Start with Just One, Sweet Piece
Where does the sales process start?
Once you have a prospective customer’s attention, it’s not always the portfolio of past work that starts the sale. Some designers, especially those without extensive showroom space, begin the sales process with a “sweet piece.”
That’s what one architectural designer we talked to called it; maybe you have your own name. Whatever you call it, the sweet piece is a product small enough to hold, yet big on impact.
The mere act of placing the sweet piece carefully in a prospect’s hands activates the somatosensory system, sending favorable signals to the brain. Touch is a powerful sense, and it’s a crucial way for people to receive information.
For some designers who understand at least the basic psychology of how this works, they have actually positioned their whole sales pitch–and their design–around one, single sweet piece that the customer now can’t live without.
Putting as much faith in touch as sight may seem odd in a very visually dependent field. But memorable feelings related to touch (think of being wrapped in cashmere on a cold day!) can lead customers to buy in to the design that evokes those memories.
What’s your sweet piece? We’d love to hear about it!
