At a sales and marketing event the other day I was surprised by a 90-second personality test. One of the other attendees asked a group of IT professionals and me to take it “for fun.” There were four cards labeled “nurture,” “knowledge,” “blueprint” and “action.” Each card contained a set of attributes (like “relationships,” “intelligence,” “stability,” “structure,” “freedom”).
Our task was to put the cards in order of importance.
I was the only person at the table who put the “nurture” card on top. Most of the techies ranked the “knowledge” card first.
“Oh, I see we have a little nurturer among us,” said one techie in a voice that suggested I was a puppy at an announcement of nuclear war—cute but irrelevant.
I understand why those in a technical field might prize knowledge above all else. But this little “irrelevance” has science on her side. When it comes to getting people to buy, nurturing (and its handmaidens: authenticity, relationship, empathy) is king.
Of course, the things you’re selling—be they widgets, workflow software or dietician services—have to perform well to be successful. But all else being equal people will always buy from the company that makes and nurtures a personal connection. Always.
Brain science tells us that people base their decision to buy on emotion and only use logic to justify the decision they’ve already made. (Here’s an interesting take on that fact.)
The next time a product manager questions your marketing appeal to customers’ and potential customers’ emotions, push back and push back hard.
Remember. You’ve got science on your side.