SFR 170: Emotional Selling...

Sales Funnel Radio

Boom, what's up guys? This is Steve Larsen, and this is Sales Funnel Radio.

Today we're gonna talk about why selling is emotional, and how you can take advantage of that ethically in your own business.

I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today, and now I've left my nine to five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.

The real question is how will I do it without VC funding or debt, completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.

Join me and follow along as I learn, apply and share marketing strategies to grow my online business using only today's best internet sales funnels.

My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio. What's up guys?

Hey, I'm excited for this, okay. This episode comes to you today... Okay, the next two or three episodes that I've done are things that I've been ripping from other places, and I think you're really gonna enjoy it.

This one's a Facebook Live that I did. There are a few people - really, really sad... I don't know if they're sad or mad, or they're fighting me, for whatever reason, on the fact that selling is emotional.

What I want you to understand is that there are three different phases in the sale cycle. There's the marketing phase. There's the selling phase, and there is the closing phase.

If you are not getting the cash you want to, but you're still closing people, it's 'cause you don't know how to close.

I'm gonna walk through and share with you guys why selling is emotional and what you're doing in the brain.

I don't know how you can get good at marketing, selling, or being a salesman without learning about psychology - actually learning about the brain and what happens there.

We are all different people, yes, but we still have a brain that very much comes from the same kind of area - we have the same kind of tendencies, okay?

And so, what's cool about that is as soon as you learn the patterns of how to actually go out and be influential to your people and your customers, prospective customers, you actually can get them to do a lot of great things that will benefit them, that will benefit you, and help you be more persuasive in life.

So, what this episode is specifically about is ... First of all, I gotta teach you what's happening in the brain. I've never taught this before, ever!

I'm in this area right now where I've kinda been lookin' back, and be like "Hey, why did that work? Why did that work? Why did that work? Holy crap, look at that pattern." And so, what I'm tryin' to do is I'm tryin' to teach you guys the patterns that I was going through, seeing and doing, not always on purpose, okay?

And so, I'm gonna go through and I'm gonna teach you about chemicals in the brain, and I'm gonna teach you about what's going on in the brain psychologically when people start to hear about your pitch.

I'm gonna teach you how to actually go in and get around those things. I'm gonna teach you what you're actually pitching when you actually pitch somebody. What part of the brain are you actually pitching, okay? All those answers are gonna be inside this Facebook Live.

Again, I think this was like a 15-minute thing, but anyway, I'm a little fiery in it - just so you know - which I know is hard to imagine. I'm a little intense. I'm excited to be able to do this and actually get this out to you guys.

So anyways guys, thank you so much for watching this.

Please, I actually encourage you to take notes on this one. I don't necessarily always go very tactical inside this podcast, but this one, THIS has had a direct influence on my wallet, and I mean that in all seriousness. It has had a direct influence on my wallet, meaning getting much fatter.

It was when I learned what was actually happening in the noggin', and this comes from me studying a lot of different books, listening to a lotta gurus, going through a lotta courses, and a lot of my own personal experience.

There's really like two or three things specifically I'm gonna walk you guys through in this episode. So, honestly, I would grab a piece of paper for this episode... And if you like it, please share it.

All right guys, thanks so much and please enjoy the lessons in this. They have been life changing for me and I'm excited. If it changes your life also, please, please...

Or if there's any piece into it that makes you go you go, "My gosh, I had no idea!" Please, please reach out and tell me. It means a lot.

You could even consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks, guys, bye.

Oh, what's up? How's everyone doin'? Hey, guys, I just finished a webinar. I am all sorts of hopped up on Goof Balls. My left eye's got the twitch which means this is gonna be good, all right!

Hey, real quick, I just wanna do a drop this thing, oh, I actually dropped my phone while I dropped it in. I just wanna drop this in the group, okay. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna do some edumacation!

When I was in college, I wanted to make sure that I knew how to sell, so I explicitly went and started selling...

Steve Comments to the FB Audience: (I'm driving, the cars vibrating the steering wheel which is making this thing. I'm trying to make this thing stick and stay right there. Yeah, yeah, okay, all right. I know Facebook is still telling you guys that I'm live and I'm here, okay.)

...I went and I started selling door-to-door and started doing telemarketing for the explicit reason of learning how to sell. I wanted to learn how to sell. I had no idea how much went into it. It was nerve-racking.

I remember the first time I walked into my first door for door-to-door sales. It was one of the freakiest things I've ever done in my entire life.

I walked up and I knock on the door and I forgot the script, everything left my brain. I did not remember what I was saying and, it was an awkward conversation. I just was looking for reasons to get off the door. They didn't have to kick me off. I turned around, and I walked away. I got off the door.

It was a terrible experience, and I was like, "This sucks," and I immediately was like, "Why am I gonna do this? Why on earth am I doing this door-to-door sales thing?" And, it became a challenging thing for me.

So, what I did is I started trying to learn more about why sales psychology is the way that it is. I started learning about different chemicals in the brain. I don't know how you can get good at sales without learning a little bit about the brain? You gotta learn a little bit about that noggin and what drives people, what drives human interaction.

Steve Comments to the FB Audience: (And, I was trying to get this thing to stay inside my steering wheel. It's not gonna do it, so I'm just gonna hold it.)

Okay, this is what's interesting. This is what was fascinating about the whole door-to-door thing and about selling:

There's an emotional part, and there's a logical part to selling. Funnily enough, we think it's logical, and it's actually still emotional.

I know that I've talked about this before, but I just wanna drop this in here real quick.

So think about this, just follow me here, okay, 'cause I wanna talk about why, I wanna talk about why selling is emotional, and I wanna talk about what to do about it, and how it actually plays to your advantage when you understand how it works.

So, if any new thing pops into your brain - bam, the brain starts sending all these little warning flags. It's looking for reasons, it actively seeks reasons to throw a red flag. Is this a red flag? Is this a red flag? It actively looks for reasons to throw red flags at you.

This all happens subconsciously, and this is where fight, flight, freeze comes from.

This is where we say, "Oh my gosh, am I gonna be bored?"If I'm gonna be bored - if this is boring - that's a threat to my brain. It's a threat to my enjoyment, and I am not going to be part of it - therefore I will run.

If I think this could hurt me, there's a whole bunch of things that start runnin' through the noggin to see if it's a threat. Maybe it's not even physical, maybe it's just a mental threat, "This might be boring," okay?

What you're actually pitching in the first half of a webinar, during the story section, you're actually pitching that part of the brain.

You are trying to get beyond, you're tryin' to get around, you're trying to get beside, you're trying to get above, you're trying to blast through that part of the brain so that when people see your actual offer, you have actually passed that part of the brain.

You are bypassin' the hippocampus. You're tryin' to get back to the part where the decision making of the noggin is logical. You gotta understand what's actually happening when you start pitching somebody.

I don't care if you are an actual salesman, I don't care if you're just learning how to do a webinar script, I don't care if you're just actually doing a script, and you're recording it and you're gonna put it inside of a phone...

That's what's happening in sales every time.

So, think about this with me, though.

The first part, the story based part of any script is the emotional part of the actual pitch. As we transition into the logical brain, we start getting more logical - that's where the actual sale is happening. There are three phases in the sales cycle.

The first phase is marketing, and that's the emotional part. That's the storytelling part.

The second phase is selling, and that's where you're actually presenting the offer. That's where we start to transition into more logical things.

The third phase in a sales cycle is actually closing. Closing is that last piece, and it's the piece that most people do not do. Guys, cash is in the close, right. Cash is for closers, right!

How many of you guys have sold something to somebody, and they're like "Man, I really wanna do that," but you never actually collect the cash? It means you did phase number one, phase number two, but not phase number three, the closing, okay?

So, there's the marketing which is the rebuild, I do not mean logos, I don't mean colors, I don't mean anything like that. I don't mean freakin' slogans or business cards.

When I say marketing I mean: "marketing's the act of changing people's beliefs with the intent of a purchase." It's my own definition, but hopefully, it's cool? I'm gonna change someone's beliefs with the intent of a purchase.

Phase number two, I'm gonna get him into the actual sale itself. It's me going through the offer. I'm gonna go through my stacks, okay? I'm gonna go through the actual offer, okay?

Phase number three, that's the close. The close is the logical reasons to act now. That's what closing is. Selling and closing are not the same thing. Just like marketing and selling are not the same thing. There are three different phases.

The first time I realized this I was riding my bike home from campus. We had no money, so I was riding a bike. We had one car, we couldn't afford another car, and I was like, "I feel like I'm studying like crazy, I'm learning a lot. Why am I learning so much? I know how I build my business in this scenario. I know what I would do in that guy's business. I know what I would do, but why am I still broke?" That was the question that I had in my head. "Why am I still broke if I feel like I'm learning so much?"

Steve Comments to the FB Audience: Yeah right, Shawn exactly, cash is for closers, right.

But I still didn't understand the difference between marketing, selling, and closing. Those are the three things to study. Those are the three of the highest leverage activities you could ever marry. Those are three of the highest leverage skills you could ever go learn.

#1:Marketing - Storytelling for the sake of a purchase coming up.

#2: Selling - How do I create an offer, right? I call 'em purple offers. How do I create an offer for the intent to fill the promise that my story's made, right.

#3: Closing - How do I actually get the cash now? "Is that debit or credit? Hey, when you purchase right now go get it right now, we're actually gonna throw in X, Y, and Z for free."

There are logical reasons to act now. It's still emotional, but people think it's logical.

It's called the theory of cognitive dissonance. I don't wanna get too deep in this. I don't wanna dig too deep in it, but you need to understand 'cause you're doin' this to your customers.

I want you to understand why you may or may not be selling people well, okay? It's great to have success. It's freaky if you don't know WHY you had success.

And so, let's say you go into the grocery store and I'm sure no one's done this, I'm sure I'm the only one, but you go into the grocery store to get some eggs and you walk out with milk, bread, three movies from the $5 bin you weren't plannin' on buyin' and a whole bunch of other stuff, right, a t-shirt, right. How many of you guys have done that?

What's happened is all emotional. The 'threat' walls went down, I can see that I don't need to fight, flight or freeze. I don't need to do any of those things and, I went through marketing to make me desire those products. There's an emotional piece to me.

Secondly, I start seeing this offer, and I think "Oh, it's only $5 and I'm here." That's a close, though. I'm closing myself, okay? Those are logical reasons to actually get me to acting now.

Then what ends up happening is as I leave the store, after I make the purchase the emotional part stops in my brain... (I think it's the right brain.) The right brain stops overriding the left which is the logical part of the brain.

The right brain starts to die down, and then the left brain logically starts turning on and asking, "Why did I buy that shirt?"

And this is where the theory of cognitive dissonance comes in.

The logical part of the brain doesn't want to think that it may have allowed you to spend too much money, or buy things that you don't need, so what ends up happening is that the left brain starts to take over and begins to logically see how what I purchased actually is my identity.

"I bought that shirt because it represents me. I bought those eggs because I'm a smart buyer. I was already here, so buying it was smart it saved me time. I'm gonna buy it because it saves me money."

Your brain tries to increase the attractiveness of what you've chosen - so that you feel that you've made a good decision.

When you think of buying a product, the right brain begins to override the left and emotion takes over. You start to get a rush of chemicals inside the brain which make you feel good causing you to want to buy.

After the purchase is made - when you've gone through stories. You've gone through presenting the offer. You've gone through actual closes - the reasons to act now - what ends up happening is the right brain starts to shut down again. Logic and reason start to turn back on, and you think, "CRAP!"

And this is where buyer's remorse can step in:

"Crap. I just bought a shirt, I didn't even need it, and it's $50!" But the logical part of your brain doesn't like this feeling so it starts to counteract with reasons why you made a good choice.

You start to see the ways in which the shirt represents your identity: "That was a good choice. You are so smart. Look how much money you saved. You'll look great in that shirt. Cool people wear those shirts. I'm glad we didn't miss that deal - that would have been dumb."

That's how your customers start to justify buying products from you.

It's the reason you are a Funnel Hacker. Why'd you buy that product? "Because you are a Funnel Hacker." It's logically justified.

The emotional part of the brain turned down, the chemical rush that goes on in this side of the brain shuts off, and the logical side starts to say, "Holy crap, what just happened?".

Okay, check this out. What are the chemicals going on in this side of the brain? You have to understand this:

On the right side of the brain there are chemicals going on. You must know what these are. There's four of them. You all know what they are?

There's dopamine, there's endorphins, there's serotonin, and there's oxytocin. You can think DOSE = dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, okay?

Let's walk through 'em real quick, so you know what's going on and what you're doing to people. You must activate these chemicals in the brain in order if you want the emotional right side of the brain to override logic and desire your product.

Now be careful, 'cause what I am talking about right here you could easily go, and you could actually take advantage of people. Please don't do that.

What I am saying is that you can make more sales if you get people to have that buyer's rush. They want a rush, meaning they want the endorphins. They want to be able to feel the thrill of buying. People like to buy crap. So give 'em the rush, don't take away the rush.

Now, think about this:

D is for dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical of distraction. Every time your phone pings, ping, every time you look at a text, every time someone sends you a message or gives you a phone call, and every time that you go and you smoke a cigarette. Every time you go and you drink, you do drugs, look at porn, okay, anything like that...

What the brain is seeking is a distraction from current pain. That's what's happening. You wanna have more control in your life? See and figure out where you're seeking a dopamine hit, okay?

There's a reason why it's hard to get a hold of me. I am hard to get a hold of because I control technology, technology does not control me. I don't seek my dopamine hits from my phone. Does that make sense? I'm very purposeful on that, and that's the reason why, okay.

Dopamine is the chemical of distraction. Now, dopamine is also the easiest of the four chemicals to get.

When I want a dopamine hit it's very easy to get it, right? You can get that hit in multiple places, homemade, directly from your own brain. Bam, feel good, right! It's the easiest one to get. It's also the most addictive.

I'm gonna go and do some behavior that may be good or may be bad, and it's what's gonna cause that addiction to happen. Now, you have to understand, your customers want a distraction. I'm not telling you to become addictive, but you can do this.

Be careful with what I'm telling you. This is real stuff, okay. This is why I sell so much. I know why I do. I know why I'm fun to watch on stage. I know why my podcasts get people "rrrrr," I know why. I know why. It's because I'm playing with four chemicals in your brain, and I know the levers to pull on each one of them.

So let's keep goin', okay.?

Let's go to endorphins. Endorphins and dopamine are the easiest two to get. Endorphins actually require a little bit of work on the individual's part...

I'm gonna feel endorphins after I work out, or in the middle of it. I'm workin' hard, my body releases endorphins - it's actually is a chemical that takes a little bit of work in order to get. It's literally, you know, a carrot and stick rewards system back and forth.

When I have a customer, for example, walk down a success path... Let's say they buy, and I'm like "Cool, the first thing I want you to do is today, just go set up your account and X, Y, and Z."

If they do it, BAM, they're probably gonna get an endorphin hit because they checked a box.

Those who got straight A's in school, they're very familiar with endorphins.

They put work in, they followed the system, they got the checks. People want that. They wanna check the box. I wanna check the box on life. I wanna check the box on the products. BAM.

How many of people have you sold who have never done anything with your product? That is a check the box driven individual. They love endorphins…

They solved the problem with the product emotionally - they checked the box with endorphins inside their head. BAM, they feel great, that's all they wanted. They wanted the hit.

Let's go to serotonin.

Serotonin is the chemical of status. Status. Status. Status is easy to give somebody when you're sellin' a product. When you give them a new identity, that's one of the easiest ways to do it:

"Hey, what's up, Funnel Hackers? What's up, 2 Comma X people? What's up?” I call a lotta people “my mavericks,” and what I'm doing is I'm giving them a boost in status.

What are we doin' when we give a 3 Comma Club Award to somebody? Bam, serotonin! That is a status increase. "Look at me."

Why do we show pictures of ourselves with famous people? I took a picture with Tony. I took a picture with Russell. I took a picture with this guy... because it gives us a status increase and a serotonin boost. We literally are giving ourselves a hit of chemicals in our brain. Boom!

"Ahhh, yes! You see, you see me, and you see you, yeah you see me, you see you, you see me" Right, that's what's goin' on - we're givin' ourselves a hit, and that's very, very important to understand.

Now, weave that into your sales message.

That's why when I get on the web, and I just did a webinar for Funnel Builder Secrets for Russell, that's why I say, "Guys, I'm gonna invite you to BECOME, (keyword), I'm gonna invite you to BECOME (shed identity, claim new identity, serotonin) Funnel Hackers later today on this presentation."

I'm literally setting the stage so they can get serotonin when they purchase.

#New identity. #Dopamine hit, #∂istraction, "Thank you for the webinar, Stephen. I did a little bit of work, put my credit card in. I feel great, #endorphins, I did some work on my side. I've had three of the four chemical hits going on in my brain."

Let's talk about the last chemical. It's the hardest to get. It's oxytocin. Oxytocin's very, very powerful, and it is actually the one that we seek the most.

Without oxytocin a lotta these other chemicals, they feel like, you know, they're not all distractions, dopamine's the distraction one, but we're not totally satiated without the fourth one, #oxytocin.

Oxytocin is the chemical of connection. It is the one that we seek the most.

Oxytocin makes us do lots of crazy things. It's the one where we're madly in love, or, the one where we are joining a community. We feel a lotta connection with an individual or a group.

Right now, if I were to tell you a story, I know I'd have you in a position where I could get you feeling oxytocin with me. It's the reason we have you tell an origin story.

It's the reason why Secret One has a story. Secret Two, Secret Three - they are developing oxytocin. It's a very hard to get chemical. The connection is with you, not your product. You understand?

To sell a product, you go in; you've broken and rebuilt belief patterns, you've given 'em four hits of chemicals in their brain.

Now I'm tellin' you there's a lotta ways to take advantage of people with this kind of information. Do you understand this stuff?

So, let's recap:

The first half of the webinar is highly emotional.

There are three phases of a sales cycle.

The first phase of the sales cycle is marketing. That's where I'm tellin' 'em all my stories. It's where I'm gettin' a whole bunch of oxytocin into their noggins. It's where I'm giving them a distraction, a lotta dopamine. I'm givin' 'em a lot of endorphins, if they do little things with me, "Come over to the chat box real quick. Tell me how you're doin? Where you're from?" That's gonna help them. "Whew, I did it!" - Little, tiny endorphin hit, bam!

Later on, I'm gonna invite you to BECOME, shed your old identity, BECOME a funnel hacker, #serotonin. I'm tryin' to weave these things inside each one of, each phase of the sales sequence.

Okay, so first phase right, in the sales cycle, marketing, the act of telling stories with the intent of changing beliefs for a purchase to happen. That's marketing.

Sales. When I'm sellin' somebody I'm presenting them an offer. I'm going through, and I'm showing 'em, "bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, here's my offer."

I'm still tryin' to lace in each one of those four drugs inside of the noggin, okay?

Third phase is closes. Cash is for closers. How many people have you sold where they actually didn't actually end up paying you? That happens all the time. It's because you're not good at closing yet.

You get good at closing, study closing! You gotta understand that, okay?

And again, to recap:

When we go in, and when that purchase happens we enter an emotional phase. I'm seeking four chemicals on the right side of my brain. I want the emotional part. I want the creative part. I wanna go feed the noggin. I want the hit. I want the distraction. I want the status. I want the connection.

The right side of the brain begins to hijack the left side, and you get into a phase of emotional buying: "I was just here for eggs, but I really want that shirt. I was just here for bread, but I really want this. Wow, I really like that balloon. Oh, it's attached to a car. Maybe we should get a new car."

Emotional, emotional, emotional, emotional, #dopamine hit, #dopamine hit, #dopamine hit. Does that make sense? Lots of hits.

As we leave the actual sales process, when a sale has actually happened, when you've closed, and there's effectively cash in your hand the theory of cognitive dissonance means that the emotional part of the brain starts to die down - those four chemicals start to go away, and the actual logical part of the brain comes back and says, "Crap, I just spent money I was not planning on spending," and it freaks out.

The only way to prevent your customer from having buyer's remorse is for you to get as many of those four chemicals, #dopamine, #oxytocin, #serotonin, #endorphins, fired inside of their noggin so that afterwards they literally apply the product to their identity:

" Well yeah, I bought the shirt because I'm a smart buyer."

Does that make sense? I am now basing my ability to be successful on me, and my actual worth, my actual self, my actual self worth, my actual identity, my essence. We all do this:

“I'm gonna go into the store and I'm gonna buy a bunch of crap I did not mean to buy.” Afterwards I'm gonna logically justify it, so I'm like, "Crap, wait, should I have bought that?" Logical, logical, logical. "Ahhh, here's all the other reasons. Here's all these pre-stoked reasons that Stephen gave me at the end of his presentation why I should have bought. Oh, because it was 50% off, so I'm smart. Oh, because if I bought now it included X, Y, and Z. Oh, because if I got this I also got one, two and three. Oh, because of this, this, this."

These start to hit all these logical part of the brains: "plus I'm a smart buyer, plus I'm a funnel hacker, plus..." Does that make sense? This is FREAKIN' HUGE!

You need understand what you're actually doing to your customers in the brain.

It's the reason we have you tell so many stories. It's the reason I beg you to become a storyteller. And it's the reason why I have you guys focus so much on your offer.

It's the reason I have you guys go and say "Look, here's your closes."

It's not enough for you to just be a good storyteller. Sure you are gonna make more money than if you're not, but being a good storyteller, makin' a great offer, but not knowin' how to close.... You're NOT gonna get paid, right?

So, these parts of the noggin you have to understand:

We got those three phases happen. Next, the fear of cognitive dissonance happens when I leave the purchase. After that I begin to logically justify why the product represents my identity.

The right part of the brain after I've gotten the four drug hits, start to die out, and the logical part of the brain comes back and says, "This is me. That's why I did it, because I'm a smart buyer, because I'm a funnel hacker."

I have shifted their identity, okay.! Huge, massive, monstrous lesson.

So, anyway I started this just like seething and goin' nuts, but anyways, I just hope you're doin' well. I'm excited for every one of you guys. I'm excited for Q and A's tomorrow with you guys, but anyway, keep on the path.

Understand what you're doin'. Understand this is literally the power of mind control in the real sense.

Is it like telekinesis, aka X- Men crap? No, I'm not sayin' that at all. But, I am sayin' that when you understand the levers that cause humans to act - this is super powerful stuff, man. This is like super intense.

Every time you're on with me, I’m tryin’ to give you a dopamine hit. It an easy one for me to give you. It's a chemical distraction.

An oxytocin hit, that's the hardest one to get - it's the chemical of connection - and so, I'm gonna tell a lotta personal stories to break your walls with me.

A serotonin hit, that's the one of status: "You are freakin' awesome. I think entrepreneurs changed the world," BAM,I just gave you a serotonin hit - especially if I attach that to a story.

I'm gonna try and give you an endorphin hit too. If I can get you to interact in this, "Right, go ahead right now and start giving me some hearts if you could. Give me some hearts if you guys have liked anything I said here at all. It's been amazing, give me some hearts." Okay, oh my gosh, that was crazy. I realize now why it's so powerful. Bam, I just gave you some freakin' endorphins.

That's the chemical that you have to actually participate in to get. When I weave all four of those chemicals in, I have a very strong chance of my customers being able to emotional sell themselves, and logically sell themselves - and once the four chemicals have died off, post purchase. “BAM. See you on the freakin' Two Comedy Club stage baby. Whew!”

Whoa, thanks for listening. Gang, please remember to a rate and subscribe.

Hey, you want me to speak at your next event or Mastermind? Let me know what I can share that would be most valuable by going to stevejlarsen.com and book my time now.