Four "Psychological Hot Buttons" to Turn Prospects into Clients

Kethyr's CAMEL Report
Mountain View, California
Friday, August 1, 2008

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Today I'd like to share a few highlights from a book I recently finished reading, Dr. Robert Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

While I highly recommend this book to any small business owner interested in learning how to market their products or services, understanding some of the psychological principles Cialdini covers is worth your time even if you're not interested in adding another book to your "must read" list.

In his book, Cialdini identifies six categories of psychological principles that motivate human behavior — four of which I rely on when writing any marketing materials.

These principles are: authority, likability, reciprocity, and scarcity.

Let's take a look at the first...

Authority

Most people respect authority — whether they like to admit it or not — and the sooner you can create it in your marketing communications the better. Think about it...all throughout your childhood, you're taught to listen to your teachers, trust professionals like doctors without question, and follow orders given by your boss or the person "in charge."

Here's how I recommend you establish authority in your marketing materials: Highlight your experience ... include proof of your credentials ... and/or prove your product's or service's effectiveness by using client feedback or statistical research.

Usually, the more specific you get the less someone will question your authority.

For example, if I wanted to convince my prospects that psychotherapy and group therapy can help adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs), I might try something like:

"Renowned psychologist, researcher, and author, Dr. Stephanie Brown founded the Alcohol Clinic at Stanford Medical Center where she formulated the developmental model of alcohol recovery. She is currently the director of the Addictions Institute in Menlo Park, California, and has authored numerous books on treating adult children of alcoholics, including Treating Adult Children of Alcoholics and Safe Passage: Recovery for Adult Children of Alcoholics.

Very few people have had as much experience effectively treating adult children of alcoholics as Dr. Stephanie Brown. And Dr. Brown recommends psychotherapy for adult children of alcoholics more than any other form of treatment, stating that group therapy in particular can be extremely effective."

Once her authority is established, not many people would question what Dr. Brown has to say, or that psychotherapy and group psychotherapy is especially beneficial for treating ACOAs.

Likability

This one is easy to understand. The more rapport you can create with someone, the more likely they are to do what you ask them.

When people just plain like you and feel emotionally connected to you, they have a tendency to buy from you more often and are more committed long-term customers. So the question you need to ask is, "How can I connect with my prospect?"

The more down to earth you are, the higher the conversion rate seems to get these days, especially online.

Creating likability is easy and effective. You can retell a story about your clients' experiences, tell your own story, or the story behind your product or service. Use imagery that most people can relate to and humanize your writing. Talk in a conversational tone, as if you're talking to someone you really care about...a friend...a relative, etc.

Reciprocity

When you give value to your prospect, he or she will feel indebted to you. This is why the legendary direct-marketer Gary Halbert loved attaching dollar bills to the top of many of his sales letters. It not only got the prospect's attention, but also made the prospect feel indebted to read the rest of the sales letter.

Likability and authority, providing you give REAL content in your marketing communications, tend to force the principle of reciprocity. A person is compelled to give back to you in the form of a sale or a name and e-mail address, if they feel you have given them something of value. It's why intelligent and strategic "free giveaways" work so well.

For example, who wouldn't try the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) course MindTools after they've seen this space ad?

"Make the Right Choice
Remove Failure from Your Life Today!

Use MindTools and Follow These Easy Steps to Realize Your Full Potential"

(They then go on to provide 12 techniques that can help anyone overcome 12 of the most common communication problems.)

Always remember to provide as much helpful information to your prospects as possible in all of your marketing communications. If you're offering professional services, provide free resources, consultations, and/or referral services. Be confident that the more you give away the more you'll receive in return.

Scarcity

It's human nature to want what we can't have or is difficult to obtain. That's why scarcity works so well. It's the same reason why ticket scalpers get so much money for a pair of tickets to a sold-out concert or sporting event, and why restaurants like the French Laundry can charge $300-$400 per person for dinner before you even open the wine list.

Fortunately, the same principle works very well in marketing copy.

Try to use scarcity by either limiting availability or quantities, discounting pricing for a limited time, or through one-time offers.

When you use scarcity in your marketing communications, make sure to have a truthful reason as to why you're limiting quantities or why the pricing is limited to a certain time period. (i.e. "These books have slight water damage from the recent hurricane, so we're giving you a 75% discount when you place your order today," or "I currently offer free consultations, but can only afford to do so while I have a few openings left in my schedule.")

Now that you have a grasp of the elements of persuasion, you might be wondering how you can practice these techniques so they become second nature to you...

Here's one strategy I recommend:

1. Go to ClickBank.com. ClickBank sells and promotes tens of thousands of downloadable products such as e-books and audio files.
    
2. Click on the "Marketplace" link. Doing this takes you to their search function, where you can browse different product categories (such as "addictions," "mental health," "parenting," or "real estate") and get listings of everything available within that category.
    
3. Start Searching. Search for, or select a product category from the drop down menu that you are interested in. When you get the search results, they are listed in ranking order — most to least popular.
    
4. Study the top 10. When you get your search results, only focus on the first 10 listings. There will be a description of the product, and a link to the product's sales page. Go through each one and click through to the sales page. Once you're there, read the sales letter and study it. (Note: not all products will have a sales page. Ignore those that don't for the purpose of this exercise.)
    
5. Analyze. Ask yourself why these sales letters are working. Identify the different elements of persuasion in the copy, i.e. authority, likability, reciprocity, and scarcity.
    
6. Write. Once you've identified the persuasive elements, write them out by hand so you get a "feel" for what it's like to write with the power of persuasion behind it. Also study the structure and tempo of these winning letters.
    
7. Write some more. Now apply these techniques to your marketing endeavors.

Once you learn to use the persuasive principles of authority, likability, reciprocity, and scarcity in your marketing communications, you won't need anyone to persuade you that these four principles can help you turn prospects into clients and successfully grow your business.

Until next time,

Sean Eric Armstrong
Kethyr's CAMEL Report

P.S. For more information about how you can apply these principles to your marketing materials, please feel free to send us an e-mail at info@kethyrsolutions.com.

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