How customers actually decide

In one paragraph

The decision is usually made on how someone feels, then defended with reasons. A pitch that only supplies reasons never triggers the decision; one that only supplies feeling leaves them unable to defend it.

The emotional driver comes first: fear of getting it wrong, relief, ambition, status, the desire to stop thinking about a problem. That is what makes someone move.

The logical justification comes second, and it matters because the buyer has to explain the decision — to a partner, a board, a colleague, or to themselves at three in the morning.

What that means practically

Sell to the want, then supply the reasons. The case study, the figures, the guarantee and the specification are not what convinces them; they are what lets them defend having been convinced.

A proposal that is all numbers and no relief has answered the second question without ever triggering the first. See also [wants versus needs].

How to actually use it

• In your next proposal, write one sentence naming what the client actually wants to stop feeling. Put it near the top.
• Then give them the three facts they will need when somebody asks them why they chose you. Make those easy to repeat.

Where it breaks down

• It flattens a genuinely complex literature into a slogan, and it is easily used to justify manipulation. The line is whether the emotional driver you name is real.
• In highly regulated or procurement-led buying, process constrains the emotional route considerably.

If you are being examined on it

Links to market research — qualitative research is how you find the emotional driver; quantitative tells you how common it is.

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