Capitalizing on the shock factor in sales

Do you have the ability to shock people? It is a skill. Comedians rely on their ability to create material that stimulates people’s interest and make them laugh. A salesperson is somewhat like a comedian in the sense that they also need to spark an acute reaction in people. Another reason why salespeople I know are like comedians, is that they are so bad at sales, that it is actually funny!

But, getting back to the shock factor. Salesblog.org calls it the “Wow factor”. You could also call it the “Oh my god” factor. This is an important factor regardless of what you call it. Human beings go through life in a humdrum way. We are addicted to what we normally do, and seldome do anything new. We are stuck in our ruts, and only get out of them on the weekends if we are lucky. We drive the same car, have the same computer, have the same family, take the same route to work, buy gasoline at the same place, get the same peanut m&m’s at the same gas station, and go shopping at the same costco. The Indian aunties I know will go to the same Costco their entire lives buying the exact same chapatis from the same aisle, etc. If they move to another metro because their husband got a job, the first thing they will do is to find the closest Costco and find the chappati aisle and continue in their rut.

So, the point of the shock technique is that you need to shock people to get them out of their habit. You have to have them get a sudden realization that what they already have is terrible. Or, they need to discover that what you have is much better.

I use wow type sales techniques every day. I tell people that if they do “x” that statistically they will have triple the business and will stand out. Get our certification, get reviews, and write a better profile notes section is what I tell my subscribers. Then, I do the reverse psychology and have them pretending to be the customer looking at their listing. If you were the customer, then who would you pick? Would you pick you with the zero reviews, or Fred who has 30 reviews? Me too, I would pick Fred. Get some reviews! If they can see the situation from another person’s point of view, then I can sell to them. The problem is that my “wow” doesn’t always work. Many people are not motivated by success. People with what I condescendingly call “lower consciousness” are much more motivated by fear than by success. So, I use a reverse-wow technique. I tell them that as other people get reviews, the others typically will monopolize the work, and you will be left holding the bag. Conditions change, and the way they are changing, you will get less and less until you are out of business — unless you do “x”. Then we tell them stories about people whose phone stopped ringing when the guy below them on the search results got 10 reviews overnight. That story had the shock factor we needed and we made the sale.

The shock factor is about pressing emotional buttons in people. Sometimes reasoning with them doesn’t work, but stories often do. So, if you want to be good at sales, learn to be good at telling stories — REAL stories. Believe in the power of what you are selling. Your belief really shows too.

My parting words are that you should wow yourself.
I was talking to my assistant and we decided that the certification we were selling was so valuable that it was worth a house in the best case scenario. Not a mansion, but maybe a small starter house. For $179, you can not get a house in any neighborhood that I have heard of. What we were selling had amazing value, but was not expensive at all. The minute we made that inner realization, we started selling them like popcorn!