How high-pressure selling destroys your chances.

Well, you shouldn't be doing any hard selling with complete strangers to begin with. If we're going to go with your dating analogy, you shouldn't be taking a girl home unless you're absolutely sure she wants to be there and she wants to be with you. In the same sense that you shouldn't push your product or service until you're sure that what you have is what your customers actually want.

I'm fascinated with the concept of push/pull where you bring them thru a narrative you build and unfold. By creating a bit of denial and then possibility into view they will emotionally rollercoaster. I think it has similarities to a "takeaway" and if done politely, in a light-hearted way, can be powerful.

For example, if you were trying to get Jane to go on a date but were getting resistance I might push/pull with, "Yeah, we probably never could be a good couple. But you know I bet we'd both have a great time together if we went to...."

^ That is hard to express in a forum post but with the proper tone, attitude and honesty applied it lightly creates a bit of tension. It plays on basic brain thoughts, not complex ones and invokes an emotional reaction that rollercoasters into a direction you decide to go.

Hi there,

That all depends on how you're doing the persuading.

All the best,

Sasha.

This discussion has been good.

However, it's not really relevant to the average Warrior, who knows next to zip about selling.

You know what's worse than high pressure? Desperation.

That's what is more common in this forum. Desperation to make the sale.

The salesperson/owner calls up the prospect, and immediately launches into a desperate attempt to sell since they got someone on the line.

Fun fact: the effect and results are the same as high pressure selling.

The prospect withdraws. "No thanks," "Just looking," "We're good and don't need any."

Turtle. Whether they do need help or not is impossible to find out, now.

Look for good fit instead of trying to push your product or service, and you'll have a much easier time.

People still don't understand good fit as prospects; they are going to think it's a fancy way to sell them somehow, even though they don't 'get it'. Expect suspicion. Really DO be ready to get rid of prospects who aren't a fit.

All prospects lie.

They lie, just as we do when we're prospects, to protect themselves from getting ripped off by bad salespeople. Can you blame them?

Let's look at the first things you could hear in response to the beginning of your prospecting calls:

"We're all good, thanks." Probably a lie. Prospect is afraid they're going to make a mistake.

"Yeah we BADLY need help in that area!" Probably a lie. Prospect wants a free education, so they pretend to have a high level of interest to make you keep talking.


I want you to notice something.

What prospects say to you first is very likely a lie. Every time.

Every time!

Yet here you are, jerked around emotionally with each of these responses. Your heart plummets when they immediately say they're "not interested". Your emotions leap when they rapidly tell you how much they want to know more about what you offer.

Lies. Remember that. Ulterior motives. You have not got anywhere close to inside their world. And that's where the real selling happens.

So what's the lesson here?

Ignore what they tell you first.

As best as you're able, turn off the emotions. Adopt a 'Who cares what the prospect does initially?' attitude.

They're probably lying to you anyway. Either they're afraid of making a mistake or they want a free education from you.

Keep going. Run your process--not theirs.

If they just don't want to talk right now, as on average half the people who actually answer the phone will be, don't take it personally. It has nothing to do with you.

If they are acting excited, find out about what's really going on in their world instead of launching into a features and benefits presentation of what you do. To present now is to present to an unqualified prospect. Most often a waste of time.

Stop caring about what the individual prospect says initially. They're probably lying anyway. Ignore and move past it.

"We're good--we have that all under control."

"I hear that every so often, Ms. Prospect. ...Tell me, before I go...are you just busy now and we should talk at some later time...or have you had a bad experience with being sold something that's made you wary now?" Dig.


"Oh, I was just talking to my colleague about this! I'm glad you called!"

"A lot of people are telling me that, Mr. Prospect. It must be on the minds of many people right now. Well, can you tell me a bit about what's going on that makes you glad I called?" Dig.


Run your process, not theirs.

Expect them to lie, because they will.

Don't take it personally. It's not personal.

Turn your emotions off as well as you're able when prospecting and qualifying. Let me tell you something: you can get as emotional and as excited as you want later. When you're actually selling. When you know you're in front of a qualified prospect who's a good fit. And especially after you've made the sale and taken the money to the bank. Then you have the right to get as excited as you please.

But stay away from desperation. It's just as bad as high pressure tactics, and has the same effect.

I think there is a balance.

At some point you need to ask your prospective customer:

Are you going to buy or not?

I think there is a balance.

At some point you need to ask your prospective customer:

Are you going to buy or not?

Wolf on Wall Street made tons of money hard selling. Wrongly, but it does work.

Their condition is called, "psychotic."

"Excuse me, but I see you have an interest that xyz widgety thingy! I do too! May I please have a moment of your time and ask you a question?"

IF/when they reply back, "Cool, thanks for that reply! I've been looking at that and something similar. Would it be ok to ask your opinion bout this (zyx widgety thingy)??

Permission-based marketing is very intuitive with properly setup marketing funnels and the web makes it a breeze to automate!

I love the book and the author's blog! May I share the (non-sales) web address here?

I once had a doctor ask permission for everything and he was in charge of the staff.I thought he was the most polite doctor I've ever met. And I've also heard it put this way, that asking that question first (asking for permission to ask more questions) sets things up so that you can ask questions because they said it was okay to ask more questions.

But I tend to agree about not asking for permission. It's a conversation you're having. Who asks for permission to ask a question when you're having a conversation?

But what I really wanted to say is about that previous point of trying to get people to chase for your approval. And that is, I think it's more powerful to throw them out then it is to try and manipulate them in. They're not a good fit? Goodbye.

Selling too hard is always going to result in no sales.

Always remember to put yourself in the same place as the person you are selling to.

Are you fine with somebody telling you that you need to buy this to enhance your business?

Business owners don't like being told that what they are doing is completely wrong. It's too tough on you if you are struggling with convincing them and they don't even know the Beneifits of what you are doing for them. Understand that business owners will buy if you don't pressure them tp into doing it now. Creating scarcity is not the best way to go about doing this.