Article updated October 2024.
In today’s highly competitive marketplace, sales hacks are gold! Getting the edge over your competitors can mean the difference between achieving your sales targets and not, so here is the first of our two-part article to help you stop burning leads and start inspiring more sales. Steve Jensen from Impact Training shares his tips on triggers that inspire people to buy…
Decision making facts when it comes to buying
There are two key motivators of human behaviour. These are:
- to avoid pain; and
- to move towards pleasure.
People want to do business with experts, not people who pretend they know what they’re talking about.
Gone are the days when all it takes to make a sale is a pretty face, a dazzling smile and a decent product or service to spruik. These days, people want to be inspired to buy, and for this to occur you need to present yourself as an expert or specialist. Prospects need to be impressed by the fact you truly know what you’re talking about and are knowledgeable on the subject.
People won’t buy from people who don’t know what they’re doing.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know your sales model, or you don’t know the product/service inside out, then your prospect will not feel confident that you know what you’re doing. This is why cheat or teach sheets are essential. You can read from these sheets, and then talk about them with the prospect. They are ideal for using when on the phone or while meeting with someone.
They isolate your USPs, and enable INKing. INKing refers to creating moments of “I Never Knew” that, for prospects. Ideally, you should have a minimum of 10 things you can teach people about your service or product, and you should use teaching softeners (phrases), such as “you might not know…” or “I found this out the other day…” or “I recently discovered that…” Teaching people things they don’t know will confirm you as the expert.
Your mindset matters.
It is extremely beneficial to take on a mindset where you believe you only have one chance to inspire a sale; because this means you’ll always strive to do it right the first time.
Prospects usually make 50 to 60 per cent of their buying decision soon after they’ve first met you, so you can bet that if they’re leaving and telling you they’ll think about it, then you haven’t succeeded in inspiring them to take action. Unfortunately in most instances, when prospects leave like this, they’ve already made a decision NOT to buy.
The process of inspiring someone to buy requires you to:
- listen to what they want and need
- discuss it in detail with them
- show them a solution that is unique and different to anyone else.
By showing prospects that the solution is the ideal fit for them, you will inspire them to take action (i.e., make a purchase).
Be aware, you can no longer rely on extensive or continuous follow up to close a sale. These days, follow up is often perceived as more annoying than helpful, so if you do need to follow up then do so only by providing new information – not details that are repeated from previous communications.
This will again confirm you as the expert, and remind them that you can service their needs better than everyone else.
Remember, if you serve more, you’ll get more. The key here, however, is to ensure you are focused purely on helping them achieve their goal or solve their problem; NOT merely on making the sale. You must be genuinely caring, and generous in the experience you provide to them. Remember, people don’t buy the product or service; they buy the feeling it will give them.
Understanding decision making triggers
The following VCQP Model provides a formula for successful selling, and details the four triggers that people use when making decisions. In order of sequence, they are:
1. Value – how much it’s worth to the person to have it.
Creating value is essential, and comes from proving you are the expert, that you have a uniqueness (USP), and by teaching prospects something they don’t know (called “INKing” – more on this later). Teach them and tell them you’re the only one who can deliver the solution, and this will establish you as the expert.
2. Convenience – this is the Holy Grail of closing; when selling you need to “double pump” (i.e., confirm the convenience at least twice)!
We are all very time poor. As a result, people always want to make decisions quickly, but of course, they still want to make the right decision. They also don’t want things to take up too much of their time, and they often gravitate towards things that will save them time. Saving time is one the major triggers for people making decisions.
Keeping this in mind, if your product or services requires someone to visit you regularly, then it’s essential that you ask them what days and times will suit them.
When they tell you, have them reiterate their answer by asking, “is that going to be convenient for you?” Then when they reconfirm, you stall and re-ask again “hmm, are you sure? Because it’s really important that you attend”. Your goal is to ensure they say “yes” twice.
Convenience is the Holy Grail when it comes to sales, so this “double pump” (where they confirm twice in the conversation that they can definitely attend, or take delivery, or move in, or save some time, or whatever the product/service involves), will always be a huge contributor in their decision to buy.
3. Quality – you must present your product/service as being of high quality, especially when compared to the competitors in the marketplace.
Obviously, you need to be competitive in the marketplace so you need to demonstrate exceptional quality in your product or service. In other words, you need to show that your offering is valuable, and ideally not available (in a comparable quality) anywhere else. Your high quality may lie in your location, additional services, or the contents within your product or service.
It’s important that you prove your level of quality too; you can’t just say it. Hearsay is not effective in the sales process like it used to be.
When it comes to quality, you must have proof mechanisms in place, which confirm your product/service is of the quality you are saying it is.
4. Price – the investment required, and the least important factor when the VCQP Model is delivered correctly.
The great news is, in today’s era of selling, this is the least important factor of all, when all others are done right. This means, if the perceived value is high, if the convenience is clear, and the quality is confirmed then the price won’t matter to the prospect. In these situations, your price presentation will be a breeze and the closing sequence will be easy and smooth to complete. When the VCQP Model is applied successfully, the close can be assumed.
Mastering sales: You are the key
- have expertise and the tools like cheat/teach sheets on-hand
- know the product/service
- show them credibility
- listen to their problem and use a model called ALF (ask, listen, formulate)
- have role-played and practised your presentations
Confirming the importance of buying decisions
There’s a great saying, which is: “If you say it, they doubt it. If they say it, it’s true.”
You should always avoid saying, “It’s really important that you…” and instead, teach them what they don’t know and ask them questions such as, “Is what I’ve told you important?” or “Is the timing or way we’re going to do it, important?”.
They need to confirm that it is, in fact, important to them. You then need to agree with them by saying “I totally agree. Why do you think it’s important?” or “what would happen if you didn’t have that solution?” because remember, when they tell you, it’s true! And then reconfirm with them again, by saying, “don’t worry, we’re experts in that, so we’ll make sure it happens.”
Remember, you must ask them why it’s so important to them, as this needs to come from them, not you.
Article originally written by Steve Jensen for the What’s New in Fitness Summer 2019 Edition.
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