Fight, Flight, Freeze
We have all heard about adrenaline responses and fight or flight, but freeze seems to never get the credit it deserves. This is odd to me seeing as only about 4% of adrenaline responses trigger “fight”. Running away or freezing in place are much more common.
All of these actions are triggered from the amygdala. This is one of the most primal parts of your brain. This is where most traumas are stored and where we keep the “stories” that we tell about ourselves.
The amygdala is a major part of the limbic system, which as a whole governs emotional thought.
So why do I talk about all this?
It is simple. You need to understand what happens to your deal if you make your customer nervous.
I was recently playing a video game called “Detroit: Become Human.” In it, there is a segment early ion the game where you are required to interrogate an android in order to get a confession. The problem was if you do not pressure him enough, he will not confess. If you pressure him too much, he will actually self-destruct.
In a video game this makes sense. Games tend to like a certain amount of balance and this makes the game fun enough. What the best cops really do is spend hours and hours building relationships with the suspects until they feel “these are good guys”.
This relates to sales because the more pressure you put on your prospects, the more likely you will encounter an adrenaline response. We have all been yelled and and pushed to do things we do not want to do, and the trauma of that can trigger the “trauma” in the amygdala.
So what does that mean for your deal?
Fight: They start arguing with you because they don’t know how else to respond and you do not get the deal.
Flight: They simply walk out.
Freeze: They give you all the right signals but leave to “think about it”.
Obviously, none of these are what you are looking for. So the best course of action is to avoid triggering the amygdala at all.
Treat high pressure sales like a land mine. Avoid stepping on it until you have no other path of escape.