Slice the Selling Delays Thin

Thin slice judgments are assessments made on the basis of quickly presented samples. When shoppers decide if they want to do business with you within the first seconds of seeing you, those are thin slice judgments.
     Such assessments work because our brains are superb at finding patterns among a sample of narrow windows of experience and relating our current perceptions to our prior learning. Still, thin slice judgments do risk errors of prejudice.
     Marketing scholars at University of Maryland and Tilburg University wondered how thin slice advertising impressions work. The length of time a typical consumer spends absorbing the content of a typical ad has always been briefer than the advertiser would like. But the time has been getting even shorter because of the increased pace of contemporary life, the drive to save on marketing expenses, the use of technologies which allow zipping through an ad, and other factors.
     The results of the Maryland/Tilburg inquiries indicate you should get to the point when making your case to shoppers in ads or in face-to-face selling. Ads that promptly identified who the ad was for and why the consumer should pay attention earned positive attitudes. Ads in these studies which prolonged suspense about the sponsor and the benefits worked less well.
     In face-to-face selling, you’ve the opportunity to gather information from the prospect before making your pitch. But people will want you to get to the point once you do begin the pitch. They don’t want to spend time needlessly, and they get skittish if unsure about where you’re heading. To soothe the shopper’s nerves, start with a good subject line, stating what you plan to offer.
     Still, if you maintain some intrigue, there can be advantages to delay. Research findings from Indiana University and University of Colorado-Boulder show the value of a mystery ad format, in which you wait until the end to announce the retailer’s name. Start off with an unusual story or absurd humor which dramatizes the category of retailer and hooks the ad’s viewer or listener into thinking “Who’s this commercial for, anyway?”
     These mystery ads were significantly more effective than traditional ads in strengthening a name-category link in which consumers looking for items in a category would think about your store as the place to go.
     In any case, minimize distractions to selling. Like a skilled delicatessen server, always slice the baloney thin.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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