Decisions Are Made With Emotion, Justified With Logic

There has been a lot written about emotions and decisions. They all point to the same thing. People decide based on emotion and justify based on logic. Research shows that when you remove emotion, you remove the ability to decide. This has massive implications for sales professionals. Using emotions to drive change instead of logic provides resonance with the prospects Unique Buying Strategy. Removing emotion removes the ability to decide. Have you ever had a session and the prospect saw the logic of your solution but never engaged? This is because decision and emotion are more closely tied together than decision and logic.

“The human mind does not run on logic any more than a horse runs on petrol” ― Rory Sutherland, Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense 

Charles Darwin suggested that emotions were an evolutionary tool that was developed to help us survive. The broaden-and-build theory is an exploration of the evolved function of emotions. It was developed by Barbara Fredrickson starting around 1998. The theory suggests that positive emotions (viz. enjoyment/happiness/joy, and perhaps interest/anticipation) broaden one’s awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions. For example, curiosity about a landscape becomes valuable navigational knowledge; pleasant interactions with a stranger become a supportive friendship; aimless physical play becomes exercise and physical excellence.

This contrasts with negative emotions, which prompt narrow, immediate survival-oriented behaviors. For example, the negative emotion of anxiety leads to the specific fight-or-flight response for immediate survival. On the other hand, positive emotions do not have any immediate survival value, because they take one’s mind off immediate needs and stressors. However, over time, the skills and resources built by broadened behavior enhance survival.

• 80% of consumers with high emotional engagement will prompt a brand they are loyal to among their friends and family.  -CapGemini

Think of your prospects focus like a zoom lens on a camera. Emotion drives what our lens can perceive and is either condensing or expanding. Condensing or negative emotions narrow options whereas positive emotions expand our perception of what is possible. Equally negative emotions will repel whereas positive emotions attract. They operate much like masculine and feminine energy in that they are polar opposites. Understanding whether your client is moving towards or away allows you to see the Unique Buying Strategy the prospect is operating out of. Without understanding the emotion that drives the decision, you cannot influence the outcome.

Mastery in sales requires the skill of influencing emotion. Emotion is the fuel that drives change. Therefore, we spend 4 weeks drilling down into how emotion is influenced. You can’t influence your prospect without influencing them emotionally. Download the appand get started now.