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The Five Buying Decisions That Drive Sales
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Author:
Article: Before your prospects buy your product or service, they make five buying decisions in a precise, psychological order. These five buying decisions are often referred to as, the buyer's "conditions of satisfaction."
Although your prospects are following a precise pattern for decision making, they may not even be aware this pattern exists. But you must know it exists, so you can tailor your presentations to help your prospects move smoothly through their five buying decisions. Knowing this will make your presentation more effective and successful.
Your prospects' first buying decision will be about you, the salesperson. Do they like and trust you? Do they think you are a person of integrity and good judgment? If you've got the only game in town, people will buy from you whether they like you or not.
However, I believe that we can agree that prospects have more than one choice when it comes to selecting a remodeling contractor or a supplier. The more prospects like and trust you, the greater your chances are of winning the sale.
The simple secret of helping your prospects make this first buying decision positively is: Let them do the talking. You merely ask your prospects good, open-ended questions to keep the conversation flowing, then sit back and listen intently and sincerely to what they have to say. Over the years I?ve learned an amazing truth, my ears work a lot better when my mouth is shut.
After your prospects have made a positive decision about you, their next decision will be about your company. Is it honest? Will it back its commitments? Does it have a good reputation? Does it have the capacity to perform as promised?
Suppose you were going to hire a contractor to build you a million dollar home. Would the degree of competence and integrity of that contracting firm cross your mind? Of course it would. You would most likely spend a great deal of time checking the contractor's references, finding out how well that company had performed for its clients in the past.
If you found that the company didn't have a good reputation and didn't honor its commitments, would you still be interested in hiring the contracting firm? Of course you wouldn?t and your prospects are no different from you. They too make buying decisions about your company, and these decisions are both real and highly influential.
After your prospects have made positive decisions about you and your company, their next buying decision will be about your product or service. Is this what I want? Will it fill a genuine need? Does it solve my problem?
Your prospects will not ask you if your product or service will fill a need or solve a problem. In fact, your prospects may not be aware that a particular problem or need exists. They may be perfectly happy with things just the way they are.
Let your prospects do the talking so you can gather important information that will allow you to fill their needs precisely. Ask open-ended questions to encourage your prospects to express their thoughts and opinions freely.
If you want to find out how important this information is to your prospect's own buying motives, you could continue by asking questions designed to elicit a reaction, such as:
?How would you feel if you??
?How would it affect your??
"How much more time would you have if you??
"How do you feel about??
The fourth buying decision in your prospect's "hidden agenda" is the investment involved in owning the solution. Note that this buying decision is No. 4, not No. 1. Many salespeople believe that their prospect's buying decision is based solely on price, not so.
People don't buy price. They buy value.
Consider the old adage: "You get what you pay for." Or: "You can't spend a little and get a lot." Or: "If the price sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Your prospects won't object to paying more for your solution if they feel they are receiving excellent value for the money.
Therefore, before you deliver the total investment, you will want to first summarize what the buyers will receive and to remind them of the value in owning your solution. I recommend that you memorize and use the following statement:
"For your project (give a summary of work to be performed), the total investment is only (quote the price), or just (quote the payment) using our monthly installment plan.?
Also, when you quote the price, I strongly suggest that you avoid the words cost or payment. They have a negative impact. Instead, use words like investment, fee, and monthly installment .
Many salespeople believe that if their product or service is higher than the competition it harder to sell, or that people will balk at high-priced items. This is not necessarily true. Many times people equate high price with high value. Your product or services? higher price can actually draw business to you.
If your prospect says, ?I can get it cheaper somewhere else.? You can respond by saying, ?Yes. I agree, you can get it cheaper. But, are you willing to take that risk??
Whether they admit it or not, buyers really do expect to get what they pay for. If you're selling an extremely low-priced product, compared with others of its kind, you may find that offering a low price is actually a disadvantage. Therefore, you need not be defensive or apologetic if your product or service is priced higher because of quality and value. Your prospects may tell you that your price is too high (we all want to buy at the lowest possible price) but they are seldom willing to take a financial risk by sacrificing quality and value for a low price.
The English writer John Ruskin once wrote: "It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money? that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do."
Until next time?get out there and Sell ?em Up!
Steve Johns is an industry leading expert in sales and marketing effectiveness. He is the author of SolutionBased Selling, The DNA of Selling, M.A.P.S. Marketing, and High-Performance Marketing. To learn more about his programs and to sign up for the Sell ?em Up! News e-zine, visit the web site: http://www.sellemup.com. You can contact Steve at 405-759-2073 or email him at steve@sellemup.com
Steve Johns
Steve Johns International
http://www.sellemup.com
steve@sellemup.com
Article Submitted - Dec. 2003
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