Discover a Flightpath to Fortune Using the Scarcity Principle of Persuasion
Listen as our hosts share actionable steps that you can easily use in your body contouring practice to woo patients into buying from you now.
The show notes go even deeper and are located here:
We know selling is education. It’s solving problems. And it’s finding something to make your patients feel better. Even though all of these things are about helping your patients, you still must persuade the patient to buy.
Persuasion is not an art. And it’s not a talent. Instead, persuasion is a science.
Psychologist Robert Cialdini unmasked the science of persuasion during three years of doing “undercover” research – in used car dealerships, telemarketing firms and fund-raising organizations. He learned that skilled persuaders are not artists, but instead, they use a set of clear, observable principles – six of them.
His widely accepted theory of persuasion has been used in all kinds of businesses, both in sales and in marketing, since he published his findings in his book, Influence: The Six Principles of Persuasion.
To be a super achiever in body contouring, you need to know each of the six Principles; you need to use each of the six Principles; and you need to be good at each of the six Principles.
We’ve been breaking down each of these Principles for you in prior episodes. Previously, we’ve discussed the Principles of Reciprocity, of Liking, of Authority and of Consistency, which is sometimes referred to as Commitment.
We showed you how to use each of these Principles in your body contouring business in a way that will increase your profits exponentially.
It’s really valuable information. If you missed an episode, be sure to go back and catch it.
In today’s episode, we’ll examine the Scarcity Principle and we’ll tell you how you can implement simple tactics applying the Scarcity Principle that are sure to shoot your conversions through the roof.
So let’s get started.
When you think something is in short supply…you want it more.
When you believe someone else is getting something that you’re not…you want it even more.
So true. But why is it true?
Because of the Law of Scarcity. Scarcity works through anticipated regret, where we think about the future and see ourselves regretting having not taken a decision to act.
And when we think about the future, we not only think about missing events or things, but even more importantly, we think about the missed emotions associated with missing out on those things. We imagine how we might have felt. How things might have been. That emotional satisfaction we missed out on by not taking action.
You’ve seen this in play. In fact, you’ve probably purchased because the Scarcity Principle was used.
Listen to a couple of examples.
You’re considering purchase of a book and you shop Amazon. You find your book. Oh No! “Only 2 left in stock.” Quick, better buy while you it’s available
Your summer vacation is a few months away and you’re pricing flights. You find a good deal on Orbitz but…you see there’s only 4 seats left at this price. Oh No! You’d better buy now or you’ll miss out.
Sounds familiar, right?!
So how can you apply the Principle of Scarcity to body contouring? You can use it in similar ways. Your monthly or limited time specials are a perfect example. “You SAVE $200 NOW but that savings goes away on Monday.”
You don’t have to use price as the regrettable factor. You could use limited availability, in the form of limited appointments. It would work something like this, “well I could check and see if I could get you in soon but our books have been full. You know everyone is wanting to get their bodies ready for summer.” This one not only gets the patient imagining her regret for missing out on her chance for a better body, but it also creates regret for her missing out on a better body when others are gaining the benefit of the treatment.
Limited time or limited availability offers are nothing new. They’re actually as old as the hills. But they work because they play on our fear of losing out. Psychologists have long known that we all have super strong aversions to loss… and that aversion to loss is much, much stronger even than our desire to gain a benefit.
That brings us to your action step for this episode.
Action Step: How can you use “short supply” to encourage patients to buy? Come up with 3 offers that are “time limited” and 2 offers that are “limited in availability.” Then start using them and watch your sales climb higher and higher.
That’s it for today. Tune in next time as we complete our discussion of the Science of Persuasion with the Principle of Consensus, sometimes referred to as Social Proof.
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Bye for now from Kay and Shannon at the Body Contouring Academy’s Proven Profits Podcast.