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Thursday 5 March 2015

Winning Selling Reminders - the power of reinforcement A lesson from @MarsGlobal

Make a reminder sale (Mars

The importance of reinforcement selling - A lesson from Mars.


Take a quick look at the comparison buyer’s check-list below. Which company has the best offering?

                         Price      Range   Easy to use         Support        Delivery   Track record

Company A         X             X              X                        X                   X
Company B         X             X                                        X                                                         
Company C         X             X              X                       X                    X               X
Company D         X             X                                        X                   X                        

I guess we would go for Company “C “ because it ticks all the boxes. 

Yet what if actually ALL of the companies could have earned a tick in the buyer’s tick boxes because they all have a story to tell on these aspects - it’s just that only Company C actually mentioned them to the buyer.

This scenario is not as unlikely as it may at first sight seem.

For example have you ever been surprised when a client has commented that they did not realise your product offered a particular benefit which you had assumed they knew because somewhere along the line you had mentioned it before. 

 You  may well wonder how many previous opportunities you might have missed.




Trainers know about the Ebinhaus Forgetting curves  and so should sales people. 


In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus extrapolated the hypothesis of the exponential nature of forgetting in particular  - 'transience' – forgetting that occurs over time.

These curves demonstrate the importance of reinforcing sales messages.

Communicators in Marketing  know the importance of reminding and reinforcement methods. Here are two popular models that include reminding and reinforcing.

A             Andrew Ehrenburg   statistician  and marketing scientist. Model  c 1997

      1. Awareness   2.  Trial   3. Reinforcement   4. Nudging
  1.  Let your customer know you exist.
  2.  Curiosity rather than persuasion could lead to the trial of the product 
  3. Provide reassurance in the brand 
  4. Remindreinforce- repeat purchase


B             The DRIP model ( Chris Fill – University of Portsmouth)

Differentiate  -be different from your competition
Remind – who are we? What do we stand for?
Inform – features and benefits

Persuade – Why is it right for your customer?


A Thought experiment

Just for a moment – try this thought game.

Imagine you have just picked up a Mars bar.   

You tear the wrapper and break the seal and you get the first smell of the chocolate bar.   

You tear round the rattling paper wrapper  and address the bar to your mouth.
The chocolate smell intensifies in your nostrils. 

 You then bite first through the chocolate coating , then the gooey caramel and then to the firmer nougat and 'pow',  the sweetness hits you.

Quite possibly you may even be salivating or recoiling from reading this description. It has brought about a strong physical reaction.

 How many of your customers foam at the mouth with excitement on hearing your offering?

 Not many , if any, I suspect.  We all know what a Mars bar is.

 Question : If we are so familiar with a Mars bar, why on earth do Mars spend huge sums of money advertising them ?  

Answer: To remind us. And remind us we can eat a Mars bar any time hence their  ‘magic of 3s’ slogan – “A Mars a day , helps you work, rest and play.” Now contracted in our busy ‘to go’ lives to “ work rest play”.

   

So after giving your client a damned good listening to, don’t forget to remind them of your key benefits to gently reinforce you message in your presentations.


Training refresher tip:         When was the last time you read through your Offer Analysis to ensure your sales gun magazine is loaded with relevant benefit bullets?


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