PERREAULT Magazine APR | MAY 2015 | Page 61

We subconsciously fear those who we do not trust. This triggers all the chemicals that increase anxiety which in turn increases stress. When you feel fear, anxiety and stress it is virtually impossible to feel a genuine connection and trust someone.

The following example is a summary of what happens in your brain when you encounter a sleazy car salesman: your brain senses that the car salesman is not genuine and is potentially trying to cheat you. Alerts are sent to your fear centers to initialize your defense mechanisms. Adrenaline and cortisol are released. Your neocortex or rational brain shuts down and your reptilian brain takes over, it acts fast and without much thought. Your stress levels keep rising as he keeps pushing the sale. The more pressure the more resistance the reptilian brain offers and feels less inclined to buy. In certain occasions the pressure is so great that you decide to buy the product just to give end to the uncomfortable situation. Eventually your brain relaxes and the rational brain regains function. At this point you will realize that you made a mistake and you will feel what is popularly known as buyer’s remorse. The end result: you will never buy from that sales person ever again.

The previous example is not the only way that a sales person can lose a client’s trust. Many times you can have the best of intentions and be one hundred percent honest and truthful but your own low self-esteem or the lack of confidence can have a similar result as the bad car salesman. Let me give you an example to make it clear. Imagine you are nervous because you have an important client coming to see you. You must impress him with your product, your work, and knowledge. This nervousness, most likely emerges from your fear of being rejected. Fear, is fear and as you saw on the previous example it activates the same chemical cascades that the bad car sales person activated on you when he was not being honest. This fear to perform, shuts down your rational brain leaving you with your primal instincts. Your client will perceive you as someone who is not ready, not knowledgeable and not genuine. This perception of you will in turn activate your clients fear centers resulting in a lack of trust. You must be careful not to initiate auto fear in your brain. You need to be in control.

How to sell like a big company

Almost everything large corporations do when they are marketing to you is play with the different chemicals in your brain. Most headlines or sales pitches are arranged in the following format:

A – Intro or Headline (dopamine, anticipation rush)

B – Problem or concern (cortisol, fear and stress is triggered)

C – Solutions to those problems (endorphins to mask the concern and cortisol reduction with satisfying dopamine consumption)

D – Call to action for you to solve the problem (serotonin to make you feel happy and oxytocin to feel you are taken care)

As you can see, each step triggers a different chemical in your brain. These methodic steps help facilitate the injection of a good-bad-good chemical cycle. Big companies like major cigarette brands, McDonalds, movie producers and others know this better than anyone. Make sure you take in consideration these steps when you are trying to sell.

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