What motivates buyers to buy? Believe it or not, it all starts with a Child.
That capital C is important. In Transactional Analysis, which is at the heart of the Sandler Selling System, the Child ego state is where many of our decisions originate—not just buying decisions, but all kinds of decisions. The Child is that little six-year-old in us who, feeling a particular emotion at a particular time, says, “I want this,” “I want to do that.” Or perhaps: “I don’t want this,” and “I don’t want to do that.”
David Sandler recognized that it’s the prospect’s Child that triggers the buying impulse. Until the Child wants the product or service, none of the other ego states enter into the picture. The Parent ego state won’t judge whether a purchase is appropriate or not, and the Adult ego state won’t weigh the pluses and minuses of the purchase or the pros and cons of a particular vendor; they are all waiting for the “kid” to make up his mind.
So: Why would the Child want a product or service? Psychologists suggest that people take action (including actions related to buying products and services, either as a decision maker or an influencer) to have something, to know something, to be able to do something, or to be known for something. These desires can be initiated by things like greed, envy, curiosity, desire, fear, or any other feeling or emotion that resides within the Child. Such emotions are often triggered by specific unresolved problems or challenges – also known as Pain.
Getting the Child to express that Pain is the objective of the critical phase of the buyer seller relationship that we call the Pain Step. Getting prospects emotionallyinvolved in the sale doesn’t necessarily mean they have to be in an emotional state—unhappy, angry, distraught, fearful, or any other specific emotion. Nor does it mean that the prospect has to express an emotion—though they may. Getting prospects and influencers emotionally involved simply means that for one or more reasons, their inner Child is saying, “I want it.”
Why would a prospect’s Child say, “I want it” to you? Perhaps because you helped him or her discover something he didn’t know before he met you. Maybe you helped the person see the situation from a different perspective, one that created some doubt about an existing strategy or initiative. Maybe you helped him or her focus on the real root cause of the problem -- and, as a result, the Child is saying, “I want to know what this person knows” or “I want what this person has to offer.”
Whatever the motivation, you will not close a sale unless the emotional component of your prospect’s identity—the Child—initiates the desire to buy. By the same token, you will not win over any prospective ally or influencer as part of a coalition to purchase what you have to offer unless that person’s Child initiates the desire to secure your solution. (Note that buyers and influencers often have entirely different emotion-driven desires, and desires of varying strengths; for each individual, you’re looking to uncover for or more emotional desire strong enough to trigger a desire to take action.)
As important as all this is, David Sandler also recognized that simply “hooking” the prospect’s Child wasn’t the answer. He knew that people make buying decisions emotionally…and justify those decisions intellectually.
At some point, the prospect’s Parent is going to ask questions like, “Do you really need this?” and “Are you sure you’re not acting too impulsively?” What’s more, the prospect’s Adult is going to ask questions like, “Can you afford this?” and “Are there better alternatives?” As a result of these questions, the prospect may very well come to have second thoughts—and the sale that was “in the bag” may be put on hold.
That’s why the Sandler Selling System has Budget and Decision Steps—to satisfy the intellectual aspect of the decision. From the salesperson’s perspective, these are qualifying steps. From the prospect’s perspective, though, these steps provide an opportunity for the Parent and Adult to be involved in the process. The Parent and the Adult get to specify under what conditions the buying decision will be deemed appropriate and logically sound.
Transactional Analysis is the foundation of the Sandler Selling System. Its principles help you better understand your prospect’s three states of mind and how they influence buying decisions. Armed with the information that you must address the multifaceted aspects of the prospect— the Child, the Parent, and the Adult—and the Sandler Selling System that addresses each, you can:
- Position your product/service in such a manner that the Child says, “Yes, that’s what I want.”
- Describe your product in such a way that the Parent tells the Child, “OK, this seems to be the right thing to do. You have my permission.”
- Present your product/service in such a way that the Adult says to the Child,
“After weighing all the information, this makes good sense. Go ahead.”
