Emotionally Relevant numbers and....Happy Birthday Mom!
My grandfather passed away when he was 63. Died on the operating table. Back then, early 70’s with the limited medical knowledge and technology, they never really did figure out what killed him. “Something in his head” they said. His son, my dad, all his life, wanted to make it to 63. He lived by it. Eleven years ago. December. My father turned 63. He died 5 months later. At 63.
You can imagine what I go through, emotionally, every time I hear or see the number 63.
During a sales process, when we negotiate we use something called "Anchoring". If the purpose of “Anchoring” during the negotiations is to create some sort of a reference number in order to settle at the end of it somewhere not too far from the original “anchor”, why not use the same technique to attach your customer even more to what you are providing them? Or to you?
Let’s imagine for a second you are a customer success manager who was just introduced to a new customer. It is the kick-off call. Or perhaps you are a lawyer and it is your first face to face with this new customer. Or maybe you are a dentist or a physical therapist who meet a patient for the first time. Anything that will lead to some sort of an ongoing relationship. This is your opportunity to create a reference that will get them emotionally moved. Will get them to remember it (as I mentioned in previous posts, when we go through an emotional experience we remember and, on this blog, I try to share every now and then, methods for controlling this ability of taking your customers, colleagues, vendors, friends, through an emotional experience. And then, trigger it again and again by referring to it in future conversations in order to have them simply experience it again and hence, engraving that emotion in their brain permanently). Using numbers is an easy way not only to instill some emotional relevance but also to remember it.
