Sex Sells

Sex Sells

Does it ..........? You bet it does.

© Linda Parkinson-Hardman/Alison Boyle 2009

The flake advert?

Look at it, closely It’s cheap, mass produced, chocolate (and the EU

would probably say it was ‘chocolate flavoured’ because of the amount of cocoa solid it contains)

It’s gone in an instant BUT – by eating it, ‘you too will be that girl in the

advert who is sexy, appealing and adventuress. You too can have this lifestyle.’

That’s what made it one of the most successful chocolate brands in the UK ever ….!


So why’s it important?

"People usually buy on emotion and then they justify it with logic.“ Zig Zigler

Therefore is it important to appeal to your customers emotions first and foremost. Benefits are the language of emotion. Even people who

insist that they buy logically or based on features do so because that’s what makes them feel better!

It is usually linked to a customers perception of themselves: For instance, why do some people shop at Tesco rather

than Asda, Aldi, Waitrose or M&S? Why might someone buy organic over cheap?


Why perception?

It’s what differentiates us: I have more/less money than you do I am a better/worse person than you are I have a bigger/smaller house than you do I am more successful/less successful than you

are I am nicer/nastier than you are


So how does this apply to a business?

Well, if you are selling on Emotions, then you need to sell the BENEFITS and

NOT the features


Features vs Benefits

FEATURES are just ‘so what’ They DESCRIBE the product in detail, they

are the sort of thing you read on the back of the packet – the list of ‘ingredients’ as it were.

Very few businesses understand what the benefits of their products and services are, let alone talk about them and, even fewer make the effort to get really good at translating features into benefits.


Benefits vs Features

BENEFITS on the other hand are powerful motivators

Strong words describing benefits are what trigger the emotions that motivate us to spend our money, time, or energy. People (including you and me) buy because of the positive emotions associated with the benefits. Usually because it makes us FEEL BETTER ………


Let’s try it out ....

Take any one of your services or products Decide on the features – it’s cheap, it’s expensive,

it’s fast, it’s slow, it’s made of this or that, it’s organic, it works like this …….

Agree a benefit – having this will make your customer feel – ‘a million dollars’, ‘successful’, ‘empowered’, ‘clean’, ‘healthy’.

Now, use those emotional triggers to see if you can find a way to make it sexy?

Let’s face it, if they can do it with loo roll, you can do it with anything


Conclusion

People buy on emotion – because it makes them feel good

Benefits trigger emotions Therefore if you can sell the emotional

aspects of your products and services, you will almost certainly increase your sales.

Business

Sex Sells