Fear may be the most powerful motivator affecting your buyers’ decisions but it also runs the risk of paralyzing them with indecisiveness. You’ll increase your sales production when you help buyers discover and overcome their fears, show that you are sensitive to those issues, and then help your buyers discover that your product or service will replace their fear with peace of mind.
Many salespeople want to focus on the positive aspects of their product or service without addressing buyer concerns. In fact, many salespeople blow off buyers’ concerns as "not something to worry about.” This dismissal of their fears makes them feel disregarded and ensures that they won’t bring up deeper unease as the sales call progresses.
Even if you perceive a fear to be trivial, it’s important to recognize that it’s still very real to the buyer. As an example, NextLOGiK’s new software, CompWALK.farm, helps farms manage food safety certification requirements. I’m certain there is a robust toolset to simplify complicated regulatory requirements but the simple term “significant paperwork” used in the description was enough to cause me anxiety. Many people would think that’s ridiculous but tedious detail-oriented tasks drive me crazy. If I owned a farm, that anxiety alone would be the fear driving my decision to buy or not. But I doubt I’d readily admit my anxiety to a sales person for fear of being manipulated or feeling ridiculous.
Here are some fears that can haunt your prospects as they go through the buying process.
Fear of relinquishing control.
Buyers want to feel in control and maintain the upper hand in the sales process. They like calling the shots and establishing the agenda. They know they have the power to delay a purchase as long as they want. If you interfere with this control you will elevate their fear. One simple question, “What would you like to accomplish in our meeting today?” will go a long way toward helping your prospect feel in control right from the start.
Fear of losing self-esteem.
Everybody wants to feel OK about themselves. Making a wrong decision - real or perceived - can cause self-esteem to plummet. It’s important to listen to buyers’ concerns and validate what they’ve said. It’s OK to challenge their fear in a nurturing way if necessary but it’s important that their anxiety is addressed.
Fear of the unknown.
People sometimes don’t like what they have, but prefer the security of a painful status quo over the risk of an unknown future. In this case, question the prospect as to the impact of sticking with the current situation. If you can get him to state in his own words the negative effect of not making a change, then he might begin to work through his fear of the unknown.
Fear of regret.
To prevent buyer’s remorse, deal with it at the time of the sale. After you’ve completed the sale, have one more conversation with your new customer to make sure they are confident in their decision. This conversation takes guts, but you’ll be amazed at how people will reaffirm themselves and their decisions.
Deal with your prospect’s fears, honestly and openly in a sales call and you will eliminate many of the stalls, objections, and put-offs that can later halt a sale.
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Only the best sales reps can consistently navigate the "last mile" of the sale. They ensure ahead of time, that the customer has a problem their solution can solve, a budget they are willing to spend, and a decision-making process within which they can succeed. |
