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  • Sell Em What They Want

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    I had an interesting conversation with a colleague the other day. We were discussing the fact that, try as we might, our prospects don’t always know that they need what we have to offer. Often, they think they know what they want, but professional (not infallible) experience tells us we might know better.

    There is always going to be the need to balance what a client should want and what they, at this point in time, think they want. I’m not suggesting that you simply tell and sell what they will buy, but I am saying that if full appreciation of what you have to offer is going to take a while to understand, don’t die trying, get an order and start building trust by way of access.

    I find it extremely important in most cases to develop products, services and information that can allow your prospects and clients to get a taste of what they want, just enough in some cases to learn you are someone they should trust. Sometimes prospects just aren’t ready to appreciate the value the full meal deal until they get a taste. Presenting a few a la carte offerings may allow them to better understand your entire value proposition. If they have any hesitation in the first place, it usually because they don’t have enough information to determine the value of your complete package - and it’s probably a bigger risk to them.

    When you fill your marketing funnel with these kinds of “lower” entry point offerings, you may find it easier to move them on to what they “really” need now that they have experienced some success. Remember, in the end it’s all about trust - when you develop enough trust, you own the keys to the client’s kingdom.

    Sell them a sample of your work and get them hooked.

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    Posted by: John Jantsch on Apr 09, 07 | 3:03 pm
    Category: Lead Conversion | Tags:


    • Lars H
      My experience is the same as you describe, except that it is also opposite at the same time.

      I sell two different types of one particular product in my online store. One is American made, and really the best choice for a large number of a certain type of customers. The other is a higher priced German made product in the same category.

      It has become clear to me over time that when people don't know a lot about something, they use price as the the defacto measure of quality.

      But in this case, the American made, lower priced product actually works much better for a certain type of customer, so it's a misleading indicator.

      Customers often try to buy the more expensive German product even when the American product would be better for their situation, because they literally can't believe that the most expensive product isn't the best.

      I offer a 60 day money back guarantee, so the customer isn't stuck when he or she buys the wrong thing. But I get stuck with the return!

      So I find myself in the strange position of trying to convince certain customers to buy the less expensive product that has a lower margin and lower absolute profit for me. Both because it's the right thing to do, and because I don't want to end up with the return or exchange later.

      Just the other day someone insisted, "What's the catch?"

      There's no catch!
    • John Jantsch
      Lars,

      I think you captured the challenge - you could spend a lot of energy trying to explain every possible use and scenario but then nobody would buy anything.
    • <pingback>...then you should be reconsidering your strategy and your investment in ...</pingback>
    • Great post, John. I'm running into this and this is good advice for me right now.
    • John,
      Great post. I have used this concept to my advantage as well. In my current business, recruiting sales professionals, clients sometimes come to us wondering whether they should upgrade their team. They are curious to know what the market is for available talent, but they might be apprehensive about launching into a full recruiting effort and incurring the time and money. So we perform audits where we provide objective analysis of the existing team. We charge a small fee for this, which allows us to turn a prospect into a client. Even if our analysis indicates that the current team is working efficiently, we don't mind that it didn't turn into a recruiting engagement today. We have demonstrated our comprehension and commitment to our customer's business and there will be no hesitation for them to do business with us in the future.

      Eliot Burdett
      http://www.peaksalesrecruiting.com/blog/
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