The New Science of Sales and Marketing Persuasion

Putting Persuasion Science into Practice

For Sales & Marketing Messaging

By: Adrian O'Gara

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I see too many companies with confusing messaging, value propositions with no clear value and unique selling points that aren't unique.

So I spoke with Dr Christophe Morin about the 30 years of scientific research and development found in his book 'The Persuasion Code',  and how sales and marketing can deliver more unique and persuasive messages with real value.
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Here’s our Q&A:
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Q: What is persuasion science? 
A: In short, it’s understanding and predicting buyer behavior using neuroscience. Most attempts to persuade are doomed to fail because the brains of your buyers automatically reject messages that disrupt their attention. So you have to stop confusing buyers and start persuading them.
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Q: Why not use traditional research methods? 
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A: If you look at the evidence, customers don’t know what they want. Traditional research methods don’t help you find what triggers buying decisions in buyers’ brains. So you need a scientific approach to capture persuasion insights which explain and predict why your customers choose to buy from you or get excited by your sales messaging, ads, videos or website.
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Q. How does persuasion science help us persuade buyers? 
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A: I have conducted neuromarketing research for over a decade.  I believe you cannot create an effective message without first unveiling your customers’ subconscious PAINS.   To truly reveal what motivates your customers to buy from you or pay attention to your messages, I use a unique suite of neuromarketing techniques such as facial imaging, layered voice analysis, eye tracking, EEG, and biometrics. With subconscious data collected from the skin, facial movements, the eyes, and the brain, I can decode the persuasive effectiveness of a company's messages.
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Q: How can sales and marketing people use persuasion science? 
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A: I’ve created a proprietary model called NeuroMap™. It’s designed to make the complex science of persuasion simple. Anyone can learn the powerful 4-step process – PAIN-CLAIM-GAIN-PRIMAL BRAIN – and acquire the confidence and skills to apply the model to their own business.

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On-demand Webcast  |  The Persuasion Code  |  30 minutes QnA  |  Dr Christophe Morin   Watch Now
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Q. What is PAIN in persuasion science? 
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A: Diagnosing PAINS helps you unveil the most critical decision drivers that influence your buyers behavior. In persuasion science, we understand that the rational brain comes second to the primal brain. Our primal nature is to orient our attention to messages that awaken our fears. A product or solution that can clearly articulate which PAINS it can eliminate first will receive more consideration and create higher urgency.
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Q. What is CLAIM in persuasion science? 
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A: Start by identifying your unique CLAIMS. What are the top 1, 2 or 3 reasons for your customers to buy from you. Solidifying your CLAIMS will help your customers quickly understand what resolution you can bring to their PAINS. Choosing CLAIMS is a process, not just a creative exercise. Your CLAIMS must appeal first and foremost to the Primal brain. Your CLAIMS need to separate you clearly from your competition with a simple, tangible and recognizable benefit.
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Q. What is GAIN in persuasion science? 
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A: The GAIN is what the buyer gets in return for their purchase. You will need to demonstrate value to the Primal brain, in a way that is simple enough that even a non-expert would understand. Use customer testimonials or demos to, create ah-ha moments your targets needs to confirm a decision.
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Q. What is PRIMAL BRAIN in persuasion science? 
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A: Your Primal brain keeps you safe and manages critical internal states below our level of consciousness. Think of it like the memory chip and BIOS on a computer, with a set of basic instructions that control how your brain receives input and output. So it’s faster than the Rational brain. And the Primal brain dominates the processing of all persuasive messages.

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So, once you have identified the PAINS, solidified your CLAIMS supported by your proofs of GAIN , you need to use specific techniques to engage the decision-making part of your buyer’s brain.   You will need to deliver a story so it moves their Primal Brain. By doing so, buyers will understand you, they will remember you and they will like you.  This will give them the final emotional incentive to buy from you.

Join Dr Christophe Morin and me at a 1-day workshop in London this April to learn how to apply the new science of persuasion to your sales & marketing messaging. Find out more.


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What I learned today about sales and marketing automation best practice

No matter how long you have worked in your field of expertise, you’ll always meet new people, in the same area, who will open your eyes to new views of your world. This is even greater when you interact with a large audience of like-minded professionals. Here is one example.

I’d like to start off by thanking everyone who attended my live webinar today on sales and marketing automation. It was a good turn-out with some great questions and interesting survey results that I wanted to share with you as it’s a real eye-opener.

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As you can see from the first survey, most of the attendees are in the planning stage of sales and marketing automating. Some had no plans — probably looking to understand the benefits — where a few have been doing it for a while and were there to understand how to improve.

We ran through my recent post on 6 steps to selecting a SalesTech and Martech Stack but quickly moved onto the real meat of the presentation – namely, sales and marketing automation strategies for optimizing your marketing and sales funnel to increase revenue and customer lifetime value.

We ran through several best practice strategies and models — from funnel metrics to lead qualification/scoring, SLAs and nurturing. You can download all 12 templates here.

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When I asked what their top priorities were across the top 5 strategies the majority wanted to improve lead scoring and have more or better nurture tracks with half as many people concerned with funnel metrics and service level agreements with sales.

To me, this was a shocker! On reflection, the majority of attendees were planning to introduce marketing automation to their business for the first time, but they just want to nurture leads to score and pass to sales. No one was interested in how you qualify those leads and less interested in how you agree the lead stages and have it agreed with sales — which are crucial elements to successful implementation.

But things became clearer when I introduced the B2B Value Transformation™ framework, to understand where they are on their journey today:

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As the majority of attendees were predominantly in the Lead Generation and Activity Generation stages, with only a few classifying themselves in Demand Generation mode. And no-one saw themselves as a Revenue Generation or Value Generation team.

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I suppose this is not surprising as companies that are just starting their automation journey are very early in their SalesTEch and MarTech growth and maturity. Does this make them immature? I don’t think so. Every company is unique. If you’re a start-up you’re just growing your company. Budgets are small and so is headcount. So it’s natural you don’t have the resources for marketing automation.

But I have to say I saw quite a few big company names on the attendee list. So are these big companies going through a digital transformation? I’d say, yes! Especially B2B companies that have been traditionally technophobes. They now see that more needs to be invested in sales and marketing automation to help scale their efforts. They need to strive for lead quality and marketing, sales and service partnering to become revenue-centers that bring long-term value to clients and their company’s profitability.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these results. And to hear where you are on your B2B Value Transformation™ journey.

(This article first appeared on linkedin.com, on 29 October 2016 and updated here on 5 September 2019)