Cognitive Dissonance in Marketing

There's a characteristic of humans that might be getting in the way of making your business successful.

Human beings are hard-wired to be very uncomfortable when faced with information that conflicts with what they believe. It's especially dis-comfortable when the beliefs are about themselves and the facts conflict. This discomfort is called cognitive dissonance. The human reaction is to explain away the facts that disagree. Self Justification. You've done it, I've done it. Most of the time, we just look a little silly sticking to ideas about ourselves or life when we oughtn't. We look rigid; we look like we can't admit our mistakes.  Hmm, we see this among politicians, entertainers, and more--all the time!

But it can cause us bigger problems, too. Here's what might happen. You go to the store at lunch time when you're already hungry and a little cross. You snap at the sales person, perhaps calling her a really unkind name and use hurtful adjectives. Your belief about yourself, however, is that you're a good person, and good people don't hurt or belittle the sales help. You are faced with cognitive dissonance and many people--in fact most--solve the uncomfortable situation by demonizing the sales clerk. "She was stupid and not doing her job at all. She deserved it because she's a bad person. I'm still a good person, but she was awful and deserved my ire." You have self justified and made her the bad guy. Mistakes were made, but not by you.

On a larger more insidious level it's the brain mechanism responsible for some of the most horrific inhumanity. The Holocaust and things like Abu Gharaib and lynchings occurred because people who saw themselves a good people decided it was ok to treat others badly because those others were bad, evil, different, or less than human. Self justification can be a slippery slope, once stepped upon.

In your rural business, you may be sabotaging yourself because of cognitive dissonance.

Somewhere along the line you've run into salesmen, selling or salesmanship that was pushy, hardcore, high pressure. You "believe" that salesmanship and selling is crass, sleazy, insensitive and unpleasant. You are none of those. You're sensitive, low key, and certainly not pushy! Oops! But your barn is getting full, your workroom is overflowing and you need to get some of those products into new homes! You may be facing cognitive dissonance. How can you possibly be a salesperson? You're a nice person! Right?

Let's start with defining salesmanship and selling. It is only pushy and unpleasant when the person has forgotten the golden rule of selling. You're not trying to get them to buy what they don't want, you're there to serve your customer. You lead; you don't push. You learn about the customer, what he's hoping for and you lead (not push) him to the products that will get him what he hopes for. And his hopes are always about how he'll feel with your product, not about the facts of it.

Salesmanship is not only necessary for your success, but it's noble. It helps people. It brings joy to their lives, helps them get where they want to be. You CAN be that kind of salesperson. It's about a win-win interaction that leaves you both with what you want.

For the last few years, I've been teaching groups of farmers about how to market their animals and products. I wish I had a nickel for every person who's told me how uncomfortable selling makes them. Selling has a bad rapbut good people can sell with sensitivity-with service in mind-and with complete knowledge of selling techniques that lead customers to feel good about their purchases.

There should be no cognitive dissonance about learning to be a powerful and effective sales person. Change the belief of what sales means! Make the decision to learn what strategies and tools make you effective. Don't just read a little, but put your heart and your time into practicing the skills to make them your own. When I give you sentences to use, if they don't sound like your own, rewrite them so they do and then practice. Doing is the pathway to success! And watch those self justifications!

Today's post is a reprint of an artice at the fun and useful page of http://beyondthesidewalk.com/  If you haven't visited that page recently, there is lots of fun and very useful info--in articles and links!  Check it out!

Dealing With The Disgruntled Customer

Gretchen Rubin wrote an article for Yahoo titled “21 phrases to use to help you FIGHT RIGHT with your sweetheart”. Now, I know, this blog and my interests are not generally considered relationship material. However, if you’ve been reading very long, you may have noticed I frequently mention that marketing is about PERSUASION and RELATIONSHIPS.

In the course of selling farm products and crafts, you might sometime have a disgruntled customer. In that case, you are in a very similar situation to a fight with your sweetheart. So I want to share some of the phrases Gretchen came up with because I think they’re excellent to defuse that disgruntled customer, too.

Oh, and if you DO have a fight with your sweetheart, they come in handy there, too!

Pick several of these that might apply in your business situation and write them on a 3 X 5 card—then practice once in a while. Practice will help you have them at the tip of your tongue where they will do you some good!

You don’t have to solve this—it helps me just to talk to you.
This is important to me. Please listen.
I overreacted, I’m sorry.
I see you’re in a tough position.
I can see my part in this.
I hadn’t thought of it that way before.
I could be wrong.
Let’s agree to disagree on that.
This isn’t just your problem, it’s our problem.
We’re getting off the subject.
You’ve convinced me.
Please keep talking to me.
I realize it's not your fault.
That came out all wrong.
I see how I contributed to the problem.
How can I make things better?
I’m sorry.

Remember, this general rule and its corollary:

The customer is always right… and your reputation will sometimes cost you something (in compromise or in money) but a bad reputation is VERY hard to repair! Happy customers are worth money in your pocket.

They Don't Care How Much You Know...

Until they know how much you care!

It's a phrase from marketing courses, gurus, books and blogs with an important message for you who are trying to sell your animals and other rural products--or any other, for that matter.

In other places and at other times I've told you that marketing is very much like life--it's about relationships and persuasion. If you understand good relationships and persuasion, you'll find more reward in your family, workplace, and social lives. So this headline idea is really at the crux of good relationships--and persuading.

How do you let a customer know you care? Well, think how you let others know you care--your spouse, child, or best friend. The best way, the first way, the most important way, is by listening to--actually hearing--what they say. It tells you what matters to them, what they want, how they feel, what they hope for and connects you (relationship is connection.) Listening and hearing what they have to say helps you see how to help and support them.

There's no difference when we're talking about your customers. Listening to them connects you. It tells you what's important to them. It tells you how to help and support them.

Listening means first getting your own ego out of the way. Not what you want (to sell this particular animal or product) but what really fits thier needs and hopes. You start by asking open ended questions. They'll begin with words like:

"Tell me about..." or
"What do you know (or think or want)..." or
"How do you see yourself..."

Then get out of your own way by NOT trying to formulate a response while they're still talking. Let them wander all over the place verbally. They will tell you so much about how you can help them (and btw help yourself). But most importantly, when you let people talk about their hopes and dreams and what they want and what they know...they'll know you care.

The art of chit chat is what sets good sales people apart from mediocre ones...but it's almost all about getting the customers to talk about themselves and listening! More chit and less chat!

And that's a really good starting point for sales!