Selling with Emotional Tension

I recently took a boot-camp class focusing on strengthening the core and the abs.

The fitness coach was a super nice guy, ripped up and committed to make us sweat. Even though I was working really hard to finish some of the exercises, I was enjoying the class.

At the peak of this fitness training session, when I was really tired, sweaty and thinking about when the class was going to end, the coach ask us to do this exercise where we were doing this "imaginary rowing" very slow.

Basically, on the way down, your back is almost touching the floor, and on the way up your chest is almost touching your knees, while your hands are in the air mimicking a rowing movement.

As we were doing this, he said…

…"you have to feel the tension in your abs."

“No tension, no results".

Having my "power line radar " up all the time, I told myself, yes that is so true. No tension, no results.

This is also true in business, sales and presentation: "no tension, no sales."

So what is tension and why is it important to you if you are looking to acquire more clients and make more sales?

The webster dictionary defines the word tension in different ways, but I want to comment on 2 definitions specifically. The first is this one:

Tension: "inner striving, unrest, or imbalance often with physiological indication of emotion". In another words, there is an internal dissatisfaction that is expressed somehow emotionally.

And the second definition is

Tension: "a balance maintained in an artistic work between opposing forces or elements". In another words, a tension is created by an artistic balance between opposing forces.

So, if you combined these two definitions, you will have something like this:

Tension is the "inner emotional unrest caused by opposing forces".

I believe that this emotional unrest is caused by the contrast of the feelings you have about your current situation, "what it is like now", with your future feelings, or "what it is going to be like in the future".

If you were to stop and think about the last time you bought something, consciously or unconsciously, this process was taking place:

For example:

You went to the doctor because you were experiencing pain (what it is like now) and you want a remedy to feel better (what is going to be like in the future after you eliminate that pain)

Or you went to the doctor just to do a regular check up even though you are not in pain. You went to the doctor because even though you feel great now (what it is like now) you want to avoid to feeling bad or getting sick in the future (what is going to be like in the future if you get sick)

Here is another example:

You bought a new car because you are scared that your current ride will break-down in the middle of a high-way (what it is like now) and you want to have the peace of mind of having a reliable car (what is going to be like in the future when you are driving a safer car)

Or you bought a new car because even though your current ride is great (what it is like now) you believe you deserve a better toy, and once you get it you will fell more powerful, sexy and happier (what is going to be like in the future when you are driving the coolest car around)

If you really think about your buying decisions this emotional tension between "what it is now" and "what it is going to be like in the future" is always there.

Sometimes the strongest part of this emotional tension are the feelings associated with the current situation, for example, when you go to the Doctor because something hurts…

     Current Emotions > Future Emotions

In another cases, what is driving this emotional tension are the feelings associate with the future situation, for example, when you go to Doctor as preventive medicine (now is fine but if I don’t go to the doctor I may feel pain in the future and I want to avoid that)
              
    Current Emotions < Future Emotions
 
Influencers understand that creating this emotional tension between what it is like now and what is going to be like in the future is the KEY to sell more, faster and better.  

There are several tools that you can use to create emotional contrast in your marketing, presentations and advertising.  

Some our favorites tools are:

• Storyselling
• Questions
• Pictures
• Videos
• Humor
• Future Pacing Language
• And many others…

Remember what my fitness coach said: “no tension, no results”. This rule also applies to of us in business: no tension, no sales.

If getting more leads and clients is part of your 2013 goals, here is a great event that will teach you how to create emotional tension and many other cool sales and marketing strategies.

Roberto Monaco