By the Ocean
Sun and Rain Showers 76 Degrees
5:52 a.m.
You can’t tell a prospect he needs what you have and expect to experience anything but instant resistance.
Humans aren’t really attracted to what they need, they are attracted to what they want.
And that’s a challenge if you’re selling something people actually need. Because they don’t care about that.
They want what they want.
“Need” is your opinion about what they should want.
What they want is the truth…according to them.
The good news is that you can perform magic if you figure out how to transform needs into wants.
Your ideal buyer wants something. Maybe he wants a lot of things.
Do you know what they are? Are you sure you’re right?
Do you see how you could demonstrate your product or service as a VEHICLE for your buyer to get those things?
Demonstrate is the key word here.
Show, not tell.
Telling creates resistance. Showing creates attraction.
In last week’s issue of Making Clients Pay, I told the story of a friend who submitted a web marketing proposal to an extremely qualified prospect who was personally introduced to my friend from a trusted third party. The prospect was ready to pay $50K and get started. But the deal fell through, and the prospect disappeared. Not because it wasn’t a good fit, but because my friend made a fatal mistake that sent the prospect running. These are expensive mistakes to make.
I worked with a client once over the course of about 12 months to completely revamp his client acquisition process.
Why did it take so long?
Because we were dealing with humans!
Skeptical humans, rational humans, humans with a lot of money and a lot of emotion who pretended to make decisions based on logic.
And because the price tag had a lot of zeroes behind it.
The buying process included an application, qualification, interview, a limited buying window, a financing process, etc. All of the things that go into a successful structure for ENGINEERING DECISIONS.
We had to create that and then watch as humans interacted with it. We studied where the attraction dipped. We looked into why people got to certain points and lost forward motion. We discovered the existence of HIDDEN obstacles to a sale.
In the case of this client, the buyer’s wife (most of these buyers were men) was the silent partner in the decision who would often sabotage things without even being seen.
How did we deal with that?
We invited the spouse to come along to the introductory workshop and become active in the process from the beginning. That way, the husband didn’t have to listen to us, go home and present a (probably terrible) sales presentation to his wife.
Never forget, human desire makes the world go ’round. It is why money changes hands. You don’t have to create this desire, you simply have to position yourself in its way.
What do your people really want? How does your product or service serve as the vehicle for them to get it?
How can you show that to them?