The Salesman.com Podcast 5 Ways You’re SCARING Away Buyers | Selling Made Simple
I hate to break it to you, but if your leads aren’t buying, the problem isn’t with them. It’s with you.
In today’s video, we’re looking at 5 reasons your leads just won’t bite. And 5 things you can do to fix it.
Now, one of the most important lessons you’re ever going to learn in this business is the value of self-sufficiency.
Best-selling author Nina Purewal told me once…
“One of the big things in sales is you can't control how people are going to react to you. You can only control what you put out there.”
SP #697 – Let That Sh*t Go And Reduce Your Sales Stress Nina Purewal
You’re going to run into a lot of different people over the course of your career. Some of them will be a match. And some of them won’t.
But for those that are and still aren’t buying, the problem is you.
Agh, hurts doesn’t it? Well don’t worry—there are steps you can take to fix those problems. And that’s what we’re looking at today. 5 reasons people aren’t buying from you and 5 solutions.
So let’s start with a big one…
1. They’re Only Halfway There
Now, in B2B sales, a lot of the decision making depends on logic. Does this product meet our requirements? Is the price within our budget? Can we implement on our schedule?
But if you’re only appealing to the logic side of things, you’re missing out on a super valuable opportunity.
Because in reality, most sales actually start with emotion. The buyer makes an emotional commitment to buy first and then justifies with logic. Maybe that emotion is that they want to be respected by their colleagues. Or they’re looking for ways to catch the eye of the C-suite. No matter what they’re after, the emotion, the feel, comes first. And when you appeal to that emotional side, you’re setting yourself up for a win.
But there’s more.
If you’re only using logic in your pitches, it actually makes it easier for the buyer to dismiss taking action. “We’ll circle back to this next year once the economy settles down,” they’ll say.
But if you can attach emotion to the purchase too, it’s like tying down a boat with two ropes instead of one. Once the storm comes, you’ll be less likely to lose it to sea.
So be sure you’re hitting those emotional pain points too, not just the logical ones.
2. They’re Unqualified
A hard truth of sales is that most of the leads you talk to just aren’t qualified. Sure, they’ll give you their time. Maybe they’ve even come through your funnel as an inbound lead so you think they’re a fit. But once you get several steps into the sales process, you’ll realize that every interaction up till now has been a huge waste of time.
It’s frustrating, I know.
But if you do a bit more work qualifying upfront, you can avoid that hassle altogether.
Now, the Selling Made Simple Academy’s Sales Diagnosis Framework explores how to cover all your bases while qualifying leads. So if you’re interested, I’d suggest enrolling today.
But as a quick overview, you need to be assessing leads for:
- Pain. Are they in pain? Is their issue actually a problem?
- Time. What’s their timeline? Are they thinking today? This quarter? Or in the next few years?
- Fit. Are they a fit for what you’re selling? Can you really fix this buyer’s problem?
- Return. Does the value of your solution outweigh the difficulties of implementing it? Will they see a reasonable return?
- Process. Is your buyer willing to adapt to your process? Will they put in the time, say, training to get the most value out of your product?
- Budget. Can they afford it?
- Champion. Is there someone else that you should be talking to that will champion this deal? And last…
- Agreement. Did they give you their verbal commitment to work together if you can solve their problem?
Again, if you’re interested in learning more about this framework, head to Salesman.org today and enroll.
3. They Don’t Trust You
Simple question for you here—if you got a phone call one day and surprise! It was you on the other end pitching your product, would you trust yourself? I mean really trust yourself?
There’s a lot of hot air and shady tactics in some circles of sales. And if you’re using exaggeration or outright lies with your buyers, that needs to stop today.
Because that kind of crap is devastating your trust value.
But if not, the problem might just be that you don’t have enough social proof on your side. So to build up that trust, there are a few things you can do.
A) Borrow Trust
Borrow trust from your company. Provide buyers with case studies, testimonials, and endorsements your company’s earned in the past.
B) Bolster Your Reputation
Bolster your reputation by building an expansive professional network. And start producing valuable thought leadership content.
C) Share Insights
Share insights rather than cold spamming. People respond to value, not pestering.
If you can do all that, you’ll be 10X more likely to win the trust of your buyers.
4. They’re Being Held Back
They’re being held back by the most notorious barriers to implementation ever—the status quo.
Sometimes the burden of getting started is enough to stop buyers from committing to the deal. There’s always going to be growing pains. And onboarding issues, fighting for budget, reputation risk, and lack of trust are all objections that, left unaddressed, can kill your deal.
That’s why it’s up to you to help your buyer overcome those barriers.
If they have onboarding concerns, offer them support during implementation. If it’s the budget, provide c-suite focused materials that outline your product’s cost benefits. If it’s reputation and trust, point to your proven track record or other social proof.
You are responsible for equipping your buyer with what they need to forget about those objections. And the better you are at doing that, the more likely you’ll be to get a yes.
5. You’ve Got Commission Breath
You’ve got commission breath. What is commission breath, you ask?
It’s desperation. It’s bullshit. Or it’s a mix of both.
If all you’re thinking about is raking in that commission, I’ve got bad news for you…
YOUR BUYER CAN TELL!
They’re not idiots. They can smell that crap a mile away.
And if you don’t really, truly believe in your product…
If the only thing you’re concerned with is a paycheck…
Then there’s no way in hell you’re going to make the sale.
So, what’s the solution here? Well, you can either find a product you care about, change your focus to providing real value, or, well… get out of the business.
Tough pill to swallow, I know. But hey, sometimes the truth hurts!