The Sales Drug

Source: Ric Payne's Blog

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog entry by Ric Payne. In it, Payne presents results of a study on the effects of a drug called 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthin.

In a research project that was published in the January 2005 edition of The Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Pearl Martin and some colleagues sought to assess the persuasive power of this drug on people confronted by a controversial issue.

Half the participants in the study were given an orange juice drink that had been laced with the drug and the other half were given a clean drink. Then all the participants were asked to consider a series of arguments that were advocating a certain position on a controversial issue. 

Those who had consumed the laced beverage prior to reviewing the argument were 35 percent more favorably disposed to the position than those who had consumed the clean drink. 

The common name of 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthin is caffeine. So before you go into a sales presentation that may involve inviting your client to consider a service solution that may be “out there,” be sure to give her a cup of coffee or tea. 

The serious point of this study is that people tend to be more persuaded by a position when they are alert, which, in addition to administering caffeine may also mean you should not do important sales presentations after lunch – I always used to schedule initial consultations (sales presentations) first thing in the morning!

It is also important to note that in a second study, the researchers found that participants were not persuaded by weak arguments simply because they had been administered caffeine. Your proposals need to be genuine, well reasoned and competently presented.

For the complete entry, read “At Last: A drug that will help you sell more.”

From Ric Payne's Blog, January 10, 2014, http://theconsultingaccountant.com.