In This Lesson: How to avoid having your customers go away and “think about it” forever.
If you complete this lesson, you’ll avoid hearing the dreaded phrase “I’m going to think about it” which really means, “you’ll never see me or my money again”. I can’t tell you how many delighted customers have said to me “I wasn’t going to buy, until you said XYZ”. So, this lesson is all about making sure you’ve got an XZY in your pocket…
The Challenge: We are hard wired to avoid rejection.
I’m a big fan of The Apprentice. I love watching mostly smart, talented people perform under pressure. If you put the inevitable drama to one side, there are so many lessons to be learned from the show. One of those lessons is the value of a thick skin.
Time and time again you’ll see Ivy League men and women, individuals with the best educations in the world get FIRED before street smart sales folk.
Now there’s nothing wrong with selling for a living. But wouldn’t you think that the folks with $100,000 educations would wipe the floor with them?
So, what do these street smart sales folk have, that the most educated competitors often lack? In challenges, when dealing with the customers, the sales folk aren’t afraid to ask for the sale. And what that really means, is that they aren’t afraid of rejection. They don’t take NO as a personal insult. It doesn’t bruise their ego. It doesn’t stop them, in fact it fires them up even more.
The Obstacle: Customers can smell your fear.
What you need to know, and what those Ivy leaguers need to know, is that customers can smell your fear! If they sense for a second that you aren’t 100% confident in what you are selling. If they don’t believe that your products are flying off the shelf. If they think for a second that you are afraid to ask for the order…they will run a mile. We sense weakness and desperation where ever it is, online or in the real world.
The Strategy: Confidently ask for the order.
You have to confidently ask for the order. You have to presume they are going to say yes. You have to make it easy for them to press the button, shake your hand, put it in the cart, sign the deal.
Now, whenever you’re asking people to buy your product, it helps to have a good reason why they should buy RIGHT NOW. If they go away to “think about it” the chances are you’ll never see them again. They’ll be distracted by 1001 other pitches from other people.
Give them a reason to buy NOW.
Psychologist have proven that whenever we ask somebody to do something for us, we’ll dramatically increase our chances of success when we include a reason, or a “because”. If we can make that reason “because now is the perfect time” we’ll do even better.
Examples of time sensitive reasons to take action now.
When we bring time into the pitch we’re turning up the energy. There are a couple of ways you can use time…
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If you buy now you’ll gain something extra.
“Sign-up and for today only you’ll receive this bonus” -
If you buy right now we’ll reduce the price.
“Half Price Holiday Sale”
“Book your holiday in winter for 30% off” -
You need to buy now or the opportunity will disappear.
“One offer, one time”
“Closing down sale”
“New Years Day Clearance Sale”
“Only 10 Places available”
Putting It Into Action: Estimated time – 30 minutes.
In just a couple of sentences ask for the order and give the customer a solid reason why they should buy your product or service right NOW. If you use this pitch on a landing page or website it should be right next to a giant brightly colored BUY button. Do not be shy, do not be subtle, do not try and be cool.
If you already came up with a creative offer in the previous lesson, your reason to take action now should flow nicely onto the end of that offer and be time sensitive.