Psychology Sells

It's no secret. The more you know about the psychology of selling, the more sales you will make. If you do business on the internet, it is extremely important that you know how to effectively communicate to your audience using the written word. The problem is, your audience isn't one massive, homogonous blob made up of all the same stuff. Each person in your audience is different and responds to different messages in different ways. Luckily, psychologists have narrowed the blob down to six personality traits with specific hot buttons. When you push as many of these hot buttons as you can, using perfectly polished copy, you increase your profits. And that's the whole point, isn't it? Take a look at the list of personalities and their Hot buttons. See where you fit in and then incorporate as many hot buttons as you can into the copy of your sales letters, email, website and any other promotional material that you produce. Fact Finders These people are obsessed with specifics. The more specifics and hard numbers that you can use, the more likely you are to turn these people into customers. HOTBUTTONS: Facts, numbers, statistics Scratch-My-Backers This group of people are motivated to action when you display a willingness to do something for them in return for their action. HOTBUTTONS: Rewards, incentives Tried and Truers Some 'Tried and Truers' are actually scared to try new things. These people need to know that they are not the first ones to try out this new idea. They need to know that what ever you are offering has been tried before and has proven successful. HOTBUTTONS: Examples of other's success, testimonials Feelers These are emotional people, often making spur of the moment purchases. By creating the right mood and stirring the right feelings, these people are motivated buyers. HOTBUTTONS: Positive reinforcement, vivid and picturesque copy Benefiters Exactly like their title, benefiters want to know about the benefits of what you are selling. You need to show these people how your product or service will help them reach their goals. HOTBUTTONS: Wants and needs focused copy Sense of Priders These people respond to offers that give them a sense of pride, meaning and visualization. HOTBUTTONS: Strong symbols and positive images: vision, dreams, goals, the big picture. And there you have the six personality traits that we all share as human beings. Try to use as many of the hot buttons as you can to increase your sales and profits exponentially. To find out approximately what percentage of your market belongs to each category, try this simple test. Write six ads. Formulate each ad to appeal to a specific group of personality traits. Run each ad once in your regular advertising spots and track the results of each ad. Try this approach with different publications. You'll be surprised, different publications appeal to different segments of the personality trait scale. Good luck with your marketing, have fun and I'll see you on the beaches of the world.