The Emotional Journey as a Sales Strategy
The Emotional Journey is an extension of the Customer Journey in which, in addition to mapping the stages of a user throughout their buying process, the emotional status they experience at each phase is also indicated. These two tools together are highly useful to consider in any sales strategy.
As we mentioned in the article “Marketing Automation: The Key to Improving CX and the Customer Journey”, the Customer Journey generally has four main stages:
1) The discovery stage.
2) The purchase consideration stage.
3) The decision stage.
4) The commitment stage.
While the Customer Journey may have a long duration, the Emotional Journey can be shorter; by mapping the customer’s emotions, we gain clues to better follow up on business proposals and determine the best way to close sales.
The Emotional Factor of Sales
Have you ever felt chills when making an important purchase? You’re more likely to have this sensation when you’re about to make a purchase that involves a significant expense in your finances.
The reason is simple: when buying important things, our freedom and financial security are impacted. We trade financial security for other things we need or desire more. If you want your customers to buy despite this, you must consider emotional anticipation.
The heart decides and reason justifies.
- Daniel López Rosetti
The customer’s emotional benefit must outweigh their fear of investing that money. This is not achieved by arguing reasons—the customer, in the discovery stage, won’t be interested in hearing about the product’s features but rather about the benefits it offers.
A good way to understand the benefits the customer expects to gain is by asking questions: Why are they looking for a particular product? What do they expect to achieve with it?
Let’s take, for example, a car salesperson who has actively listened to the customer from the very first contact and thoughtfully taken notes on the emotional benefits the customer hopes to gain from switching vehicles.
Throughout the customer’s journey, the salesperson will know they are not selling a car, but rather a safe way to take family trips. Maintaining this personalized communication will increase potential customers’ trust, and this can only be achieved by showing genuine concern for their needs.
It has been proven that people will say no an average of four times before saying yes. Therefore, in the case of sales that carry greater emotional weight for the customer (for example, real estate, cars, investment funds, life insurance, etc.), there is no need to rush to close a sale. In the case of more everyday items, such as an appliance, you may be able to push the close with questions like: What day would you like us to schedule the delivery of the product?
However, in the case of major purchases, you shouldn’t stay distant either. Continuing with the example of the car salesperson, after successfully placing in the customer’s mind the image of possible family trips, the sales conversation will focus on strengthening that positive emotion by removing the obstacles to achieving it—in other words, closing the sale.
This doesn’t mean that customers are ready to buy the moment this emotional connection is made; follow-up is necessary to stay present in their minds. By documenting these emotional attributes of prospects, segmented campaigns could be created based on emotional stage—campaigns that, instead of talking about the products, keep the prospect’s positive feelings toward making the purchase relevant.
Identifying implicit needs
It must be acknowledged that when it comes to buying, people don’t just want to acquire products or services out of necessity. Sometimes, people buy products in search of belonging status, security, or simply immediate pleasure.
In this framework, Maslow’s pyramid is shown, with the different types of needs a customer may have:
According to Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller in their book Marketing Management, the following types of needs can be identified:
Expressed needs: the customer wants a cheap car.
Real needs: the customer needs a car to commute to work, reduce travel time, and feel safer.
Unexpressed needs: the customer expects good service from the dealership.
Delight needs: the customer would like the dealership to include a GPS navigation system in the car.
Secret needs: the customer wants their friends to see them as successful because of their ability to buy a new car.
Although implicit needs are difficult to recognize, the good news is that the existence of an implicit need is a strong sign that the customer wants to buy. To move to the next stage and close the sale, these unspoken needs must be made explicit.
The connection achieved through in-person interaction brings great value, especially because it’s easier for the salesperson to perceive emotions through expressions and body language. In the digital world we live in, we must strive to identify these intentions, emotions, and reactions to the communication we present on our websites, emails, and messages in general. We recommend reading our article on “Digital Body Language” where we share tactics to achieve this.
In conclusion…
Every good salesperson must anticipate the customer’s emotions and know how to listen and perceive their mood in order to obtain the key pieces of communication that will help close the sale. Marketing Intelligence tools that enable personalized communication, timely follow-up during the Customer Journey, and the ability to document and use emotions throughout the Emotional Journey of potential clients are the key to achieving strategic thinking aimed at growth and sales.