#15: The Science of Hope: Exploring the Emotional Side of Sales
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Boost Sales with Power of Hope
Are you struggling trying to make sales in your coaching or service-based business?
Do you wonder why likes and follows on social media don't translate to real conversions?
We're here to unlock the remarkable power of hope in achieving sales success.
While you've been focusing on crafting the perfect sales pitch, your potential clients have been seeking a beacon of hope. They're not after your product features or inclusions; they crave the fulfilment of their hopes - be it better sleep, more energy, or something else entirely.
But don't be mistaken. This isn't just a marketing strategy; it's a way to make deep connections and stand out from the crowd.
This episode dives into the power of customer emotions, exploring the psychology and science behind them. Discover how realising people's hopes can be a game-changer in reaching your business goals.
Learn why fear-based marketing, while encouraging quick action, may not be the most effective method in the long run. Instead, tapping into the emotions that drive customers' buying behaviours can skyrocket your growth. So, welcome aboard - let's embark on this journey of selling hope together!
Main Points
0:00 Boost Sales with Power of Hope
3:50 People Are Searching For Answers To Three Things
5:59 The Secret Sauce to Selling Your Services
7:58 Power of Hope in Marketing/Sales
11:54 'Likes' Don't Equal Sales
15:37 People Buy the Hope of the Transformation
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LISTEN + SUBSCRIBE ON APPLE PODCASTS + SPOTIFY
Hi, I’m Samantha Bell
I’m all about helping you build the business – and life – you’ve always wanted.
Listen in for the simple, actionable strategies, mindset shifts, and practices you need to make your business thrive. Plus, a healthy dose of self-care, health, and wellness so you can live the life you absolutely adore while building your beautiful business.
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Transcription
00:00 Boost Sales with the Power of Hope
Welcome back to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast. If you're listening in, it's most likely because you've either just started your business, or you might be a few years in and wanting to zhush things up a little, or you may even be considering starting a high aside hustle while you're still in your nine to five. Either way, you're in the right place. Today's conversation, I'm chatting with you about boosting your sales using the power of hope. Welcome to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast, where we share simple, actionable strategies plus the mindset and wellness practices you need to build the business and life you love. Head to 16thavecreative.com/playbook and download your free guide to design the business and life you deserve. Today, I'm your host, Samantha Bell, and this is the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast. Are you ready for the business and life of your dreams? Let's get started.
If you're struggling to make sales in your coaching or service-based business, don't worry; you are not alone. You're not the only person that it happens to. It happens to everybody at some point, and one of the reasons will be you may not be connecting properly with your perfect-fit clients, with your ideal audience, whatever you like to call them. You may be missing a little connector, and that connector is what I call hope. It's what will help you stand out from the crowd and create that really meaningful connection with your audience. And it is so incredibly important, now more than ever, to do this because there's so much noise out there, there's so much competition. Everyone's scrolling madly on their feed on their socials. They're googling, trying to find what it is they need, and if you're not connecting with people on that deeper level, they're going to find someone who does. This might sound a little counterintuitive or a little bit harsh, but stay with me because it is important. People do not care about your services or your packages. They don't care how many sessions they get. They don't care what your training and skills are or if you've sold 10,000 coaching packages to completely satisfied clients. While providing that information and as much social proof as possible is really crucial to your overall marketing and making sure that all potential clients know this information about you, those details are not what will have your potential clients rushing to buy your packages or services and happily handing over their hard-earned cash and choosing you over their competitors - because that's not the driver behind their buying behaviours. The driver behind people clicking your buy an hour button is far more nuanced than that. Potential clients. They're not searching for the inclusions. They're not searching for how many coaching sessions you're going to give them. They're not searching for how long your sessions are. They're not searching for anything of those details. That's sort of like expecting people to search the terms and conditions page on your website and get that to do the selling for you. No one starts a Google search looking for the inclusions or terms of a product or service. They're not looking for that. They're not looking for how many likes you have on Instagram. They're not looking for how many reviews you have.
03:50 People Are Searching for Answers To Three Things
Initially, what they are likely searching for on Google is three questions: A what, a where or a how question. So have a think about that. What is their motivation to start searching? Let's use sleep as an example.
04:09
If someone has trouble sleeping and they think it's because of their sheets, what will they start searching for? What would they type into the Google search engine? Would they start typing in 2000-thread Egyptian cotton sheets? Probably not. What they would most likely start searching for would be along the lines of their problem. They would start searching for questions related to the problem they're having. So, they might put in something like what type of sheets will give me the best night's sleep? So, let's take a deeper look at that question.
04:42
What are they actually searching for? What is their motivation? They've got rubbish sleep. They want a good night's sleep so they can feel better, so they can get through the day more easily, so they can have more energy and not start yawning at three o'clock every day so they can look younger or feel healthier. They're hoping that sleep is going to give them all of those things.
05:06
Now, they're not searching for sleep. They're searching for the vehicle that is going to fulfill their hope for sleep, and in this case, in this example, we're using that is sheets. They're searching for sheets because they think that sheets are going to solve their sleeping problem. Hope is the driving factor in their quest for sheets. They probably don't really care if the solution to the lack of sleep is sheets or a sleep mask or, doing some meditation or having a hot bath or using essential oils. They probably don't care what the thing is that will satisfy their hope for sleep, but the hope is the driver and the motivation behind their search. So that's why hope is so important in your marketing and to your business. So, welcome to the wonderful world of selling hope.
05:59 The Secret Sauce to Selling Your Services
This is what you need to start doing because it truly is the secret sauce that makes all the difference when it comes to selling your coaching or service products. You need to forget about the sales pitches. Embrace the power of emotion, aspiration, connection because, at the end of the day, people don't buy products or services. They buy hope. So, let's discuss why you need to sprinkle a little bit of that, something special hope, into all of your copywriting, all of your marketing, every touchpoint in your business, to drive sales and get you more leads, or the other way around get more leads and drive more sales.
06:38
Hope is actually one of the most powerful human emotions, and it is what causes people to take action, and it's the same in your service or coaching business. People come to you because of their perception, what they believe, think or feel about you, and when they choose to work with you, their perception is that you are going to fulfil their hope, that you are going to provide the solution to them, getting what they want, to obtaining their desire, which is the end result or what they are seeking. That's why talking to the hope within their hearts is going to naturally connect them to you and easily lead to more sales and more genuine, perfect-fit clients finding you and coming to you, because hope is the anticipation of the transformation, they'll enjoy by working with you. Now, most of the advice that you receive from business coaches and marketers and on the social media it all focuses on how to get in front of people and connect with them by getting in front of them. Now, that is really important. You need to get in front of people for them to be able to connect with you. But if you just leave it at that, they're getting in front and then just talking about what you do is lacking that key component of hope.
07:58 Power of Hope in Marketing and Sales
Now, I have found the best connector in selling anything is speaking to the hope within people's hearts and minds and recognising the intrinsic motivation and power that it has in making people take action. So, you've got to remember that you're selling to humans, and humans are emotional beings. We're surrounded by robots and AI and chatbots and all sorts of things, and it's easy to get caught up in that world. But if you, if you sort of just keep thinking about automation and taking people out of the equation, you're really missing this key component because if you're relying on those things to connect with people for you, you're going to create a huge divide, a gap, a big disconnect, so you need to keep thinking about the human being that's circling around your services and your packages and what they're hoping to receive from them.
08:56
Another way to explain this is emotional connection. Like I just said, we humans are emotional beings, so delving into the psychology and the science of customer emotions is really critical for you to get the most from your marketing and sales activities. And if you're listening to this podcast, you're most likely a heart centred small business or service provider, and that means you as an individual and your business model are probably more aligned to embracing the use of hope in your sales and marketing plan, and you're probably going to be able to be really good at it and be far more effective in it than other businesses that aren't heart cantered. So, use this to your advantage. You've got this natural affinity and care for people, so use that for good, not evil, because you want to help people, you're empathetic and you care about your clients and people's needs. So, what we're talking about here is simply connecting with people's needs to have their hope realized, and that your services are the vehicle for that. It's really powerful stuff.
10:02
Now think about follower numbers. Many brands and small businesses might have huge social media followings and be really liked and trusted, but a lot of them actually don't align themselves with the emotions that drive their customers buying behaviours. How many times have you heard that someone's got I don't know how many thousands of followers, but they're not getting sales. So, they might be entertaining people but it's not translating to money in the bank, it's not translating to new leads, it's not translating to a growing email list, it's not relating to more discovery calls and it's certainly not relating to more actual sales. And that's because they have this disconnect and it's because they're not talking to the hope which is driving the decision-making process behind people's buying behaviours. So, yeah, that's why they're not enjoying the growth behind the business.
11:02
When you're marketing your business, it's actually really easy to get caught up in focusing on your following numbers, the number of likes you have, the number of visitors to your website, the number of comments that you have. That's a bit of a danger zone and the reason being is there are lots of businesses and brands and influencers and whatever They've got really amazing social followings, lots of really good engagement but behind the scenes they're not getting conversions. They're not getting the people that are interacting with them. They're being entertained because the content that they're putting out there isn't connecting to the message of hope, to that intrinsic value that people are searching for and wanting to help them make a decision to buy. So, well they might follow someone because they have really great content.
11:54 ‘Likes’ Don’t Equal Sales
Quite often a lot of businesses will say I've got so many followers and I'm doing this, that and the other and I'm getting lots of engagement, but my email list isn't growing, I'm not getting people signing up for my lead magnet, I'm not getting any discovery calls and I'm certainly not getting new clients booking with me. And that's because they're not speaking to the emotions that are driving their customers buying behaviours, which is particularly hope, and that's why they're not enjoying real growth in their business and sales. Growth on socials is not growing your business. Money in the bank, more clients, more work that is business growth, not vanity metrics. So it's important to know the difference here and how focusing on hope in your marketing can really help you grow.
12:47
So, when people make a purchase, they're buying your services because they think that by doing so they're going to get a transformation. You're going to provide something to them that is transformational to their life. So, by using hope-based communication, you're going to touch a dream that's inside people's souls, so you can make potential clients feel that your programs or services, they might make them a better version of themselves, or they'll solve a specific problem, or they'll satisfy a lifelong dream or desire, or, if it's more business to business, services move them further along the path that they want to travel, rather than staying on their current journey, which may not be serving them any longer. So, what does that tell you? Are they buying your program or service? No, they're not. Like I said before, people don't care about your programs or your services. They care about buying the hope that your program or service will bring them, and that is what makes them get out their credit card. And when customers feel hope about what your product will do for them, they're more likely to look to you as the solution to their problems and, once you've solved this initial problem, to keep coming back to you. So then you have not only a new client, you will, down the track, have a repeat client who is then going to also refer other people to you. So that is the power of hope.
14:14
Now, Seth Godin. He says that people and not just in purchasing but in anything people act if they feel one of these three emotions fear, hope, or love. Now, an example of fear-based marketing is FOMO Fear of Missing Out and it's used for time-based offers and it's really highly effective and it encourages people to act immediately, particularly if you're having a sale or you're selling a course and there's only three spots left, or you need a quick cash injection into your business so you put up a, you know, a new product that's a one-time only thing, that sort of thing really effective, but that on its own is not going to grow your business, because if you haven't spoken to the elephant in the room and to find the hope driving the desire to purchase, you’re more likely to miss out on the sale, regardless of the FOMO element. So, focusing on the fear, it works really well for customers who already know you, clients that have already worked with you, people that are already wanting to work with you and have sort of decided to, and that just pushes them across the line. But as far as getting in new leads and connecting with them so that they do become clients, it doesn't work because you're missing that element of hope.
15:37 People Buy the Hope of the Transformation
Remember, people don't buy products. They buy better versions of themselves. Everything people buy is attached to an element of hope, and so it's really important to remember this when you're writing copy for your next product launch and your sales page and your podcast episodes or your Facebook ad, whatever it is. Remember this when you're putting it all together. You should try to subtly intermingle hope into every line and in all your client interactions, whether it's in your content, writing on your social media, on your Zoom calls, in your email marketing. Just focus on your client and how you make them feel and the hope that they have in you. Talk to their hope in you. Are you giving them that hope, or are you so focused on the features of your amazing products or services that you've forgotten all about how you make your clients feel?
16:29
There's a saying, a little quote, that I love, and it's by Peter Zalenga, and he sells lipstick, and the quote is in our factory we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope. So, his product is lipstick, but it connects with his clients through the feeling he gives them, which is hope. So, anyone who buys his lipstick buys it because, not because it's the particular shade of coral or red or whatever it is, because you can get those colours anywhere. They are connecting with his messaging and he's selling them hope, hope that it's going to make them feel amazing about themselves or look more beautiful, or whatever it is that they're hoping for. That's what he's talking to. So that is what I'm talking about with you today, and it's something that really great marketers and businesses around the world have mastered.
17:25
So, if you think of some of your favourite brands or companies, next time you're looking at them and ad pops up or you get an email if you've subscribed to their list, have a really good look at it. What makes you buy from them? And I can almost guarantee that none of these businesses you purchase from have unique products. They're most likely thousands of other variations available around the world. So have a look at their marketing, look at the emotions they invoke and there's most likely a really good dose of hope inside. Hope to make you the person. Hope to make you feel more gorgeous. Hope to make you happier, skinnier, fatter, taller, whatever it is you're hoping for. They're probably talking to that, and if you take the time to analyse the hope driver behind clients purchasing your services, you can then really address that straight away in all of your marketing and the results will be a more immediate connection with your potential clients and you'll establish a level of trust that's beyond just being light.
18:34
Hope is really powerful, and it drives people to do amazing things. So, remember that people don't buy products or services. They buy hope. They buy the idea that you, your coaching, your services, whatever it is you have, is going to improve their lives in some way. So, whether you're selling a fitness program or a financial service or whatever it is, the key is to paint the hopeful future that your product or service is going to give someone and weaving a good dose of this hope throughout every touchpoint of your business your website, your sales pages, emails, social media, your podcast, whatever it is. Wherever you're in front of people, it's going to create really amazing results for your business. By appealing to your audience's emotions and aspirations, you're going to create a powerful connection, and that connection will inspire them to take action, which is going to then benefit you in the long run with more leads and sales. So, the next time you're doing anything in your business, remember the power of hope.
19:46
Does your messaging and content marketing trip with hope? At 16th Ave Creative Studio. We write copy that does precisely that beautifully, elegantly, boldly. Whatever voice you have, it all drips with hope. So, level up your hope factor with us today. Book your free call and we can help you weave hope into your marketing and get you more leads and more sales and boost your business with the power of hope. Thanks so much for listening. I'd love to know your biggest takeaway from today's episode, so leave me a comment below or send a DM on Instagram. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button wherever you listen to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast and feel free to share it with someone else who'll love it too. I look forward to seeing you for the next episode and remember the time is now for your Brilliant Business and the beautiful life you adore.
