Buyer Heat

HERE’S A SCENARIO THAT MIGHT SOUND FAMILIAR...

You’re in a sports shop and you spot a pair of training shoes you absolutely love. They are on sale and it’s the last pair in your size. You’re not desperate for a new pair, you’re current ones are a couple of years old but they’re still fine. They are also a bit more than you would normally like to pay. But you have them in your hands, you’re thinking about how much you want them and the checkout is right there with no queue. You feel a little buzz of excitement and within seconds you’ve gone from zero to 80% ready to buy them right now! You’re logic and your emotions are in conflict. Here are two important questions to think about: If a friend, or even a really friendly store assistant is with you in this particular moment, how much extra input is needed from them to influence a positive decision? If logic gets the better of you, and you decide to ‘think about it and come back later’, what happens to the 80% ready-to-buy statistic? Or the chances of you ever coming back?

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YOU SEE… DECISIONS AREN’T ALWAYS BASED ON INFORMATION.

As we explored in the article ‘A Dancer and an Elephant’ (if you haven’t read this yet, do this now), where we use the analogy of an ‘elephant’ to represent how big and powerful our emotions can be in comparison to the logical ‘rider’, when you can link your service to someone’s deeper desires. But our likelihood to make an emotional decision can also be time or state dependent.

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We’ve known this since we were kids! Remember when you were 10 and you wanted to ask an adult for something they might say ‘NO’ to? We instinctively knew that if we want to maximise our chances of the answer being ‘YES’, then we should wait until they are in ‘SAYING YES TO STUFF MODE’. Usually when they are in a ‘good mood’ or in a relaxed, positive environment.

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In the world of sales, this ‘SAYING YES TO STUFF MODE’ is commonly known as ‘Buyer Heat’

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There can be many factors that affect ‘Buyer Heat’, here are the 5 most predictable...

- When something is new and exciting

- When endorphins or adrenaline is high

- When they are in a relaxed, positive environment

- When your product / brand is currently occupying their thoughts

- When a timely opportunity has presented itself

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IN FITNESS, WE ARE VERY LUCKY!

Read the list above and ask yourself how many of these factors naturally occur when someone experiences the product you’re selling (a workout at your gym or studio) for the first time.

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There are very few industries in which the customer experiencing the product results in such a dramatic and immediate impact on their emotional state. What better way than an empowering group workout to get us directly in contact with the ‘elephant’? Yet around 7 out of 10 fitness sales people will to wait until their prospect is back at their desk or at home with the kids, when the ‘rider’ is fully back in control, to call and discuss memberships or book the next class.

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EXERCISE: PLOT YOUR CUSTOMERS 21 DAY HEAT MAP

Get a piece of paper and a pen and draw a straight horizontal line to represent 21 Days.. Think about your target customer, put yourself in their shoes. Along the timeline, mark out a pattern of sessions they might attend during their first 21 days.

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Now, try drawing a wavy line, like heat waves, to represent the highs and lows in their emotional state or ‘Buyer Heat’ that they most likely go through during this period.

Complete this exercise before moving onto the next resource: ‘21 DAY HEAT MAP’

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