5 Core Principles 7-Figure Earners Use When Selling Online The bigger picture when it comes to marketing is learning to pull the many emotional triggers that persuade a person to buy from you.
By R.L. Adams •
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In business, there are certain fundamentals that must exist for survival. Things like value, trust and company culture should be commonplace. But beyond those fundamental elements, there are five core principles that smart online marketers and seven-figure earners have been using for ages to make millions of dollars, both online and offline. They play into a consumer's psychology, impacting their desires to purchase just about anything.
These hypnotic sales strategies, which are often propelled by sizzling sales copy, help to embolden and empower marketers who are truly at the top of their games. And while seemingly incomprehensible at first, when you begin to understand the different levers that are pulled by each of these principles, you'll quickly see how they have a severe influence on the bottom line. The best part?
If you're looking to start a business, or you're currently knee-deep in the trenches, you can use these five core principles to market and clinch sales like clockwork. But before I talk about that, it's important to address the art of marketing itself, which dates back to the dawn of commerce. Think about this for a moment. What draws you to purchase something from someone? What compels you to act?
Zig Ziglar once said that, "People don't buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons." Thus, your job as a marketer or business owner is to create that emotion for them. This happens through the vehicle of a story, authenticity, social proof and many other triggers that will help to influence and persuade a person to buy from you. That's the bigger picture when it comes to marketing.
However, if we're talking about the particulars, there are five core principles that you can leverage to make that happen right now. These will provide the biggest impact on your results. When it comes to the 80-20 rule, you'll likely find these five core principles making up a large part of that 20 percemt of efforts that produces 80 percemt of the results. Study and wield these five principles widely if you're serious about propelling your sales into the stratosphere.
1. Principle of Urgency
According to behavioral psychologists, deliberate thought is suspended when dealing with urgent situations, causing us to act quickly. When something demands your urgent attention, there's an emotional attachment that manifest. Your mind pauses and your heart takes over. Now, you're likely asking yourself how urgency is created online? Well, there are several ways it's done effectively.
The first is by using a countdown timer. Time is one primary way that we create urgency. "Hurry, act now, because this sale expires soon!" We see it all the time. Bright reds and oranges are used to attract our attention, along with large "SALE" letters to help depict that the situation is urgent and time-based. But time isn't the only way that you can use urgency to help sell just about anything online.
One primary way that online marketers also use urgency is through negativity. By illuminating an unpleasant situation or potential for pain, you can get people to act on their impulsive tendencies to buy now. Remember that we will do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. Simply taking away a sale isn't usually enough to cause pain. You have to create an offer so compelling that if the consumer fails to act, it's going to invoke a massive amount of pain.
How does this work? Take diet and weight loss for example. Urgency is used in diet and weight loss to signify that a person's life is on the line. Their lives are at peril because that excess weight could be fatal. So marketers highlight all types of pain that exists in the overweight realm and how that could lead to death. Other negative urgency invokes financial death, risk of prison by not getting someone to settle your tax bill, or loss of your home or car if you fail to grab a loan to consolidate your debt.
Related: Don't Lose That All-Important Sense of Urgency. Do It -- Now!
2. Principle of Scarcity
The smartest online marketers know exactly how to use scarcity. For example, when I was just a kid, I desperately wanted a new Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Remember those? I distinctly recall stories on the television of parents not getting an NES for their kids because their local store ran out. So I forced my parents to get one fast. Another example during the holidays were companies that produced the Cabbage Patch Kids or the Ty Beanie Babies, which always seemed to be in short supply.
This leverages one of the most important principles of economics -- the forces of supply and demand. As supplies dwindle, prices shoot up, especially if demand keeps pace. And as those supplies dwindle, demand often increases. We see this craze every single year on Black Friday as companies open their doors to blockbuster sales. These are often in very limited quantities, so you have consumers rushing to get in.
Online, you can create scarcity by showing that something is about to expire or all the spots are filled up or almost gone. You can use online tools for this such as Deadline Funnel, which allows you to expire an offer based on the consumer's IP address and cookies that are created. When the offer is expired, the consumer instantly salivates more towards it. Why? Because of scarcity.
If you feel like something is going to come to an end, you're far more likely to act on your impulse. The trick is creating that atmosphere. Now, some might consider this blurring the lines of fraud. But it's simply a strategy used in sales, marketing and even in employment positions. For example, the best companies will open up a few spots in a particular department, which usually sparks a massive rush of applications because of the limited number of positions available.
This also works with credit cards, home loans, automobile discounts, and so on. You name it, and scarcity has likely been implemented by a company that you very well know, love and trust. You might not have been consciously aware of the tactics, but ninja salespersons and marketers know that this creates the ultimate sense of needing to act, and ensuring that the action happens quickly and almost effortlessly.
Related: The Bootstrappers' Advantage: Scarcity Boosts Creativity
3. Principle of Exclusivity
If you've ever visited the city on a weekend and have seen some of the hottest nightclubs and bars around, you've likely noticed a massive line out front, and you've seen the concept of exclusivity in practice. This velvet-ropes technique is used quite often, not only offline, but very frequently online as well. If you've ever wanted to work with a coach or join a mastermind anywhere, you've almost always have had to go through these velvet ropes.
Velvet ropes can be implemented in the digital world simply by placing an application up for people to work with you. You're not freely allowing just anyone to buy. Why do this? Because you turn the tables on the consumer. It's no longer a choice on their behalf to work with you but a choice on yours. That's a very powerful psychological switch. It makes the consumer longingly await the "chance" to work with you or join some exclusive group.
This can have serious benefits on the bottom line of any company looking to boost sales. By merely removing the ability for the consumer to decide, you're creating an instant air of exclusivity. It's no longer their choice anymore. This works especially well for high-ticket products and services. The important part? Place an input box that tells users why you should let them in or why you should work with them.
Not only do you have exclusivity when you do this, but you then compel the consumer to convince you that they're worthy of their time, which is the ultimate affirmation. All you have to do is remove the element of choice. Don't allow them to buy on demand. Make them fill out a form. Better yet, add an application fee and you'll really weed out those that might want to waste your time and it'll help to illuminate the true buyers.
Related: Exclusivity Isn't the Only Marketing Strategy for Luxury Brands
4. Principle of Reciprocity
If you've ever gone to some of the biggest tourist destinations in the world and wondered why you find people attempting to give you roses and other trinkets for free, you'll see the principle of reciprocity in play in the real world. When you take someone from something for free, you're instantly inclined to give them something back. You feel like you owe them. And smart marketers love to play on this human "flaw."
After you're handed a rose on the Spanish Steps in Rome, for example, you'll be asked for a favor in the form of a donation. The hand will come out and since you just willingly accepted something from them for free, you're more inclined to actually give them something. This works remarkably better than simply pan handling. You'll pass up many people begging for money before you accept a small gift from someone else on the streets.
You also see this principle in play in supermarkets. When you get something for free in the form of a sample of food, and you really like it, you're more inclined to buy it. Clearly, supermarkets don't give things away altruistically. They're playing on this principle. Now, in the online world, you see this everywhere. Free lead magnets entice you to accept something in exchange for something else. Namely, your email address.
You might not realize it at first, but you've succumbed to the principle of reciprocity. That enables online marketers to send you offers. The smartest ones know that those offers can only come after you've received loads of value. So if that lead magnet is truly helpful to you, you're far more likely to now buy something from that person or business. Surely, you've found yourself in this situation before.
Related: Asking For A Favor: Apply Reciprocity As A Constant, Not An Anomaly
5. Principle of Commitment
While there are plenty of other principles at play in the world of marketing, the last one part of the core 5 principles is the principle of commitment. When you're selling something online or offline, you have to get people to commit to you. How do you do that? There are numerous ways. But this principle of commitment helps create a mental switch in the consumer's mind. They've now agreed to something, which is not the offer, but it sets up a pattern.
For example, if you've ever seen world-class speakers like Dean Graziosi, Brendan Burchard or Joe Polish speak at a live event, what you'll notice is that they work on the principle of commitment early on. They get you to raise your hand or say yes or stand up if you agree to something. That sets up the principle of commitment for the oncoming offer. They build a pattern of getting you to commit before the actual pitch.
When the pitch comes along, you've already agreed. In other examples, you'll see this occurring in webinars frequently as well. For example, if you've ever watched a webinar by webinar king, Jason Fladlien, you'll notice how frequently he uses the principle of commitment before the pitch. That's incredibly important to do, and very simple to achieve in a live webinar because you have an engaged audience.
You can also garner commitment by removing any other friction in sales such as price objections through a risk-free guarantee or strong refund and exchange policy. Other ways are through price-match policies and so on. The point? If you can get someone to commit strongly enough before the pitch, you'll substantially increase your chances of closing the sale by 50 to 75 percent.
