how your product will help them. In addition, show your customer or prospect how your product will meet their specific needs.

People who buy things because they want to avoid something that they don’t want are called Move Away From people. In selling to someone with this motivational trigger, you simply don’t talk about the features and benefits of your product. That will go in one ear and out the other. Your message will not make sense to them given this particular People PatternTM. Instead, you have to reassure them that your product or service will help them to avoid or to eliminate what it is that they don’t want. Stress how your product or service will help to minimize hassles.

For example, in selling a car, you would tell them that buying your particular car will help them to avoid breakdowns and potential problems on the road. You would focus on the reliability of your product since it will enable them to avoid lemons and issues that would otherwise come up with other cars.

In general, in selling anything to a Move Away From person, mention that your product doesn’t have the drawbacks that other products have, particularly if they have used them and not happy with them.

The bottom line, then, is to know whether or not your prospect or customer is a Move Toward or Move Away From person. No matter what you are selling, it is critical that you address both types in order to communicate effectively with everyone. If you don’t use the Motivation People PatternTM in your communication, regardless of the form it takes, you will be losing half the customers from the get-go. You will lose them because you will not be speaking to them using their Personality LanguageTM. So you might as well be conversing in a foreign language to them!

In future Newsletters, we will be addressing each of the People PatternsTM in the context of sales and show you how to apply them to increasing your sales and to connecting with your prospects and existing customers. We will also be sharing specific insights about sales which we have acquired in having professionally modeled superior salespeople.

Have fun discovering your own People PatternsTM as well as those of your customers! Learn to speak their respective Personality LanguageTM and watch your sales increase!

BREAKING NEWS: In a few weeks look out for the release of our latest book, Personality LanguageTM, Speak the Right Moves: How to Persuade and Influence Virtually Anyone When it Really Matters. If you want to be ahead in the game and have a seductive Primer on influence and persuasion using Personality LanguageTM, you will want to have this in your library.

“New Study That Was 15 Years In The Making Shows How To Add More Profit To Your Bottom Line No Matter What Type Of Business You Have In No Time Flat…”

1 Would you like to start adding more profit to your bottom line in the next few hours?

2 Do you ever feel like you are surrounded by idiots at times? This is particularly relevant to making a lot more money. Once you see and hear the explanation you will understand why.

3 Would you be surprised to know that what many are calling an “Idiot Repellent” actually has been invented after 15 years of research?

4 Would you like to find out how you can get your hands on this “Idiot Repellent”?

5 And finally, would you like to learn how to be able to persuade and influence virtually anyone when it really matters? (Like when you are trying to sell them your products or services?)

We will email you the first part of the series that you will not find anywhere else.  Unlike much of the outdated information that you have probably received in the past, and which was simply delivered in a shiny new package, the information that you are about to receive will actually teach you many useful and new concepts.

Perhaps the best part is that you will be able to use these concepts right away to start increasing your bottom line.

Personality Language ™ is unlike anything you have heard or seen before and could literally change the way you do business forever.

Idiots need not apply….but then again they won’t by their very nature.

This is an introduction to the basics of The Science Of idiots ™ and how it is going to help you make more sales, increase profits, increase your communications and your overall success not only in business, but with all of your human interactions.

Marilyne also introduces “Personality Language” ™ and why it is so powerful and why there are so many idiots among us. Do you know why there are so many of them? Listen and find out the answer and how you can use this knowledge to your advantage.

You can also download the file as an MP3, just Click Here.

So, are you a Tangible or Intangible?  How about your last customer or client?

The Science Of idiots is truly about being able to understand what people are really saying.

It is a very human trait to label someone that does not understand what we are saying or someone that communicates in a different manner than ourselves as an idiot.

This is especially true when we darn well know that we explained things in what we think are very simple and precise terms.

Well guess what?  What we think is precise and simple more than likely is neither.  Would you like to know why?  You do?  Good!  That is precisely why The Science Of idiots came into being.