Your customer’s coming close to selecting from among the alternatives. However, the item they’re favoring is not the one that would best serve their needs or your profitability.
Research findings from Ghent University and University College Ghent in Belgium, suggest that refocusing the shopper onto your preferred alternative can change the shopper’s mind. But do it gently. If the shopper feels pressured, they will push back against your suggestions, moving more firmly toward their original choice.
The Ghent research findings say to keep the importance of the purchase decision low for the consumer. One way to accomplish this is to suggest that the shopper look for other items on their list and then come back to make the decision you’re concerned about.
Once you’ve dampened the involvement, determine how much time and mental energy the shopper wants to put into selecting the item to purchase. Some people are uncomfortable spending less than lots of time considering all the alternatives, even for purchase choices they know are relatively unimportant. Other people are driven to make all shopping decisions quickly and with minimal resource expenditure.
With shoppers who seem to want to spend minimal time and energy in making the choice, point them toward your preferred alternative. Literally. Point your finger toward the item briefly, drop your hand to your side, and then be silent for a few seconds.
With shoppers who want to spend lots of their time on the choice, which is now relatively unimportant, ask the shopper’s opinion of the benefits and tradeoffs for each of the alternatives and reflect to them on what they consider to be the three chief benefits of the alternative you prefer.
Don’t ask for or repeat too many reasons, though. It is not a matter of the more reasons, the better. Research findings from Universität Heidelberg and Universität Mannheim indicate that if you ask the consumer to generate loads of reasons to buy the particular product, the task becomes more difficult for the customer, and this actually makes your preferred alternative less attractive to them.
The need to spend lots of time on choices seems to be a family characteristic. When the family group is making the purchase decision together, your asking them for opinions of the alternatives could kick off a brainstorming session in which you can ricochet off answers given by each person to formulate selling points for the others.
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Ask Shoppers for Reasons to Buy
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