I bet you have been through this many times. You are sitting in front of a prospect, presenting your work. You know that it is good and you can do everything that the prospect needs. Your prospect is chatty too, commenting on your work and discussing their upcoming project that you could help them with. Everything is as it should be but, for some reason, the sale doesn’t want to happen.
You don’t feel confident enough to openly ask for it and your prospect doesn’t give you any signs of wanting to take discussions any further.
- You start to wonder if it’s the price, or maybe it’s something to do with your work.
- Unfortunately, it’s none of that. Your prospect is simply not sure whether you are the right person for the job. They simply object
- Much has been said about sales objections. Price, other suppliers, no budget, and many others are cited as the main things that might prevent the prospect from buying.
Nothing is further from the truth though.
Fear is the only sales objection
The only sales objection you have to deal with is FEAR. Fear is at the core of anything else that might seem to be preventing your prospects from buying. Everything else is a result of it.
- They are afraid of what will happen if they buy from you and things go wrong.
- What will be the consequences to them? How much do they risk by buying from you?
- Is it only money or is it their reputation, position within the company, maybe their career at stake?
- There could be millions of other things too.
They fear that you will lie to them. Or that they get into trouble with their boss or anyone else. Perhaps they are afraid that they loose money. Or they don’t know how to tell their current provider that they are not needed anymore. Overcoming your prospects fear is your best way to make the sale. And, the only problem is, how do you do it?
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# 1. Get known as an expert in your industry
People generally buy from the people they know. It is quite rare that you’d buy from an someone that just rang your door. Seemingly, you are less likely to engage in any business with a company you have never heard of. A person that is known in the industry has all the doors opened to them though. And, in order to eliminate your prospects fear, you must become that person.
What are the best ways to do that?
- Write a blog
- Write a column in a publication that’s read by your prospects
- Send a regular newsletter with advice that helps your clients and prospects
- Speak in public
- Organize networking events
- Run regular training sessions for your clients
- Do anything else that can help you become known. You will know what will work best for you.
# 2. Be practically famous for your customer service and support
If people praise you for it, your prospects won’t have anything to worry about. The so called social proof will do it for you.
# 3. Ask for testimonials
Ask your best clients for testimonials about your support and include them in your presentation. Also, put them on your LinkedIn profile and pretty much anywhere else your prospects might be researching you.
Related: 5 Ways To Benefit From Customer Video Testimonials
# 4. Offer a sales guarantee
Offer your prospects a guarantee to reduce the risk of buying. Depending on what you do, this might be anything from a money-back to a year support contract included in the price.
# 5. Follow up with your prospects
Sometimes you might not be able to eliminate the fear before or during the presentations. Nothing’s lost though, you can do so afterwards and follow up is your best strategy. Show your prospect that you care. Not only be there for them if they want to ask questions or clarify some information. Be proactive and come up with ways to stay in touch with them while offering value.
Use your newsletter or a blog and also connect with the prospect through social media sites like Twitter. With a clever use of those, you can slowly build trust in you and what you offer, finally overcoming your prospects fear of buying from you.
Related: How To Build A Social Media Business Strategy That Delivers Traditional Business Returns
What other tips would you add for overcoming prospect’s fear?
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Image: “One positive answer lies within a pyramid of no answers/Shutterstock“
