Getting a prospect to buy is like melting ice. To get them to make a purchase you need to get them to give up the status quo, whether it’s their present service provider or lack thereof and make a change. The problem is your prospects are often frozen in their thinking and you need a way to thaw it so they’re purchasing decisions flow in your direction.
It’s not that prospects don’t want your products or services it’s just that they’ve been used to doing without them and now you need to help them make a change. What’s the best way to thaw someone’s thinking and change their mind?
You could try the direct approach. You could tell them how effective your products and services are. You could try to persuade them to buy your products and services. If you’ve done this you know how frustrating it can be.
Its hard, sometimes impossible, to persuade or convince people to do something new. Most of us want to keep doing things the same way we’ve been doing them. You’ve come up against this when you’re talking to a prospect and trying to generate a sale.
If you want to get that prospect to become a buyer, you need to find a way to help them to let go of their past ways of working, change their mind and take the action you want. How do you do this? It turns out that the most successful strategy for marketing has other uses as well.
I was talking with my client Andrea a couple of weeks ago and the conversation strayed from marketing. She mentioned that her computer was so slow that she spent a lot of time waiting for it to load and process information instead of getting her work done.
As one of the younger and newer new employees, she wasn’t comfortable going to her boss and telling her that she wanted a new computer. What could she do?
My advice to Andrea was not to ask for what she wanted. Instead I told her to help her boss understand why she needed it.
To help your prospects – or your boss – let go of the status quo, do what I showed Andrea how to do. Lead the conversation so that they have ownership of the ideas and conclusions. Ask a series of questions that focus their attention where you want it to be and help them make the decision you want them to make.
Obviously, you’ll tailor your questions to the person and the situation. I suggested to Andrea that she ask her boss about:
1. Revenue Objectives
2. The Impact of Sticking with the Status Quo
3. Defining What’s Needed to Reach these Goals
A week after we discussed this approach, Andrea called to tell me the result of her conversation with her boss. She’d gone in hoping to get a new computer and ended up with a better computer and a raise!
Whether you’re marketing yourself or your business, there are simple strategies for achieving your goals. You could keep marketing the way you have been and getting the same results, or you could discover what actually works.
Take a look at your marketing:
1. What are your revenue objectives?
2. Wouldn’t you like to give yourself a raise?
3. What will be the impact of sticking with your current small business marketing strategy?
4. What do you need and want to reach your business goals?
Getting your prospects or your boss to change their mind can be as easy as melting an ice cube in a glass of water. Instead of fighting prospects’ frozen thinking why not find out how to melt their resistance and increase your sales.
Ready to unfreeze your sales? Discover the simple strategies that work to grow your business >>
