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Prime Time, Not Money

The Psychology of Time versus Money - Part 2

By Victor Antonio, Sales Influence

Is it possible to alter a person's perception of a product or mood towards it? Is it possible that by simply asking one question you can alter the likelihood of a buyer buying from you again? Two Stanford professors wanted to find to know. So they gathered one hundred fifteen students and paid them each $5 to participate in an experiment. The students chosen had invested both time and money into owning an iPod.

Phase 1 of the Experiment - Priming

The students were presented with a questionnaire brandishing the iPod logo at the top and were asked, "How much time have you spent on your iPod?" Another group of students were asked a similar question, but this time with regard to cost, "How much money have you spent on your iPod?" What the professors wanted to do was 'prime' the students with a Time activation question and a Money activation question.

Phase 2 of the Experiment - Attitude

Following the priming questions, the students in each group were asked, "When considering your next iPod what thoughts come to your mind?" What the researchers wanted to gauge at this point in the experiment was the general attitude toward the iPod after the 'time and money' activation questions were asked. The students were asked to gauge their attitude towards the next iPod.

Phase 3 of the Experiment - Identity

The students were then asked to rate on a scale of 1 (agree) to 7 (disagree) the following statements:

Listening to an iPod represents who I am.
Listening to an iPod is a voluntary choice.
Listening to an iPod reflects the type of person I am..
Listening to an iPod is an important priority to me.

Results

On Attitude Towards the Product: Students led to think (primed) about the time aspect of the product reported a more favorable attitude towards the product (score 6.28) than those who were primed with money (score 5.28). Leading the students (i.e., the customer) to think about the time can increase a customer's attitude about the product where priming them to think in terms of money will not help improve attitude towards the product.

On Identifying with the Product: Comparisons showed that students primed with the time condition felt more connected to the the product than did those in the money condition (Score 5.14 vs. 3.81). Simply said, those primed with money felt less of a personal connection with the product than those primed with the time condition.

The study also showed that those primed with time used references like: I, me or my in describing their attitude toward the iPod. Students primed with time made more personal references than those primed with money.

Sales Influence Strategy

The study above further highlights that directing a consumers' attention to time makes them feel more personally connected to the product resulting in a more favorable attitude toward the product. Directing them with 'time' makes them less connected. If you really think about it, this is to be expected. The activation of money highlights costs where the activation of time highlights the benefits or enjoyment derived from using the product.

How can you use this in selling? If money has a negative effect and time has a positive, beneficial effect, then this simple heuristic, rule-of-thumb, should guide how we interact with a customer. For example, if I want to create a negative or impersonal effect regarding my competitor's products, I would ask the following 'money' questions:

How much money have you spent so far?
How much money do you think you've lost using this product (or service)?
How much money did you invest to switch over ?

The objective with the above line of questioning is to first, prime the buyer by activating the 'money' theme. Secondly, indirectly what you're doing is creating 'financial pain' or worse 'financial inferences' that the buyer will hopefully begin to associate with using your competitor's products (i.e., develops a bad attitude toward competitor's product).

Now, when you're discussing or presenting your product, avoid money questions and focus in on time questions (or statements):

Is increasing turnaround time one of your priorities?
How much time are you looking to save?
Let me show some time-saving features?
In terms of saving time, let me show you this.

Selling is all about controlling perception throughout the sales process. Simply integrating 'money' questions when talking about your competitor and 'time' questions when discussing yours may be enough to give you that edge when selling. As products become commoditized (i.e., more of them at cheaper prices), selling is not always about having the best product, but moreso about having a better sales pitch or presentation. I hope you'll be able to use this simple, yet scientifically proven, approach to growing your sales.

Victor Antonio, Sales Influence

Finding the Why in Buy

Copyright © 2009 by Victor Antonio. All rights reserved. This article MAY be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, as long as the author’s name, website and email address are included as part of the article’s body. All inquiries, including information on electronic licensing, should be directed to Victor Antonio at info@victorantonio.com.