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True sales pros use psychology to sell more, the psychology of urgency, time, choice and stories. Let’s look at each. The psychology of urgency Another typical sales scenario involves the salesperson doing everything right – until after the first appointment. Then, suddenly, the emails stop, messages don’t get returned, and the lead runs cold, leaving you scratching your head wondering how that nice, friendly, responsive, involved prospect dropped off the face of the earth. Does that ever happen to you? What you’ve just experienced is a good sales process gone bad for the lack of a key ingredient: urgency. As Stephen Covey says, there is a big difference between the “urgent” and the “important.”
The important category includes things like making employees feel appreciated, upgrading to new office technology, listening to someone’s ideas, increasing your industry knowledge, developing good corporate citizenship (charitable, environmental, etc) and so on. Guess which category is at the top of every executive’s agenda each morning when they walk in the door? If you’ve positioned the product or service you’re selling as a “nice to have” instead of a “have to have,” – or even better a “have to have now” – your leads will run cold. Simply put, buying from you (even if it’s important) takes a backseat to the urgent matters of the day. If you as a salesperson haven’t identified the pain, then you will get a less than urgent response. If you walk up to someone on the street and they have a nail sticking out of their knee- they would have a high sense of urgency to have the nail removed. This is the same with the prospect. When you can identify their “nail” they will want to move on it quickly. In my seminars, I ask people to think about these questions: I don’t believe in the process of “overcoming objections” – sounds too much like fighting. And if sales is a battle, you’re going to lose. One method I like to use is simply turning objections into objectives. In other words, if you can intelligently address the objection in terms of reaching a goal, agreement, or solution that addresses the problem, you will be well on your way to collaborating with your future customer on buying your solution. For example, if the objection is “it’s too expensive,” you can show, in clear dollars and cents terms (and using numbers supplied by your future customer!) how your solution will save money, generate sales, increase profits, reduce costs, etc. You’re turning the price objection into a value objective. The psychology of time A lot of sales trainers suggest using the personal touch: handwritten notes, personalized gifts, etc. We think these are powerful tools, but for different reasons. Whether a note is typed or handwritten makes little difference in and of itself. Whether the note comes with a small gift (personalized or not) also doesn’t really matter. It’s really about giving time and attention. That is what makes you distinctive. Let me give you an example. As you may have guessed by now, I’m a speaker, author, and seminar leader. As such, I’m a prospect for a wide variety of businesses – presentation equipment, publicity, advertising, direct mail, courseware, and e-learning suppliers all want a piece of me. Recently, I put my name in at the website of a reputable radio PR professional who has been getting great results for people just like me. I filled out her online form, attended part of a tele-seminar that she sponsored, and then a few days later received a handwritten note together with 2 name-brand lollipops. Some background you need to know: Now, here are some problems with this story: So, how does all this apply to you and your business? Simple. The lesson is: put in the TIME to make the sale, add personal meaning to your relationships, and make yourself stand out from the crowd. For example, when you follow up with a well thought-out handwritten note, it shows the investment of your TIME. I recently facilitated a six month Leadership Development program for 37 people. Afterwards, I sat down and wrote 37 thank you notes by hand. In each note, I tried to personalize a comment. I sealed the envelopes with red wax and my stamped monogram. It wasn’t that I am crazy about wax and monograms; it’s the fact that I wanted to send a note that was different than any they had ever gotten. The response was tremendous. Investing time is another way you will separate yourself from the crowd. What’s the best way to invest your time? Choose as many as you like from the following list: A lot of salespeople are leery of doing this work for several reasons. Excuses and objections include: The way to make sure you're investing your time wisely vs. doing “free consulting” is simply to make each of these points of contact an opportunity to move your sales process forward. A final aspect of the psychology of time is timely response to emails and phone calls. This is truly a habit worth developing for several reasons: The psychology of choice When it comes down to the wire, salespeople who have made a habit of studying sales techniques never offer a ‘take it or leave it’ deal. It’s simply too easy to say no, and if you didn’t handle the rest of your sales process flawlessly, almost any reason to say no will look pretty appealing to your prospect. If you always offer options, you shift your prospect’s mindset to considering WHICH, not WHETHER! And it reinforces your status as a professional who customizes choices, simplifies options, and filters a lot of the ‘noise’ that the prospect has heard in the past. You’re customizing options based on the prospect’s situation. One size fits one. The psychology of stories One of the most powerful sales tools you have at your disposal is storytelling. Or more appropriately, storyselling! So how can you use stories when working with future customers? All this requires on your part is the initiative to begin gathering stories by talking with your existing customers. Very simply, talk to your customers about their experiences with your products and services. You’re sure to gather some powerful and persuasive stories. Focus on things like: • A previous customer’s purchase and how the product helped them. The psychology of risk What can you do to minimize the risk to the prospect of buying your product or service? Look at all the products out on the market that offer risk-free, money back guarantees. In today’s “do more with less” business environment, many economic decision-makers have a new top priority – and it’s not “making the very best choice.” It’s “not making a mistake that will cost me my job.” How can you reassure someone with this mindset that buying from you is smart and safe and risk-free? Do you offer guarantees, warrantees, refunds, make-ups? In my seminars, we spend some time exploring how you might do one better than minimizing risk – and eliminate it altogether. Some of the ideas that seminar participants generate for their specific businesses are outrageous, some are plain impossible – but a good number are brilliant and immediately implementation-ready! To address these aspects of buyer resistance, you can use a battery of smart sales tools. You may be using some of these already, but the more you pile on, the more effective they will be. Your job as a sales professional is not changing people’s minds (that’s extremely hard to do); your job is to help them make a good decision.
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In everyday business, the urgent category includes soothing angry clients, “putting out fires,” production stoppages, surprise inspections or audits by regulators, labor problems, media blowups, and things of that nature.
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I also agree that a follow up with a well thought-out handwritten note shows investment of your time.
Sending a handwritten note is one of the simplest and most underutilized tools in today's busy world.
There is an article by Tim Wackel that touches up on the importance of handwritten notes called, "Five Handwritten Notes To Engage Your Buyers" that I think you'll definitely find interesting!