People Buy From People They Like
“Humanity is in the highest degree irrational, so that there is no prospect of influencing it by reasonable arguments.”
from Sigmund Freud
During a recent conversation with a Senior Account Executive, she stated that her customers are not buying because of the great product she sells, but because they like her.
This prompted me to investigate the topic a little further and determine - individual sentiments aside - whether there is evidence to support the notion.
Amy Rees Anderson quotes anonymous: “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”
CJ Ng expands: “It is often said that customers buy from people they like. While we don’t usually buy from people we dislike, there is one more dimension to this old saying. Customers buy from people they trust.”
Shonal Narayan adds a third component: “People do business with people they know, like, and trust, especially in the business world. They don’t just want to hand their money to some faceless corporation or sign a contract with someone they just met. … A lot of B2B purchasing decisions have more to do with the relationships the buyers have with the salespeople, and less to do with the product or service.”
The Sales Guy sharply contradicts this notion and – his profanity ignored – makes a valid argument: “… people buy from people they like, ... But what this phrase doesn’t say is people buy from people they don’t like and they DON’T buy from people they like. The world is not zero sum. Just because someone likes you doesn’t mean they are gonna buy from you AND just because someone doesn’t like you, doesn’t mean they won’t buy from you.
When it comes to sales, buyers are not in the friend business. They have enough friends. Buyers are in the improvement, growth, and opportunity business. Buyers need solutions that increase their ability to exceed their goals and crush it. Therefore, what buyers care more about than liking you is how much value can you and your product or service bring?
Value trumps likability EVERY time — be valuable, not liked.”
Mark Jewell shares a similar viewpoint but adds the element of trust: “Successful selling is a creator of relationships; relationships aren’t a creator of successful selling. So, what is a relationship? Many salespeople think that a relationship is a friendship. They think they need to give their clients sports tickets or take them fishing. It’s nice to make friends; however, that’s not going to determine whether you’re going to get the sale.
People don’t necessarily buy from friends – they buy from people they trust to deliver. Especially if risk and hassle are on the table and they need to make sure that the person they just endorsed for their project is not going to let them down or get them fired or cost them political capital in their organization. So how do you build a relationship? By producing results, acting professionally, and demonstrating your value from the get-go. A friendship may form as a result of the sale, but it’s your reliability and performance in the sales setting that are going to win you the next sale.”
Flume provides three reasons for their thought that “there is too much at stake for today’s B2B buyer to buy from you just because they like you. … Why people don’t buy from people (just because they like them)?”
1. Clients are busier than ever before
2. There are more decision-makers
3. ROI is king
I hear Flume and the Sales Guy, and if your product or service does not provide ROI, improvement, or growth, you will have a hard time selling it at all, friendship or not.
Allow me to add three thoughts:
1. Delivering an ROI or an improvement is an assumed given for any product (no one in B2B buys nice-to-haves), it is not an actual buying reason.
2. Very few products are standouts, most are competing with very similar others, and sales teams work hard to communicate a UVP that often is only inches away from the competitor.
3. I have seen my fair share of irrational decisions made in B2B buying, where despite demonstrating ROI, improvement, and growth, the decision went the other way.
And this is precisely where trust, familiarity, and likability come in … and can make a difference.
Drew McLellan puts it plainly: “Here’s an equation that every business owner needs to understand.
Know + Like + Trust = Buy.
Whether you sell toothbrushes or multi-million dollar medical equipment and everything in between — until a customer:
Knows who you are
Likes who you are
Trusts you
there is no purchase. The depth of the trust required varies but there must be at least a base level of trust in place before anyone will spend a dime.”
And since we are in a time where more and more sales are moving online, and an ever-increasing share of the sales process happens virtually: the same holds true online. While your website can share all the rational reasons for why your product is the best, no one will buy unless they feel they get to know you, have a likable online experience and develop the trust that the product or services delivered actually meet the description provided.
Know + Like + Trust = Buy.
__________________
Amy Rees Anderson – People Do Business With People They Like
CJ Ng – Customers Don’t Buy From People They Like, They Buy From Those They Trust
Shonal Narayan – People Do Business With People They Know, Like, And Trust
The Sales Guy – People Buy From People They Like Is a Myth
Mark Jewell – People Buy from People They Trust
Flume – Why people DON’T buy from people they like
Drew McLellan – They’ll buy when they trust