(Please enjoy this guest blog post from VITALY GRINBLAT)

Here’s a big, bold promise:

You’re about to learn 6 crucial psychological triggers that will help you generate more leads, get more sales, and make MORE MONEY … starting today!

Now, before we dive in, let me take a second and tell you WHY we want to use psychological triggers and persuasion to get people to take action.

After all, if you sell a good product, shouldn’t it sell on its own?

Wouldn’t people just line up in frenzy outside your door, so to speak, and demand to buy your product, service or join your business?

Yeah, well, unfortunately … that’s wishful thinking.

If that was the case, companies wouldn’t need marketing departments, sales people, or advertising budgets.

Here’s what you have to remember…

Even though you might have a great product that makes total sense to own or a business any perfectly logical and rational human being should join … the reality is …

People DO NOT buy with logic

They buy with emotion.

Or to be more accurate, people make all their decisions with a very old part of our brain, called the reptilian brain. Or the lizard brain. Or the monkey brain. (All depends on who you listen to).

This part of our brain is very primitive. It understands fear, hunger, lust, threat, desire, survival, curiosity, etc… much better than “why something makes sense.”

When a monkey sees a banana, there’s not much “logical” thinking going on. It just reacts. So you could say that our reptilian brain simply reacts to stimuli.

And this is where decisions are made. This is that “gut feeling” you get when something feels either right or wrong.

Notice I said “feels,” not “thinks.”

So to get people to purchase your product, you need to get them excited (an emotion) about doing it.

However, emotion alone is not enough. We still need to back up our emotional decision with some logical reasoning.

So the bottom line is – you need both. A healthy dose of emotional selling to get them all revved up, and a logical reason for them to justify it.

Ok, enough with the theory. Let’s dig right in and discover how to get more people to gladly say YES to our offers.

Psychological Power Triggers

Power Trigger Number 1 – FEAR

We are all motivated to take ANY action by either pain or pleasure. We either want to avoid pain… OR… move towards pleasure. And avoiding pain is by far a much greater motivator.

Sure we want nicer things:

Make more money
Buy a better house
Nicer car
Travel around the world

But the fear of bill collectors knocking on or door or the possibility of losing our house in foreclosure will make us do the things that no goal or dream will ever motivate us to do.

Again, it’s our reptilian brain kicking in because we are in survival mode.

This goes back to the day of the caveman. When faced with a saber-toothed tiger he had two choices. Fight or flight. That automatic response is hard-wired into us.

When faced with a stressful situation, like the possibility of threat or some kind of danger, this hard-wired conditioning kicks in and we are motivated to act.

This is why scarcity (the fear of missing out) works so well in marketing.

Only X number or spots available!
The discount ends in X number of days!
We’re only accepting X number of people into the coaching program!

Case in point:

Recently I needed to buy one of these cargo bags that go on the roof of the car, as we’re getting ready for a trip. And with 3 kids, there just isn’t enough room in the back of my SUV.

So I found a good one on Amazon.

Now I had a few weeks before I actually needed it and so I, like everyone else, have been procrastinating about getting it.

But when I saw this particular one on Amazon, even though I had no plans to buy at that moment, the listing said there were only 2 in stock.

BOOM! Instant fear of potentially missing out.

Guess what? I bought on the spot, right there and then.

Now that was a very subtle use of fear. And it’s just one of many ways you can use it.

But you can be a lot more aggressive by talking about fear, threat, or danger upfront in your message.

A classic headline – “Do You Make These 5 Mistakes in English” – is another great example. This was one of the longest running and most famous ads of all time. I believe it ran for something like 40 years.

There are lot of psychological reasons why it worked so well, which we’re not going to discuss now, but just look at the fear angle.

The word “mistakes” makes you think that you might look foolish. No one wants to make mistakes, right?

This headline has been successfully used in virtually every market.

Look at these other examples I found:

Are These 4 Hormones Making You Fat?
Are You Making These 5 Horrible Bedroom Mistakes? (double whammy here – mistakes and horrible)
Are You Making These 10 Training Mistakes?
Are You Making These Street Fighting Mistakes?

You can easily adapt this to any product. Let’s make something up:

Are You Making These 3 Facebook Mistakes That Are Skyrocketing Your Advertising Costs?
Are You Making These 3 Fatal Recruiting Mistakes?
Are You Making These Response-Killing Mistakes In Your Emails?

Don’t these almost make you want to read more? When used correctly, fear based approach can be extremely powerful.

So use it with CAUTION.

Power Trigger #2 – PROOF

People buy on proof. When you have proof, sometimes that’s all you need to make the sale. Because proof builds belief.

And when you can raise their belief in what you’re saying, the game is over. It’s all downhill from there.

When I was in my old traditional direct sales business, I ran opportunity meetings every Tuesday.

I had a lot of great info to throw at the attendees. But the absolute best part, the most emotionally gripping one, the one that “sealed the deal” for those who joined, was the part about success stories:

When I would show a former Fed Ex guy who now makes $2 Million a year,
Or a retired Army sergeant who’s now making $150,000 a year,
Or a stay-at-home mom, who joined and is now on pace to make $250,000 this year.

We had a book of all the $100,000+ earners, and it was pretty thick. And I would show that and just start flipping through pages.

You could see the room instantly light up with energy like New York City at night.

But proof doesn’t have to be just stories of people making money or other “result-based” testimonials. Although these are the ultimate.

Proof can also be facts that back up your claims. Expert quotes for example. When something is the news.

Specifics also build belief. When quoting numbers, don’t say “my ad did great.”

Be specific – “My method of placing ads on Facebook generated 82 leads and 3 sales in one day. Making me a net profit of $175.” Now that’s specific.

Guarantees can serve as proof as well. And how you state them can significantly boost the belief in what you’re saying.

“I’m so confident this _____ will work for you that I’m willing to take all the risk, and let you try this program for 30 days on me.”

Proof is a powerful tool to have in your arsenal of persuasion techniques. The more proof you inject in your message, the more powerful and compelling it’ll be.

Power Trigger Number 3 – REASON WHY

“Reason Why” actually can be tied to proof as well. Because when you give a reason WHY you’re doing this or saying something, it makes it much more believable.

Years ago, Robert Chialdini wrote about an experiment in his book – “Influence: The Science of Persuasion” (a must for any serious student of marketing).

The experiment was done by a Harvard Professor who sent her subjects to make copies at the library and try to cut in line.

In the first experiment, they asked someone in the line “Excuse me, I have 5 pages, may I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?” 94% of the time they got a yes.

In the 2nd experiment, the person asked “Excuse me, I have 5 pages, may I use the Xerox machine?” 60% of the time people who were asked complied.

Makes sense right?

But here’s the kicker…

In the final experiment, the person asked “Excuse me, I have 5 pages, can I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?”

93% of the people said YES.

Almost as many as the ones who were given a potentially “legitimate” reason (I’m in a rush.)

This is absolutely fascinating. We are conditioned to accept something when it is preceded by – because.

I’m going to let you grab this training at 50% off, because _______
The reason I’m excited about what I’m going to share with you right now is because _______
The reason Elite Marketing PRO affiliates are having so much success is because we are constantly optimizing our sales funnels… testing and tweaking to make sure our conversions are high, which means more sales and money into your pocket.

See how that works?

Now using what we just learned from Robert Cialdini’s book, that any reason may be good enough, you can use the most absurd things.

For example…

Right now there’s some road repair going on near our neighborhood. The flower shop on the corner of one of the roads which is getting repaired, put up a sign:

“Road Repair Sale – all flowers 30% off!”

Funny, but it works.

Power Trigger Number 4 – CURIOSITY

One of my favorites and one I use all the time. And you should, too.

Some say, and I fully agree, that curiosity is the most powerful emotion you can tap into with your marketing.

Why do you think people click on silly videos on YouTube or Facebook?

Because they’re curious.

Want to see a great example of curiosity-driven marketing?

Just walk into any supermarket. Go to the checkout counter and look at the tabloid covers.

All those headlines and bullets are extremely curiosity-provoking.

Here are just a few…

Inside Tom’s HOUSE OF HORRORS! (with picture of Tom Cruise)
Simon Cowell’s DIRTY SECRETS!
Michael Douglas GAY SHOCKER!
Angelina Walks In On Brad & Jen!
Obama’s Daughters: Their School Busted in COCAINE SCANDAL!
Sarah Palin’s DARK SECRETS!
Katie TRAPPED! (pic of Katie Holmes)

Ok, obviously these are pretty shocking, bizarre and over-the-top headlines.

But they do a great job tickling one’s curiosity bone, don’t they?

Trust me, they wouldn’t be occupying your supermarket’s PRIME real estate at the checkout counter if they didn’t.

Now how could you use this?

Notice the curiosity-provoking words used in these headlines, and see how you can apply them.

Facebook Marketing’s DIRTY SECRETS!
List-Building SHOCKER!
Affiliate Marketer BUSTED by the FBI — Goes to Prison! (true story BTW)
Is your online business TRAPPED?

See how that works?

We are all by nature very, very curious. And you can easily tap into your prospect’s curiosity with your headlines, email subject lines, blog-video-article titles… and so on.

Ok, let’s move on.

Power Trigger Number 5 – AUTHORITY

Since childhood, we are programmed to listen to authority. Our parents, our teachers, community leaders, etc…

This deeply embedded programming stays with us well into our adult years.

This is why people believe what they see and hear on TV, Radio, and the Internet. You may argue that they don’t. But I promise you, every one of us listens to some kind of authority figure.

Online, it’s actually pretty simple to create this kind of authority in your market. You do it with a blog.

Let’s say you start looking for information about nutrition and health. You find some blog post online from Anne Smith (I just made that up.)

You read the post and it makes a lot of sense. Then you see there are links to other posts, which you quickly scan.

You then type “Anne Smith” into your Google search bar and see there are dozens of articles and posts by her. And even mentions of Anne Smith on a couple of big health blogs you follow (because she was a guest blogger there.)

BOOM. Instant credibility and authority.

When you read a sales letter for an eBook Anne Smith is selling, you are now a lot more receptive and open to everything she says.

Why?

Because you perceive her as someone who has authority.

And anyone can do what Anne Smith did. Create valuable content that your audience will love you and you’ll position yourself as a person of authority, and a credible voice in your market.

Power Trigger Number 6 – AUTHENTICITY

This is another BIGGIE. And few people really talk about this, and how crucial it is to your marketing.

Remember, people will NOT do business with someone they do not trust. People also DO NOT want to do business with phonies.

And one of the quickest ways to create trust is to be REAL. Authentic.

Your prospects need to get a “feeling” or a “sense” of you as real. This is why regular daily emails are important.

Here are some ways you can do this:

Share personal experiences
Talk about your family
Talk about your pets
Talk about your mistakes
Reveal some of your pains, frustrations and fears
Don’t come across as someone who is “perfect” (People are not perfect)
Talk about your story, the issues you had to overcome
Share your values and principles
Don’t be afraid to take a stance (It’s okay to have an opinion, people respect that.)

You see, people like people who are like THEM.

When you reveal these kinds of things about yourself, it makes you human. Your prospects, on a subconscious level, are saying – “WOW, he/she is just like me.”

And that’s really different than almost everything they see come into their inbox every day.

The faster you can show someone you are a REAL person, the quicker you’ll gain their trust and turn them from a lead in your autoresponder into a raving fan.

And THAT is how you build a loyal following and get more people saying YES to you.

So here you go, the six psychological power triggers you need to use in your marketing:

Fear
Proof
Reason Why
Curiosity
Authority
Authenticity

If you can consistently infuse these six triggers into your marketing, everything you say will carry much more weight and make you more influential with your audience …

… making you a lot more money in the process!

If you enjoyed these tips and would like to dive deeper into the psychology of sales, allow me to reveal that…

There is a secret to selling literally ANYTHING.

And once you “get” this concept you’ll be able to successfully market ANY kind of a product or business opportunity.

The tricky part?

This secret doesn’t have anything to do with what you’re selling.

In fact, it can’t even be sold…

…even though it’s an extremely valuable asset (possibly your business’ MOST valuable asset).

This secret will transform your business overnight and allow you to quickly create a massive downline WITHOUT even promoting your business opportunity.

This ONE TIP has been responsible for launching a wave of million dollar earners.

Learn more about it right here.

‘Til next time.

Moni Arora’s Blog