One Big Reason They Don’t Buy and You Can’t Sell
Posted by: Cheryl Clausen in sales coaching, tags: increasing sales, sales coaching, sellingHave you ever bought something that turned out to be a BIG mistake? I sure have. I’ve made purchasing mistakes from inconsequential junk to costly products and services.
When you buy some doo-dad that’s supposed to do something, and it turns out the doo-dad is worthless you throw it away without thinking much about it. You might feel upset about it, but you didn’t risk much so you aren’t all that worried about the risk when you make the purchase decision.
If you’ve ever made a mistake like that, a mistake that wasn’t a big deal, and you’ve also made a costly mistake you already understand there’s a big difference in how that decision impacts you. What you may NOT realize is the reason the impact is so very different. The reason the impact is so different is not limited to the amount of money involved. Understanding this reasoning will help you understand how to overcome this challenge with your potential buyers.
When it comes to larger investments the money required to invest is a concern; however, it is NOT the BIG concern that holds people back and keeps them from making a purchase decision. What holds you back and keeps you from saying “yes” is a fear of…
PUBLIC HUMILIATION
Yes, it’s the fear of public humiliation that prevents you from saying “yes” to the buying decision. A buyer can easily choose to make a $50,000 purchase, yet squirm over a $5,000 purchase and here’s why. Quit often the buyer has sole decision making authority for the $50,000 purchase. If the buyer is disappointed with their purchase decision later no one but the buyer ever has to know. In contrast the $5,000 purchase may involve other people. I don’t necessarily mean other people will be involved in the purchase decision I mean people who will be involved in the outcome of the investment.
Those people will use the product or service. Those users will formulate an opinion about whether the purchase was a good decision. Therefore, this purchase decision is more public and a bad decision is more visible.
The big reason prospects often have trouble with a buying decision is because they fear making a public mistake. They don’t want to have to answer for a poor decision and face public humiliation.
Countering the Fear
Before your buyer can make a “yes” decision you have to counter their fears. The only way to counter their fears is to provide them with a logical argument for why this is a good buying decision. They need you to help them formulate their argument because this is how they will explain their decision. They don’t want any holes in their story.
They want to know if things don’t turn out like they planned that any reasonable person would have made the same decision. They literally want you to finish the statement, “Any reasonable person would have decided to make this purchase and here’s why…”
So before you presume money is the reason a prospect isn’t buying face the reality the real reason may be fear of making a publicly visible mistake. Then help your prospect develop a logical argument for why any reasonable person would make this decision.
Coach Cheryl
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January 18th, 2010 at 8:20 am
[…] One Big Reason They Don’t Buy and You Can’t Sell | Increase Sales Coach increasesalescoach.com/blog/2010/01/18/one-big-reason-they-dont-buy-and-you-cant-sell – view page – cached Have you ever bought something that turned out to be a BIG mistake? I sure have. I’ve made purchasing mistakes from inconsequential junk to costly products […]