Slow purchase decisions: What to do?

If people can delay

If people can delay, they will. Your job is to make it easier and more logical to act, than to delay. If they delay, you have a choice; act or wait and hope for the best.

If you choose to wait (passively)

Let me know how that works out for you. I’ll be busy taking actions, making sales and going to the bank (with vacation, retirement and other deposits.)

The pain of delay

Delay costs you in many ways:

• In lost revenue and profit
• You incur more risk of loss to competitor
• There is more risk that you have wasted your sales effort
• It is emotionally unsatisfying
• The irritation creates a drag on life in general
• It robs you of the feeling of being effective and powerful
• lients don’t get the value you offer. It’s a classic lose/lose situation.
  

Why do you delay?

If you know yourself, you will often know others. Answer this question for yourself, and you will be well on your way. We all delay when we can get away with it.

How people decide things

My observation, after 30 years and more than $1.5 billion in sales transactions under my belt, is that people make decisions in just two fundamental ways: 1.) They seek to clarity everything until a decision becomes obvious, or 2.) They take a stand, regardless of new information, or the possible availability of new information.

What is the cost of delay?

If the cost of delay is large, and the downside of acting right away is known or limited, things will happen. If there is no cost of delay, or there are unknown risks, things don’t happen until clarity is achieved.

What is possibly missing?

What information is possibly missing to make a good (safe) decision?

Background conversation

Most people are trying to make a decision that they can defend to others in their world. In essence, they want a good story, and they want a story that is simple enough for them to repeat successfully. Giving them that story is part of your job.

Service and detachment

You give the prospect all the help that you can, and then you ask for the order. Your clients will fall into a pattern. You just need to be prepared to help them, in a systematic way, get through their issues. When they get through the issues, they can make a decision. Don’t get emotionally involved. It will slow you down.

If you can’t walk away, it’s tough to sell

If prospects are not meeting you half-way, you are probably better off graciously setting them aside or suggesting that they not make a decision now. Get them, and yourself, off the fence and move on to the next target.

My internal conversation is always this

I always tell myself, “I am rich and I don’t need the money.” I am here to do this person a favor, but I don’t have all day. I did this when I was broke. It wasn’t easy, but it was the key to having the bank account that I enjoy today.

What I want

I want a firm “Yes,” or “No.” If I get a “Not now,” I want to know what it will take to get a firm “Yes,” or “No.” If the prospect can’t help me with that, I put them on a tickler list and keep dripping valuable information on them with lots of opportunities for them to buy.

The real problem

I suspect you already know most of what I have said. The real issue is that, in some cases, if you walk away from a prospect who can’t act, you know you really don’t have anyone else to sell to. Delay is not your real issue. Getting enough prospects to sell to is your real issue.

Only four major ways to get new prospects

They are: a solid, on-going marketing program, cold-calling, getting referrals and luck. Now I am going to put the shoe on the other foot:

• Do you have a marketing process in place that gives you all the qualified prospects you need? If not, sign-up for my next marketing class and get busy.
• Do you know how to cold-call successfully when you need to? Invest $49 and follow the directions. Then get busy.
• Do you have a referral system in place that delivers a steady stream of qualified prospects? If not, get on the list for my upcoming referral program tele-seminar. Click here to join the list.
  

Are you going to delay? If so, why?

Your action

Put this newsletter into action. Do what you can to help prospects make a good decision. Then ask them to buy. If they still delay, move on to the next prospect.If you don’t have enough prospects to sell to - so you can walk away from someone who delays too much - consider taking one of the actions above. Without delay. It’s your life, and it’s happening now.

Cheers,
Eric