SellingSecrets.com > Featured Articles - Why People Buy > Buying Criteria: Fact, Fiction, or Feelings?
created on 3/27/2007
What creates your customers’ buying criteria?
Before we begin, let's start with a definition of Neuromarketing as defined by Wikipedia: Neuromarketing is a new field of marketing which uses medical technologies such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study the brain's responses to marketing stimuli. Researchers use the fMRI to measure changes in activity in parts of the brain and to learn why consumers make the decisions they do, and what part of the brain is telling them to do it.
I have a great friend that I have known for the past twenty-three years. He loves anything with a motor in it. If there is a NASCAR race that he is unable to watch live, he will record it, and while he is away from his television, turn off all media (newspaper, radio, etc.) so that he does not hear the race results until he is able to watch the replay.
Over the years, I have seen my friend purchase Chevrolet trucks, Cadillacs, a Corvette and many other vehicles; however, always from the General Motors family of cars. My friend recently purchased a new Cadillac. Fred is careful about spending money. He always attempts to get the most for every dollar. With months of research and analysis, Fred found his Cadillac and got a great price. Recently, I asked Fred if he had considered any other brand of car. He had not. I then asked him if he ever owned any vehicle other than General Motors. After some thought Fred said, "I owned a Mercury once. It had the best ride of any car I have ever owned." Now, I was puzzled. Knowing that Fred is highly analytical and always looking for the best value, I asked him, "When you purchased your last vehicle, did you look at anything other than GM cars?" When he indicated that he had not, I asked him why. Fred quickly responded, "I guess I am a GM man; always have been, always will. I guess it is in my blood".
I found this discovery perplexing knowing that my friend is an individual that is always looking for the best value and is cautious about his purchases. Why wouldn't Fred look at Ford, Chrysler or all of the other options available today? Is Fred typical of most buyers? Don't we all buy the best product for our needs, at the best price? I decided it was time to do some research.
I found a study that was conducted by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine assessing consumer preferences regarding soft drinks. Think about it - do you drink Coke* or Pepsi*? If you are like many of us, you probably have a strong preference of one over the other. Surely you could pick out your brand in a taste test! But, are you sure?
These two brands were specifically selected in the Baylor study because, "Coca-Cola* (Coke*) and Pepsi* are nearly identical in chemical composition, yet human beings often display strong subjective preferences for one or the other."
When the subjects received an "anonymous delivery of Coke and Pepsi", it was often a toss-up regarding which brand was preferred. Without knowing which brand they were drinking, results were nearly fifty-fifty. However, when the brand of the product was introduced in the experiment, researches found an interesting observation: those that had selected Pepsi without awareness of brand, when brand was introduced, now nearly 75% preferred Coke. The study concluded that "there might be parallel mechanisms in the brain cooperating to bias preference." The Baylor study also concluded that "in the brand-cued experiment, brand knowledge for one of the drinks had a dramatic influence on the measured brain response." Simply put, brand awareness significantly changed the results of the "preferred selection."
In addition to brand preference, these researchers made another interesting discovery. This study was conducted implementing new FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) techniques to study how and where the brain is stimulated in decision making. The FMRI imaging technology was able to observe and capture brain activity throughout the test. In comparing the anonymous test, the researchers "noticed that the neural activity changed once the subject was aware of which sample was which brand." When made aware of one product brand, "the medial prefrontal cortex - a part of the brain that controls higher functions - lit up like a Christmas tree. The brand itself was trumping the quality of the product." Brand awareness accessed a different part of the brain resulting in a significant difference in choice.
How could these results be so different? Why would participant responses change once they became aware of the brand they were tasting? Did the brand or the past "experience" with the brand, affect their decision preference? Was something associated with the brand of the product that affected selection of the best product? Was there more to my friend being a "GM man" than just the engine, the brakes, and all of component of a General Motors vehicle?
I began to think back through my 27 years of sales experience. I have always thought I did a good job of representing my products. I knew them inside and out. I memorized features, benefits, my competition, and understood my customer's environment. I began to wonder if past selling experiences were more complex than I had previously thought. Could I have lost sales during the dot.com era, when I represented a great technological tool with little or no brand recognition? Then, an even more subtle thought struck me. When I sold for a huge international computer company and never missed quota, might it have had more to do with the powerful brand I represented than the selling abilities I thought I had developed? Humbling thoughts! I concluded that in many of my efforts, the sale had literally begun before I made my first contact.
What if you were able to go into every sale and correctly assess the perception or impact of your brand? What if once you were able to establish rapport, you could use your discovery skills to determine your individual customer reaction to your brand (positive or negative)? How much more effective could you be if you found out this information early in the sales cycle? How would this information change your selling strategy? Just knowing that this information is critical to investigate early is a positive start. I immediately determined that with each new customer contact, I would attempt to seek as much information regarding these questions as possible.
All of this research is starting to wear on me. I certainly am thirsty. To keep my analysis and thought process simple, I think I will have an iced tea! Good luck and good selling!
Resources:
1. Neural Correlates of Behavioral Preference for Culturally Familiar Drinks, Neuron, Vol 44, 379-387, October 14, 2004, copyright 2004 Cell Press.
2. Media Maze Neuromarketing: Part 1, Jim Meskauskas, Imedia Connection, Published July 13, 2005, link: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/6317.asp
By Steve Hub, Consultant, Corporate Visions Inc.
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