What’s rational about buying? NOTHING. In sales, we work in a world full of irrational behavior. Think about some of the "rational, logical" reasons why customers decide to trade in their vehicle.  Maybe they trade because of the newest, popular color; or, while waiting for an oil change, a shopper falls in love with the looks of that chromed out Jeep with the 3" lift kit standing on 33" sumper swamper tires; or does the service customer trade it just because they don’t want to perform any maintenance.

Ponder this, if the decision to buy were a logical one, then why did we Americans recently spend a record $11.4 billion on Black Friday, despite all of the doom and gloom reports on the news?  Do your kids really need more toys? Does your teen have to have the new Call Of Duty on Xbox? Do you really need a 60” flat screen 3D TV with internet capability? If logic had anything to do with buying, the flat screens would be on shelves in boxes instead of being set up on the wall showing Jurassic Park on Blue Ray DVD while the dinasour's roars are piped in by the best surround sound your credit can buy.  Best Buy is appealing to your emotion not your logic. Simply put, people buy because they want it, not because they need it.

Recently I noticed two businesses that are selling Christmas Trees- both of them are on the same road, 600 yards apart. The first business is outside and dimly lit by 20 light bulbs strung together; the other one is quaintly nestled inside of a vacant dealership-paved, well lit and completely under roof. One business sold out of trees a week ago while the other one dropped from list price, to 50% off, and now, with one last desperate swing, slashed all of their trees to 20 bucks-and there are plenty to choose from.  The roadside Christmas trees sold out because they emotionally appealed to commuters passing by causing some of them to pull in and spontaneously buy a tree. In sales have you ever spontaneously sold to someone on their way to the movies?

Why does a dealership have millions of dollars  of new and used car inventory prominently merchandised in perfectly straight lines? Why are there 24 pictures of each vehicle on your dealership's website? Why is your sales manager on your case due to your lack of demos? Because they know what every retailer knows. When a customer is visually stimulated, the emotion to buy will always trump logic. When stirred, your customer will emotionally buy now and logically figure out how to pay later. Rouse your customer’s emotions with a visually stunning walk-around, create the sensation of ownership, with a long test drive-not a quarter mile drag race. Impregnate your customer with so much passion, they can’t go anywhere else.   To be effective in selling, emotion must always go before logic because logic tells, emotion sells-never confuse the two.