The Ultimate Sales Strategy: A Three-Step Psychological Formula
This powerful three-step formula leverages loss aversion psychology to create genuine desire for your solution. It can be applied to selling financial products, life insurance, or any situation requiring persuasion.
The Psychology Behind It
People exert more effort to prevent loss than to improve the status quo. When people imagine a future scenario, they experience a fraction of the emotions they would actually feel in that situation. This formula creates an emotional experience that motivates action.
Step 1: Envision the Future
Have your prospect consider a significant goal they hope to achieve. This could be:
- Retiring comfortably
- Buying a dream home
- Children graduating from university
- Building a successful business
- Taking a luxury vacation
- Maintaining their current lifestyle
Extract detailed information about their perfect outcome using questions like:
- “Imagine…”
- “What would that feel like?”
- “How do you envision…”
- “What does that mean for…”
Help them attach strong positive feelings to achieving this goal. The more vivid and emotional the vision, the more powerful the contrast in Step 2.
Step 2: Take the Dream Away
Now that you’ve established their desired future, systematically remove it by exploring what could prevent them from achieving their goal.
Key question: “Between now and [their timeline], what could prevent you from achieving your goal?”
The top answers are typically serious health conditions or death. Then help them feel the impact of not achieving their goal:
Powerful questioning techniques:
- “How will you feel when the doctor tells you there’s a cancer treatment that could double your spouse’s chances for survival, but it isn’t covered by insurance and costs 7,000 per month?”
- “If you don’t meet your income goal, what will you give up? How will you feel not going on vacation with your children?”
- “How would your family feel if they couldn’t go to school with their friends because there isn’t enough money?”
A particularly powerful question: “Just because someone doesn’t reach all their goals doesn’t make them a failure. In the worst case scenario, how close to your goal do you need to get to make sure you never look at yourself as a failure?”
Step 3: Provide a Solution
After showing them their desired future and then taking it away, guide them toward a solution. Ideally, let them feel they came to the solution themselves through strategic questioning.
Effective solution-finding questions:
- “If there were a way to make certain that you reached your goal…”
- “Would you want your plan to…”
- “What number would allow you to sleep at night?”
- “Who should be able to cancel the plan? You? The company? Both? Neither?”
- “Would you prefer level payments with decreasing coverage, or level coverage with level payments?”
- “How much would you need to be able to sleep soundly at night?”
Why This Works
This formula is effective because it:
- Creates Emotional Investment: The prospect experiences both the joy of success and the pain of failure
- Leverages Loss Aversion: People work harder to avoid losing something than to gain something new
- Builds Internal Motivation: The desire comes from within rather than external pressure
- Uses Contrast: The gap between success and failure creates urgency
- Maintains Autonomy: The prospect feels they’re making their own decision
Ethical Considerations
This technique should only be used when:
- You genuinely believe your solution benefits the prospect
- The risks and consequences you discuss are realistic
- You’re transparent about your intentions
- The outcome creates mutual value
Additional Techniques
Enhance the formula with:
- Linguistic Binds: “If” statements that create subconscious agreement
- Presumptive Statements: Assume the sale while addressing concerns
- Pattern Interrupts: Unexpected questions that refocus attention
- Time Displacement: “When you look back on this decision…”
Remember: Questions are more powerful than statements. The goal is to help people make rational decisions by experiencing the emotional reality of their choices.
Source: “3 Agents of Influence” by Naoshad Pochkhanawala
