By Simon Hazeldine

As a result of the challenging commercial environment that has become the new reality we are all operating within, sales professionals need an edge – and the latest neuroscience research provides it.

The future of your sales success (and indeed the future of selling) lies within the most complex structure in the known universe – the human brain. In this article you will be introduced to the concept of “brain friendly” selling that will make the whole process easier for everyone involved.

Knowledge and understanding about the brain is growing rapidly with the vast majority of major discoveries and knowledge about the brain being made in the last ten to fifteen years. More research has been conducted and published on the brain in this time period than in the whole of human history. 

As a result of such research we are starting to get a deeper understanding of how the brain functions when it is making decisions.  This is an area of great interest to sales professionals.  Our job is to influence people and persuade them to make decisions and take action.  The better able we are to understand how the brain functions when making decisions to take action, the better able we are to understand how to tailor our sales approach, messages and behaviour to achieve the results we want for our customers and ourselves.

We may think that our clients and prospective customers are intelligent, rational individuals who make well-considered and logical decisions.  However neuroscience research sheds new light onto how people actually make decisions and the truth may shock you.

“According to cognitive neuroscientists, we are conscious of only about 5 percent of our cognitive activity, so most of our decisions, actions, emotions, and behaviour depends on the 95 percent of brain activity that goes beyond our conscious awareness.“
Marianne Szegedy-Maszak
Journalist

The vast majority of human thinking (including decision making) takes place below the level of conscious and controlled awareness – in our unconscious mind.

In addition, emotions are an integral part of people’s decision-making process.  Emotion and reason are intertwined elements of our decision-making process.  They influence and are influenced by each other.

As you will discover, the emotional centre of the brain is one of the oldest parts of the brain in evolutionary terms and as a result exerts the primary influence on our customer’s thinking and decision-making processes.

Your Customer’s Three Brains

Your customer does not have one brain – they have three brains!

The Sub-Cortical Reptilian Brain

In evolutionary terms this is the oldest part of the brain. It connects the brain with the spinal column and all sensory nerves travel through it.

This primitive part of the brain is primarily “concerned” well being and survival.  At first contact with a stranger for example (such as a first meeting with a new sales professional such as yourself) it will instantly conduct a threat response and decide if you are friend or foe.

It prioritises survival first (the avoidance of pain and danger) and then with achieving comfort – so it will respond to pain avoidance first.  It should be realised that this is a mechanical and unconscious part of our brain. 

This is comprised of the limbic system and is also referred to as the “mid-brain”.

It is important to realise that although this part of the brain is also unconscious in function it has a profound effect on us because it links the brain stem with the higher reasoning functions of the Rational Brain (see below), and feeds information to it.

You may at this stage be wondering what this part of the brain has to do with selling.  The answer is – a great deal!  The limbic system can become easily aroused and can dominate and control the thinking of your customer.  It exerts a huge influence over your customer’s behaviour and decision making.

For example if initial contact with a salesperson stresses “the gatekeeper” (the Reptilian and Emotional brain) the automatic fight / flight / freeze response is stimulated. This can happen in a fraction of a second.  Part of this process includes shutting out all other message receptors which means your opportunity to communicate is severely limited.

Therefore, your first and most important task when meeting a new customer for the first time is to appear non-threatening to the more primitive parts of their brain.

If the primitive part of their brain feels unconsciously uncomfortable then you have a mountain to climb to be able to successfully sell them anything!  If you get this part of their brain to feel comfortable then they will become receptive to you and your message.

Here are some things that you can do to help your customer’s primitive brain regions to feel safe rather than threatened, helping it to calm down and begin to feel comfortable.

These are:

• Use open, relaxed body language.  This communicates a non-threatening manner to the customer’s primitive brain.
  
  
• Make sure your torso is facing towards them.  When we like someone we tend to turn towards them.  People will perceive us as being more open and honest when they can see our torso.
  
  
• “Flash” your eyebrows at the customer when you first make eye contact.  This is a universal body language signal where you raise your eyebrows for about a sixth of a second when we are about to make social contact with someone.  This gesture communicates that you are feeling positive about meeting the person.
  
  
• Keep your voice modulation and tone calm; keep your voice speed controlled and gentle.  Our voice mirrors our emotional state, so your voice needs to communicate a calm and non-threatening emotional state.
  
  
• Mirror the handshake pressure of the other person.  As a default make your handshake firm but not too strong.
  
  
• Don’t invade the customer’s “personal space” – once you shake hands step slightly backwards and to the side.

The Rational Brain

This is comprised of the cortex and the neo-cortex and is can be referred to as the “new” brain.  This part of the brain processes information received from the senses and regulates cognitive functions such as thinking, speaking, learning, remembering and making decisions.

As mentioned earlier, the majority of cognition including decision-making is unconscious. To sell effectively we must make sure that we and our sales messages are “brain friendly” so that we can arouse the limbic emotional brain in a way that supports our selling rather than handicaps it. 

Stay Away & Towards Reward

A fundamental organising and operating principle of your brain that drives your customer’s thinking, behaviour and action is to avoid and move away from anything that is perceived to be painful, dangerous or threatening, and to move towards anything that is pleasurable, comforting or rewarding.

At its core this is a hardwired survival instinct of the human brain.  It has played a vital role in our evolution and although it may not always be as practically useful in our safe, modern world it is still driving our behaviour and that of our customers.

“Everything you do in life is based on your brains determination to
minimise danger or maximise reward.  Minimise danger, maximise
reward is the organising principle of the brain.”
Dr Evian Gordon
Author of “Integrative Neuroscience”

Although the “stay away” and the “towards reward” drives are active all the time in the human brain, it is the away from drive that is stronger and faster. 

At a conscious and particularly unconscious level the customer’s brain will be constantly asking “stay away” from pain and “towards reward” questions such as:

Does this ease my pain / solve my problems / ease my frustrations / reduce my stress / keep my job safe / get my boss off my back / stop me getting sacked / stop me looking stupid, incompetent, incapable?

Does this bring me pleasure / make me look good / get me approval / get me some more time / make me more money / help me to achieve results / make a wise decision / be positively recognised / achieve my targets / get my bonus / get me promoted?

When you are asking questions of your customers in order to understand their needs, make sure that you uncover the problems and pain they are experiencing.  If you can show their brains how to move away from these then they will be interested. Additionally if you can how them how your product or service will bring them “towards reward” then they will be even more interested.

Take a close look at your sales proposals and presentations.  Do they incorporate and harness these powerful motivating forces?  Do you show your customer’s brain how it can “stay away” from pain and “move towards” reward?  When you do all three parts of your customer’s brain is going to say “yes” to your proposal.

About the author

Simon Hazeldine works internationally as a revenue growth and sales performance speaker, consultant, and coach. He empowers his clients to get more sales, more often with more margin.

He has spoken in over thirty countries and his client list includes some of the world’s largest and most successful companies.

Simon has a master’s degree in psychology, is the bestselling author of ten books that have been endorsed by a host of business leaders including multi-billionaire business legend Michael Dell and is co-founder of leading sales podcast “The Sales Chat Show”.

He is the creator of the “Brain Friendly Selling”® methodology.

Simon Hazeldine’s books:

• Neuro-Sell: How Neuroscience Can Power Your Sales Success
• Bare Knuckle Selling
• Bare Knuckle Negotiating
• Bare Knuckle Customer Service
• The Inner Winner
• How To Lead Your Sales Team – Virtually and in Person
• Virtual Selling Success
• How To Manage Your People’s Performance
• How To Create Effective Employee Development Plans
• Virtual Negotiation Success