JONATHAN RAYMOND wrote a powerful article recently called The Power of Caring over at the E-Myth Blog. They do great work over there.
His observation is that customers make most of their decisions based on emotions rather than logic. I find this to be absolutely true – even in surprising cases.
My background is in engineering, so I’m a pretty hardcore analytic. When I go out and buy a car, I’m going to do a lot of investigation and think through the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative. But in the end, I have to admit, my choice is mostly based on which one makes me feel the best. Part of my feeling is based on having acceptable gas mileage, of course, but it’s not just a logical process.
Regarding our discussions on this blog about having a values-based business, then, here’s the nugget we can get out of this: Values carry a lot of emotional content. When you have a deep value to support employees, they get emotional about it, and convey that to customers. When you have a deep value about helping the planet, customers have an emotional attachment.
Not that you want to play with customers’ emotions. When you do this in an inauthentic way, they end up despising it as manipulation. So you have to be absolutely authentic and consistent.
Which means that some customers will get turned off. That’s the price we pay in a values-based business. But others will become strongly attached to what you do, and will help bring in others with the same way of thinking.
The Values-Based Business 
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March 3, 2013 at 4:07 pm
Red Cap Sales Coaching
Another valuable, thought-provoking article, Carl! It’s certainly true that people buy based on their emotions, and support (sometimes even justify) their decisions based on logic and reasoning. It’s also true that a salesperson’s or company’s values may sometimes affect the prospect’s emotions in either a positive or negative way. So it’s vital to establish a strong company culture that reflects the company values. In addition, what I believe is the most important factor in selling is to ask questions about the prospects’ needs, wants, thinking, feelings…in short to identify the prospects’ values and then provide solutions if appropriate. IF there is a fit between the company’s values, products and services and the prospect’s values, it would mean making a match between the value systems of each. That means that no one would be turned off, because the company would only actually offer products or services to those whose needs would be served by them, and would have the integrity to say to those, where there is disparity in the value systems, “Based on our conversation, I don’t think that what we have available would be a good fit for you. Let me refer you to…(another company, a book, a website, a blog, etc.)” Keep the great blogs coming, Carl! You rock!!!