Skip to main content

Selling On the Approval of Others

Whether you're purchasing a home, a car or a piece of clothing, there's a thought that crosses your mind:  What will others think of this?

That voice is our ego, our pride. It fills us with doubt and makes us anxious. Why? Because we crave the approval of others. We'll say we don't care, but we do. And if you're a seller, you can use this to your advantage.

A good example is a realtor showing a home with a large patio. "This would be great for entertaining!" they may say, watching you as you consider your friends attending a cookout in your backyard and complimenting you.

Do you remember when you bought your first car? What did you do? You drove over to a friend's place to "show it off". And everyone told you how nice it was. But more than you wanting them to like your new vehicle, you wanted them to approve your decision, or I should say, your decision making ability.  And that is the secret sauce!



Peer pressure can steer us to make all kinds of decisions, like where to eat or what kinds of music we enjoy. Instead of our peers pressuring us, we also have modern day "influencers", who have set styles and trends on social media. If you want to see evidence of how influencers can work horribly, check out the movie "Fyre Fraud".

When you take the above examples and combine them with all of the advertisements we're exposed to on a daily basis, it's hard not to sold something. And all of it are ways to sell on the approval of others, which is possibly one of the most under utilized and effective ways to sell.

Even though I gave some good examples of this in my book, I'd like to give you a couple more.


  1.  Amazon uses the "people who bought this also purchased this" technique. We don't know who these people are, but it's implied that you and them have the same taste. Vague, but it generally works.
  2. I used to have a manager who was pretty cool, but he wasn't a fan of some of my ideas. When I would devise some new way of sales calls, he would say something like, "I don't know if that will work. Let's just stick to the gameplan we have." My response would be that it had been tested and was successful. I was lying, but selling on the approval of others, who didn't exist. "Oh, if that's the case, then sure."


See how you can use this at work, in sales, or your everyday life. And if you have any ideas, put them in the comment section below.

Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Adam Griggs Discusses The Entrepreneurial Journey

As entrepreneurs, business owners and other self-employed types, we are always try to learn how to work efficiently, maximize profits and keep our focus on the future. Sometimes, we overlook an obvious resource. By listening to the stories of how others in our shoes have made the journey to successful business person, we can see how our own stories are either similar or completely different. I personally love reading biographies of successful business people throughout history. Recently I finished David McCullough's book, "The Wright Brothers". Most of us know the story of these two bicycle shop owners who figured out how to fly and control the flight. However, there were other parts of this story that I learned. Their tenacity, business acumen and planning were integral to their success.  This is usually the case of most successful people.  By reading or hearing of these kinds of examples, we can look at our experiences to learn as well. Recently I had Adam Griggs of the...

Dave Campbell Discusses Being Action Oriented

I recently had a great talk with Dave Campbell from True Media Solutions and host of 9 (!) podcasts. We discussed how people don't take action and delay their goals because they are waiting to learn more and their desire to make it "right the first time".  If you are in the process of starting a business, a podcast or any other project, and you keep putting it off until you think the time is right, now is a great time to listen. And please subscribe or follow. Chris Castane s is a humorous speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. His new book, "Nearly Motivated" is available on Amazon. For booking information,  click here . His new podcast,  "You're Going To Be Great At This!"  is available on most platforms.   He's also the president of  Surf Financial Brokers  selling life and disability insurance in several states.

Changing My Scheduling Calendar For 2025

This blog usually has actionable sales tips and advice to help you succeed in your business. This time, I wanted to take a look at another part of your business, which is scheduling appointments or sales calls or whatever you need to schedule.  Having a scheduling calendar that your prospects can make your job so much easier. Instead of calling back and forth to pin a time to meet down, you can let your prospect/client pick their own time. According to FinancesOnline.com, online scheduling can lead to 26% more customers, so sharing your calendar is a real no-brainer. I have a Google calendar that I use to book appointments, but I have also been using Calendly and sharing it on my website and social media. The two calendars are supposed to sync up to avoid double bookings, but recently I discovered an issue.  I had blocked out a couple of days on my Google calendar for a business conference, but Calendly was still showing those days as available. After trying to find a way to f...