The Ikea Method For B2B Sales

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There's a reason you feel weirdly proud of that bookshelf you spent two hours assembling with an Allen wrench and a set of foreign instructions. 

You built it. And because you built it, you think it's worth more than it is.

That's the Ikea effect, and you can use the same psychology in sales.

Here’s how.

Researchers at Harvard, Duke, and Tulane ran a series of experiments where participants were asked to assemble IKEA storage boxes and fold origami. 

After they were done, they were asked how much they'd pay for what they made.

People who assembled the storage boxes were willing to pay 63% more for them than people who simply looked at pre-assembled boxes. 

In the origami experiment, the participants valued their origami creations at nearly 5X what outside judges did. They truly believed their amateur paper cranes were almost as good as those made by experts.

When people put effort into creating something, they value it more, even when the output is objectively mediocre.

I’ve seen a lot of reps go straight to the finished proposal.

They spend days putting together a deck with a full package and pricing. Then they walk into the meeting, share their screen, and present it like a gift.

The problem is that the prospect has no fingerprints on it. You have nothing to point to and say, “this is here because you mentioned you wanted it.” It's your plan instead of theirs. 

The better approach is to build the proposal together. Share a rough draft. Leave gaps. Ask them what's missing. Treat them like a friend that you just want to “run something by”.

When they've contributed to the plan, they own it. And people fight harder for things they own.

And don’t worry, this is backed by more than just the vibes and the Ikea study. Research on psychological ownership shows that when people feel control over something, invest themselves in it, or develop deep knowledge of it, their commitment goes way up.

All three of those happen when a prospect helps build the deal.

Discovery calls are the obvious starting point. Instead of running through a list of questions, turn it into a working session. "Based on what you've told me, here's what I'm thinking the solution looks like. What am I missing?" Now they're building with you. 

Mutual action plans are another natural fit. If you build the MAP together on a shared screen instead of sending a finished version over email, your prospect is co-authoring the path to close, and they're more likely to hit the milestones because they helped set them.

Even pricing conversations benefit from this. Instead of presenting one package, walk through the components and ask which ones matter most to their team. Let them help configure it. 

**One caveat about the research: the Ikea Effect only works when the effort leads to a successful outcome. If you ask your prospect to build something with you and the process is confusing, or they’re not bought into what you’re selling, this stuff doesn’t work. 

Keep it simple. Make the collaboration feel productive. And never make it feel like homework.

Check out The Follow Up Guy on LinkedIn.