I recently read that a study showed that people who were exposed to pictures of money just before making a purchase spent far less than those who were not shown the images of money. The same holds true even for people who were shown dollar signs.
It’s fascinating to me that people are more conscious of their spending habits when first presented with dollar signs. You’ve probably noticed how many restaurants, gas stations and even grocery stores have begun displaying their prices without the dollar sign, effectively short-circuiting the brain’s natural tendency to register pain associated with spending money.
Are you using dollar signs in your restaurant’s menu or when you’re creating a proposal for that big job? You may be unintentionally hurting your customers. Drop those dollar signs and you just might see a bounce in sales, not to mention that your customers will subconsciously associate your business with positive feelings, rather than painful ones. Hope that helps.