Have you ever noticed that when there’s a tip jar beside a cash register at a coffee shop, it’s almost never empty, even when the business first opens up and there hasn’t been any customers yet? Ever wonder why?

There’s actually psychology behind this little phenomenon – and it’s important to understand as a sales rep.

Most people don’t like to be the first. On a bell curve of technology adapters, only about one in eight people are what we consider to be ‘early adopters’ - that means the rest of us, seven-eighths to be exact, are to some degree ‘laggards’, waiting for someone else to try it first, before we decide whether or not to adopt something.

So, if a cashier wants to increase the likelihood that their patrons will throw some money in their tip jar, they would be well advised to throw a couple of loonies in the jar right from the start. This would mimick the behavior of the early adopters, and ensure their patrons feel more comfortable adopting the behavior that someone else has already started of putting money in the tip jar.

Thinking about a typical sales process, how could we use this? Think about things like reviews/testimonials from satisfied customers, stats about number of customers served or even references to your own experience as a sales rep – our instincts have always told us that they are important sales tools. This is because they speak to 7/8 of the population who may be waiting to see others do something first.

For example, you might refer to a past customer who purchased something similar and the experience that they had. One of my customers last year faced a similar situation and ended up going with X. When I followed up, they told me that they absolutely loved it. Or if you don’t have something specific, try something like this: Well, that’s a good choice. That particular product is one of our most popular. In fact, last year alone, we sold over XX of that model.

Find a way to make your customer feel comfortable making their purchase decision. Knowing that there have been others before them, who had an amazing experience or achieved the desired results, may be a key part of how to increase their comfort level.

Happy Selling!