written by john c ashworth
- People don't want to be sold.
- People want to buy things and they do it for emotional, NOT rational reasons. You MUST play to this reality with your sales pitch, and in your selling efforts while also being a true resource for your prospects so that in the end, you've provided so much value; touched so many emotional hot buttons; and delivered such an emotionally charged message, that your prospect feels compelled and even obligated to buy from you.
- Once people buy, they have a basic human need to walk away and begin justifying their decision with logical reasons. I know I do this. And when I was a car salesman in particular, this was a very important concept to understand, because when buying cars, people so often want to go away and 'think about it' once the numbers are presented. It makes sense. It's a BIG purchase. A BIG financial decision. Assuming I had what they truly needed, and I had done a good job presenting the solution and stirring their emotions; however, it was essential to do everything possible to get them to make the decision to buy now. Even if it got a little uncomfortable. Because if I didn't, most often, they would NOT come back. Some did, but most don't. Once your prospects walk away, there is ample room for large amounts of logic to seep back into the buying decision and more often than not, this leads to NO sale.
I'm not saying you need to be a pushy, annoying, obtuse salesperson either. If you have done the right job in getting your prospect to the decision-making table, and you truly have a solution that makes sense for them, it is your job to help them work through their objections in a meaningful and helpful way so that you can make the sale. Because once again, once they sign, they will walk away justifying that decision with logic. But until they do, there are a million logical reasons NOT to make a purchase.
-John
PS Just so you don't get the wrong idea about the kind of car salesman I had been, I encourage you to go read all of my happy car customer stories from the archives here on the ash flash.
PPS If I had let every person who wanted to 'think about it' or 'sleep on it' walk away and do that, instead of press back a little and work harder to find their true objections so that I could overcome them and make the sale, I would have made at minimum 30% less money selling cars.
