Understand Your Buyer’s Mindset With These 3 Essential Questions
Understanding how buyers buy is a combination of psychology, economics, and communication. But at the core of every business transaction is a person. Businesses don’t make purchases. Individuals do. Understanding a buyer’s mindset is key when entering a buying/selling conversation because, at the end of the day, they’re the ones choosing to spend their money with you.
You need to understand why a buying decision is being made and how the decision is being made. Thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and perceptions all influence how individuals purchase.
Humans are emotional beings. We like to think we can overcome our emotions and operate from level-headed logic when spending our hard-earned dollars. The fact that infomercials and influencers exist flies in the face of that reasoning.
The truth about buying is this: Buyers buy emotionally first and justify intellectually. Your buyers will determine how they feel about the purchasing factors and then seek to reinforce their decision with logic. Emotion always comes first.
Buyers have emotional responses to what we are telling them. If that response is positive, it leads them to move forward in the sales process. If the response is negative, they will retreat or begin to consider other options. Therefore, it’s important that it feels good to interact with you. Your goal as a seller is to create a positive experience that produces positive emotions - hope, delight, confidence, and security.
To get to that positive experience, though, you have to answer a few key questions your buyers have.
The Top 3 Questions Your Buyers Are Asking Themselves
At the very most basic level, questions of value, trust, and expectations will arise in any buying conversation. Your buyers are asking themselves these three questions whether they’re conscious of it or not:
What am I getting for my money?
Do I trust and like this person?
Do they solve problems for people like me?
Focusing on these influential factors forces us to tailor our offering appropriately and effectively. So, let’s look at each closely and why they matter to your buyers.
A Question About Value
When a buyer asks themself, “What am I getting for my money?” what they're evaluating is value. They want to do a cost-benefit analysis. If the price of your offering is higher than the perceived value of what they’ll gain, that will be a hard sell. They need to know that the money they give you will come back to them or produce some value.
Seeing a dollar-for-dollar match can help, it’s not always about dollars. Your potential clients are also looking to save time, improve processes, uplevel their status, save money, and improve their standing. There are a lot of tangible benefits that don’t have concrete dollar amounts affixed to them. If you can demonstrate what they are getting for the money they invest in you, then you’ve overcome one major selling hurdle.
The Like and Trust Factor
We like to do business with people we like and trust. Plain and simple. If your friend highly recommends a new dry cleaner because they had the best experience last week, you’re more inclined to use that dry cleaner than the one down your street who’s so-so.
Liking and trusting the people you choose to do business with matters. That’s why during any selling/buying situation, your buyers ask themselves, “Do I like and trust this person?” If yes, you’re far more likely to win that business.
Your Buyers Need to See Themselves
The final question your prospects and buyers ask is: Do they solve problems for people like me? You can demonstrate your value, and your prospects can like and trust you, but if they can’t identify themselves in your offerings or current clients, they’ll question whether you’re the right fit.
Consider a wedding photographer. They can have the most beautiful portfolio, reasonable prices, and come with thousands of five-star ratings. That will sell you if you’re a wedding client, but if you’re looking for a new headshot, you will question if they’re the right photographer for you. They need to see that you’re proficient in taking photos of executives and business owners – not just brides and grooms.
The same goes for your buyers. Can you show that you’ve solved problems that are similar to theirs? Do you work with people like them? If so, they’ll feel more aligned with you during the sales conversation.
Consider Your Buyer’s Mindset Every Time
Never underestimate the power of your mind and your prospect’s mind during a selling conversation. Since your prospects are considering spending their money and time with you, you must place them and their questions front and center. Their questions must be addressed to complete a sale with all parties excited about working together.
Your actions and intentions must be customer-centric to be in the right frame of mind. You have to demonstrate that you provide value. Your prospect has to like and trust you. They must know that you help and service people like them. If you can meet these mindset priorities, your buyer will be in the right frame of mind to buy.