Make your clients believe You

You have come across many books, literature, talks on Sales. I am not giving you the old wine!

By now, I know many of you quite well – those who mingle at Pathfinders, who write to me or, ask me questions. Pathfinders love challenges.

Forget about Sales expenses – start talking about Investing in sales (sales persons and sales training).

Sales is a relationship topic – is constantly evolving and developing.

Your business is well equipped with techniques to increase/promote sales of your products/services.

You know your clients want something different. People love to buy things –they want to be led through a process they enjoy to chose whether or not your product or service is going to solve their challenges.

Sales is the act of helping another person discover if your product or service will be the “right choice” and Feeling “Right” about their choice.

What barriers in Feeling Right?

Your clients Are Not Clear About What They Are Buying.

You have missed being tangible with what they are getting.

Many times people sell either to logically or to emotionally.

Often people will get bogged down into the “Details” of what they are selling and overwhelm the buyer.

Overwhelm and confusion are two key emotions for a buyer to stop and do nothing.

So, what you do?

What, How, Why, Where

• “What” they are getting (Tangible)
• “How” you are going to get them that (physically purchase as a system)
• “Why” they are buying it (emotional)
• “Where” it serves them in the bigger picture of their life

Don’t Value It

Value is a perception – a big distinction between somebody “needing” something, and “wanting” something.

You know what your client needs; they may not “want” it.

If they don’t want it, they will not value it.

Think of an old and smelly pair of gym shoes you might still have. You probably did not want them, so you had low value on them. However, you needed them, so until you were ready to buy a new pair, you continued to need them. Those shoes are not very good right?

Imagine people having that experience about your product or service! Not a good thing at all.

However, when you were ready to buy the next pair of shoes, you wanted them – and that made the sale a very easy discovery of which was the “Right” ones for you.

Once you make sure you are talking to people that actually “want” your product or service, look at how do you raise the perceived value of your product or service.

• Be slightly more expensive than your competition. Research shows that a 15% difference in price does not impact a person’s buying behavior. And, higher prices usually cause people to think it is higher quality.
• Testimonials – Results based marketing is getting more attention than any other kind.

When people know others are getting results, they fear missing out and the value goes up.

• Scarcity – A basic law of supply and demand. When too much supply, you lower perceived value. Simply decide to only offer a limited supply, the perceived value of whatever you are selling, will increase.

 

Your clients don’t believe – Can Achieve The Results Themselves

Concern is whether they can actually have the results that you say they can have.

Everyone is afraid of failing and when it comes down to taking a leap of faith for a product or service – whether it will work for them.

Of course this concern is valid, because no one knows whether something will work, until the product or service is used.

A free sample is a great idea to help people get related to you and your products/services.                        However, be careful about offering your product or service to be paid for solely based upon results.

It’s really more of a marketing technique then an appropriate business model.

A much better way to work with this concern is to use more Risk Reversal techniques.

Risk Reversal – when your clients take the risk, and are wrong, you will make sure they end up feeling right.

• Money back guarantees
• Little bit of a trial up front (be careful with free stuff, this can get abused)
• Ways of making sure their money is put to good use

Working with a client upfront to create a fall back plan if things don’t work out, increases trust and willingness to take greater risks on your products and services.

Be upfront – you be the one to bring up the concern about what will happen if the product or service doesn’t work for them… show how you are proactive to make sure all paths are covered.

Give people the confidence when product or service doesn’t work for them, you will make sure the bigger picture of their money and time investment is properly respected.

 

Trust

A key element – when your client doesn’t trust you, she/he is likely not buy from you.

This is what a “Brand” is all about: Familiarity and trust.

The more familiar someone is with a Brand – the more likely they are to trust and invest in it.

 

Not just trusting your company Brand and building a reputation in your company name and logo. Personal Branding, the main experience of all this social media revolution, gives you a chance for people to get to know you personally (person behind the business) and assign more trust to your company, based upon their trust of you.

 

• Your intention to serve them
• Your skill level to deliver what you say
• You give adequate attention
• You take care of her/him when it goes wrong

 

Your clients don’t Believe They Can Afford It

Everyone wants the best deal, and knows the more money they have the more choices they get to make.

So it will always be part of the conversation. However, there is no such thing as not being able to afford it.

The real question is, will the clients rise above who they know themselves to be in that moment with money?

There is an interesting fine line between the sales person and the client.

Most sales people shy away from engaging in the conversation of their clients not believing they can afford it.

 

It is a mindset that someone “Can’t” afford it.

There is a fine line that the sales person needs to walk between accepting the clients “belief” and encouraging them to rise about that.

This is where the “push” in sales can be described.

 

Your Clients Don’t Feel They Need It Now

When people don’t feel urgency to buy something – they need to get more connected to the preciousness of time, and the fear of losing out.

 

Time is finite and every day that passes where you maintain the same challenge, is time wasted. It could well be used towards a richer experience of life and greater growth.

 

The most powerful scarcity that exists is the scarcity of life. Urgency is the experience of a person realizing that waiting longer to do or acquire something is nothing more than a waste of time.

 

People many times are disconnected from the experience of how important it is to take action now.

 

One of your jobs in sales is to have people experience the need to take action now and change their life.

 

You can use the effect of scarcity and exclusivity at any time to increase the need to take action now.

These are both powerful techniques, and only to be used if the clients are truly missing something or stalled out in their life around this purchase.

 

Please let us know if you want to know more on these techniques.

 

Suresh Shah, Pathfinders Enterprise