Selling is Hard
Ever hear someone complain about how hard it is to be in sales? To get someone else to buy, to make sales happen, to find the solution for no one ever calling back. Ever heard someone say how they would never want to be in sales because of how “hard” it is, or that they don’t want to have to push people into buying, or they just could not handle the rejection?
First, being in sales is hard. When you are amazing at it you are still only moving a small portion of your prospective leads forward which, in doing the math, means you are NOT moving most of your leads forward. Being a rock star in sales technically means you are losing more times at the plate than winning. And that is truly difficult for the self-protective, survival part of our brain to handle without completely melting down.
Now imagine there was a way to make a sales role a whole lot simpler. Maybe not easier, but definitely simpler. Well – if you have ever wondered how, then you are in the right place.
One warning, you might be the type of salesperson who is always looking for that one tactic, that magic bullet of a trick, hack, or tip, that will make prospective customers close themselves.
A) This article will disappoint, as I am not going to share such hack.
B) Even more important, no such thing exists, so stop looking for a short cut.
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Are You Losing Sales?
You might be and you don’t even know it! Selling in a post-COVID world requires new approaches. That is why the Selling With Authentic Persuasion training is essential for those who want to thrive in the modern economy.
When you understand this aspect of every single one of your prospects and create a selling process around that, you will find sales so much simpler, and easier than doing it the traditional way.
Okay, here it is: You have one job when persuading someone to take an action that will benefit them that they are resisting to do…help them feel SAFE (Successful At Fear Elimination).
That’s it. End of lesson.
Okay, for those out there who need more, let’s break down why that is the most important role you have in sales.
We all have this part of our brain called the amygdala, which is focused on survival. As the oldest part of our brain, it has kept us alive as a species for a very long time. And not just alive and getting by but thriving and even dominating (for good and evil) as a species. One reason we have done so well as a group is we work together I small and large tribes. [In the next article I will cover why this part of our brain is also responsible for most people’s avoidance of rejection]
The amygdala is on the constant lookout for danger and knows that the safes route through life, to stay alive long enough to procreate, is to stick with what we know. We call it our comfort zone. Everyone has a different boundary of comfort, and some people are risk takers in some aspects of life (willing to travel to new places) but play it safe in others (when they get to a new city, they look for familiar restaurant chains).
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Are You Losing Sales?
You might be and you don’t even know it! Selling in a post-COVID world requires new approaches. That is why the Selling With Authentic Persuasion training is essential for those who want to thrive in the modern economy.
Why am I talking about this and sales? Well, here is one of the biggest lightbulb moments I had early in my sales leadership career, when trying to figure out why some sales processes worked better than others – because buying something new equals change, and change is dangerous to the primal part of our mind.
Here is a formula for the people who like formulas and simple representations:
Sales = Change = Danger = Death
Dramatic? Yes.
Accurate? Yes.
For someone to buy your product or service means they have to embrace the danger, risks and hazards of stepping outside their comfort zone of what is known. Even if they have bought something similar to what you sell (carpet cleaning, a CRM, bookkeeping services, a Toyota Camry) they haven’t bought one from you and your company. They might know the product, but they don’t know you (Stranger Danger).
If they have never bought a product like yours, then it will represent even more of an unknown, which depending on their personality and the cost of the product/service relative to their financial situation (a $10,000 watch could be a life savings to some, and literally a rounding error to others), will cause them to hesitate in moving forward, even if it will benefit them and its what they say they want.
Let me sum it up – every prospective customer of yours, who is not yet a customer, all have the same fear in common: fear of change.
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Are You Losing Sales?
You might be and you don’t even know it! Selling in a post-COVID world requires new approaches. That is why the Selling With Authentic Persuasion training is essential for those who want to thrive in the modern economy.
Now, how could I make such a claim?
Everyone is different, right?
Yes…but again, if they haven’t bought from you, they are struggling with the risk of change that buying from you represents.
The easy sales are because that person has come to full terms with the risk, or their pain is much greater than their comfort zone. Early on in your conversation they will say “I am familiar with what you sell. What is the cost? And do you take credit cards or cash?” They know what they want, they don’t need a salesperson. They just need an order taker. Which is great, swipe the card and move on.
For everyone else, they need your help. They need you to help them to feel SAFE (Again, Successful At Fear Elimination). At the moment you make them feel safe they will embrace the risks involved (large or small, perceived or actual – doesn’t matter because its all in their head), you will close the deal.
All the sales processes, strategies, tricks, tips, slick closing lines, and gross manipulation tactics that focus on moving people forward no matter what won’t work at scale. You can manipulate some of the people some of the time.
Instead, build your sales process around what humans are afraid of (change) with the goal of moving them from the safe, cozy center of their comfort zone to the other side where buying from you lies.
Oh, and just so know, the closed sale is just the beginning of selling that customer. Their mind will want to run back into their comfort zone (we call it buyer’s remorse) which means the “selling” never stops in their mind or on your/your company’s end.
Listen to an audio version of this article below.
Voiced by the Author, Jason Cutter.
Jason Cutter, CEO of Cutter Consulting Group, is a mindset and scalability expert focused on developing Authentic Persuaders®. Even though his bachelor’s degree is in Marine Biology, he knows what it takes to be successful in sales and build profitable teams. His books, podcasts, training workshops and speaking are focused on helping sales professionals close more deals, make more money, and produce scalable results.
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Header Image Credit: Antonio Friedemann. Find it here.
