It is often said that people buy with their hearts and then justify their purchases with their heads. Although this is a cliché, it has some truth to it.

People think this phrase mainly concerns consumers. However, business buyers also buy on emotions and then justify the purchase with their heads.

For example, a consulting firm where the consultants spent five months selling to a particular client and could not make the sale and they couldn’t figure out why. Talk to the ultimate decision maker, you’ll find that they’re still plugging away with the same old problems, often giving up personal time (such as holidays) to fix what was going on.

Focus on the person you are selling to and remember to look beyond the financial aspects, tell the customer the solution to their problems.

“Sure, there’s money to be saved in fixing this particular issue and we’ve already gone over that, but beyond the financial case, one thing that’s true about this whole setup that we’re talking about is that this isn’t going to happen to you anymore.”

The financial case can quickly become compelling once its made personal.

When it comes to focusing on the emotion rather than the financial aspects of the sale, you have to be subtle and careful with how you weave it into the conversation. You can’t just be blunt and say, “Do this and you’ll be happy.” It doesn’t work quite like that. But never mistake the fact that even businesses buy with their hearts and justify their purchase with their heads – because businesses always have decision makers who are ordinary people.