Persuasion Tool #8 – Risk Reversal
Let’s continue learning a few tools that will help you deal with resistance. Why do people say “NO”? Why do you get resistance when it is a perfect match? We talked about one of the R’s last time; this tool is used to combat one of the four R’s of resistance. This week will be R number two.
The second R of resistance is risk. The risk of taking action is higher than the reward. What does that mean? How does risk cause resistance? Your goal as a persuader is to help decrease the distance someone has to go to reach your objective. The more involved people become or if you can get them started, the easier they are to persuade and continue in that direction. If the distance looks too great – they will never get started. For example, if you put on your shoes to go to the store you’re more likely to continue in that direction.
If risk is an issue you might hear:
• Too expensive
• I don’t see the benefit
• How’s this going to help me?
• I don’t want to rock the boat
• I don’t see it working for us
• I’ve tried it before
• Too complicated
• We’ve never needed it before
A great way to overcome risk is using involvement and increase participation. When you can involve your prospect, engage your audience mentally or physically – your prospect is easier to persuade. The risk goes down because they’re engaged. They can visualize themselves doing it. This creates a shortcut in their mind. They are now able to see themselves using your product or service and that dramatically reduces the risk.
Here’s one aspect of involvement. What if a car dealership charged $50 to test drive a car? Nobody would do it. The car dealership wants you in the store. They want you to smell that new car smell. They want you to feel the nice leather seats. They want you to experience the power of the engine. In fact, high end dealerships now will show up to your house 3-4 years after you’ve bought a new car. They will ask, “Can you do us a favor? Can you drive this new model around for 2 weeks and let us know what you think?
After 2 weeks -You’re done. Sign the papers because you have a new car. They created the experience for you. It’s new. It performs better. The neighbors all said something about the new car. It has more features. In sales there’s something called the puppy dog close, you see this with pet stores. You tell your young daughter, “No, no, no. We’re not getting a dog. OK we’re just going to look.” The store owner can see your apprehension and what happens? “Hey, just take the dog home for the weekend and if it doesn’t work out, bring it back.” You already know the end to that situation.
You can also reduce the resistance if you can put your product or service in their hands. They have to see it, taste it, touch it, feel it, use it and become part of it. That is powerful persuasion because they’re persuading themselves. The risk goes down; the reward goes up because they’ve already experienced the benefits first hand. You can tell them all day long about that powerful product you drink; it’ll give you more energy. It’ll help you sleep better. Probably true, but it doesn’t matter. “Here, try it for a month. Try it for a week. Try it for a day.” It’s much more powerful because it creates that experience.
Here is an interesting case study – Post-It Notes. When Post-It Notes were introduced to the market, they were considered a complete failure. Why didn’t people purchase Post-It Notes? Nobody ever experienced a Post-It Note before. How do you explain it? A staple-free, reusable, re-sticky note thing? You’ve never needed it before. You’ve never used it before. Why do you need it now?
It was a disaster. What did they do? They returned all the Post-It Notes to the headquarters and they devised a new game plan. They sent Post-It Notes to all to the secretaries and assistants of all of the Fortune 500 CEOs and Presidents. They started to use and experience Post-It Notes. It became part of their routine and the rest is history.
Application
Take a look at your product, your service or your idea. How can your prospect taste it, touch it, feel it, use it, experience it so they can see/feel the benefits up front. This will reduce the risk in their mind. Is it a 2 week trial or test run? How can they experience it? Even watching a video of somebody else doing it can create mental involvement. How can they see themselves being successful using it or solving their problem?
If those techniques are not available, you can always offer a warranty or guarantee. Get them to experience your product or service and you’ll see a big difference in the reduction of resistance. Your prospect can now experience the benefits, they can see the solution and it reduces the risk and increases the reward.