The field of sales is demanding and competitive. The stereotype of salespeople as mere brochure-readers has run its course. The reason for this is that customers no longer need to rely on a single reliable source for purchases because they can easily access information online that allows them to learn about all the sellers offering a product or service and choose as they see fit. Despite this, CEB studies show that salespeople's actions, not the quality of the product or service they received, account for 53% of what keeps customers coming back. Selling is still largely dependent on interpersonal relationships. 

Due to the fact that humans are emotional and susceptible to cognitive biases, in order to gain a competitive advantage in a hyper-competitive sales environment, it is crucial to be aware of a number of common cognitive biases that are at play for you and your prospects. Cognitive biases are automatic thoughts that condition a response. This lets the brain make a quick decision without actively thinking about the issue or situation at hand. Below are three cognitive frameworks that you probably see in your everyday life and can effectively apply to your sales activities.

1. The Decoy Effect

The decoy effect refers to the phenomenon in which the choice probability of a baseline alternative rises when an inferior alternative or “the decoy” is included in the set of alternatives.

Let’s say you want to get a mobile phone plan and are given the two options below from Freedom Mobile, a Canadian telecom company.

With some quick mental math, you find these two plans have a comparable cost per GB of data. There is a really good chance for one to choose the $40/month plan because paying $60/month really doesn’t give a significant bang for a buck.

Now let’s say you’re presented with a third option that falls right between the two previous options. A $50/month plan for 35GB, which is $10 more than the $40 plan for an extra 5GB. If you just add another $10 to upgrade to the $60 plan, you will get 15GB more. This $50/month plan is also known as the “decoy” because it makes you believe the larger plan is a much more appealing option.

2. Single-Option Aversion 

Single-option aversion refers to the phenomenon that customers are less willing to commit to a sale when they are only offered one option, because they feel that they miss the opportunity to compare different options, thus not confident enough to make a commitment. 

Going back to the phone plan examples above, the customer is very unlikely to make a purchase if they are only offered any single one of the three plans. When presenting your products or services, always give buyers a few options. Doing so will make it easier for their brains to arrive at a decision. 

3. The Bandwagon Effect

The bandwagon fallacy is also known as the appeal to common belief or the appeal to the masses because its purpose is to convince people to do or believe something because "everyone else is doing it" or "everything else believes this."

For example, the “Most Popular” label of the option is intended to introduce the bandwagon effect and make the customers believe they are unlikely to go wrong by choosing what the most people have chosen. Other typical examples of introducing the bandwagon effect include customer testimonials and success stories. Customers are more likely to make a purchase after hearing how people with similar needs to theirs have benefited from your product or service. 

Although unconscious biases can help salespeople sell more and faster in some scenarios, the buying decision can be greatly influenced when the conscious decision-making process starts to take over. If you want to learn more about developing a strategic sales approach that ultimately results in convincing sales, you can do so by exploring the other resources.

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