In all my reading on sales and selling, one of the best I have read which focuses on understanding people and what drives them to purchase is:

YES! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion by Noah J Goldstien, Steve J Martin, and Robert B Cialdini.

I would recommend this book to anyone in retail or sales because with every chapter it is like a light bulb goes off in your mind; you learn the philosophy behind many taken-for-granted customs in society that are really subliminal sales techniques. When you then transfer them into your situation or business it becomes a powerful tool to help assist in your business growth.

This book is a business bible for everyone who deals with people and are focused on customers.

Some examples of the best bits within the book which stuck for me are:

•    The psychology of getting people to do the right thing does not always comes from offering financial rewards or saying it’s the right thing to do; but by giving examples to the person of how they are part of a bigger movement. Showing the end result of the small effort from a collective of people can be more persuasive than the perception that it is just their effort that makes a difference. It’s like a domino effect!

•    Giving people more choices does not mean they will buy more. It can sometimes reduce the amount purchased because having to choose can seem like too much effort. Often smaller choices can increase the amount purchased i.e. chocolates in a pick and mix. If you offer 30 different flavours, shoppers are more inclined to choose their favourites - they are familiar with 6 so they grab 2 of each of their favourites (purchase = 12). So if instead there are only 12 to choose from, they may grab 2 of each flavour and get to try them all (purchase = 24). Therefore 12 extra by each person is then purchased! This is often the case, as to much selection can fluster purchases because it just gets too hard to make decisions.

•    What makes restaurants leave mints on your bill tray? Why do some have a big bowl at the register rather than on the bill tray? Which one then receives the best tips? Believe it or not, more often the restaurant which leaves only one or a few mints on a bill tray gets bigger tips than those with the endless supply at the register when you walk out. This was a great insight into the human psychology towards sales, purchases and gratitude -the one who left the mints in a tray got the biggest tips even though they gave away less and in return they got more! The book made me understand why.

That’s just some of the things I learnt from the book, and now I have started looking back on it, I am going to have to go read it again and remind myself of all the other things in the book that were so interesting.

Hayley Rhodes
Business Development Manager