Part of the effort in sales and marketing your business includes convincing your prospects that they actually need the service or product you provide. I’m not just talking about buying from you. You need to convince them to buy it period.
Beckwith’s Selling the Invisible teaches that customers aren’t choosing between just you and your competition. They are choosing between you, your competition, and not buying at all. Customers may decide to do it themselves, delay their purchase, or forget it all together.
Doing It Themselves
When a customer is leaning toward simply doing the service solo, you need to step up and outline why you are the better choice in this situation. You may be able to:
- get it done more quickly than they could
- get it done for less money than they’d spend on their own
- produce a higher quality result
- provide a warranty on your work
So without belittling the customer, highlight all the benefits they’d gain by choosing you over doing the job themselves.
Delay Purchase
Sometimes customers just want to wait a little longer to make a purchase. You must persuade them to act today. Highlight:
- negative consequences of waiting
- all the benefits they’d get by having your product today
- the special limited time offer they must take advantage of today
You need to help them understand that they need to buy today so they can reap the benefits of your product/service and do it all for less money than if they came back later.
Forget It
When people decide to just throw in the towel and not buy from anyone you must focus your efforts on convincing them they really need your product. Identify the customer’s situation and problems and show them how you can solve their issues and make their life easier.
Customers may fall back to doing business with no one. Help them make a choice: you!