PersuasionTheory.com » Persuasion Observations

Are You Dying To Make More Sales?

Fox — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:38:44 +0000

I was talking with my good friend Dave yesterday. Dave is a great sales person and an impressive persuader. In his business he sells very small parcels of real estate. They’re about 3.5 feet by 8 feet in size. It’s a small parcel but is landscaped with beautiful green grass. He also sells unique and very expensive parties. Hopefully, when you have the party, hundreds of your friends and family will attend. Have you figured out what he’s selling?

This niche is known as the pre-need cemetery and funeral arrangements. Yes, if you didn’t know, you can actually buy your cemetery and funeral arrangements while you’re still alive. Dave is consistently a leader in total sales for his company month in and out.

This is a funny niche to work. I know from experience because I originally met Dave years ago when he was my sales manager. I often joked with customers that it was my job to put the fun back in funeral.

Dave left management a while back and is selling one-on-one again. Why? Because he’s good. Dave’s the top counselor in his region for his company in both cemetery and funeral sales.

He does things the other pre-need counselors (aka sales people) won’t do. He goes door knocking in neighborhoods to prospect. He looks for people in the cemetery visiting relatives and strikes up conversations that turn into sales (he calls it lawn fishing). He looks through old files to find existing customers that haven’t completed all their arrangements. And, the list goes on.

While we were talking yesterday he mentioned another counselor (Jim) in his office decided to try lawn fishing because of Dave’s success. Jim spoke with two people in the cemetery that just brushed him off. Jim started to get discouraged and decided to talk with one more person. The third person was friendly, open and bought two graves right there on the spot.

The family was thrilled to purchase the spaces next to mom and dad because they thought they were already bought by someone else.(Yes, people actually get happy about buying their graves.)

Then, Dave told me Jim walked in and said, “I just got lucky.” Dave and I both started laughing.

Is it really luck?

The other counselors sit in the office waiting patiently for someone to come in and ask for help. The other counselors will follow up once, maybe twice, with a potential buyer. The other counselors don’t take time to brush up on their persuasion skills.

You’ve probably heard the quote by Seneca:

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

If you’re in a sales environment, you can’t wait for things to happen. Do you want better luck?

Are you willing to make an extra call today? How about 10 extra calls?
Are you willing to say something that might upset your buyer but they need to hear today?
Are you willing to put yourself out there and take a risk today?
Are you willing to do something out of the ordinary today?
Will you dedicate time to learning so you can improve your ability to understand your buyers and make more sales?

Dave has spent years mastering what he does. He’s learned rapport skills to immediately gain and convey trust. He’s learned to use questions and language in a way that helps the customer understand their situation and figure out if this is something they want to do for their family. He goes to seminars and spends thousands of dollars on education to improve what he does. He’s not afraid to put himself out there and make a sale.

Having worked in the cemetery with Dave years ago I learned one thing that haunts me every day.

Your life will be over quickly. Stop making excuses.

When you make a sale, don’t say it’s luck. Selling, marketing, persuasion is not about luck. It’s about doing things other’s won’t do. It’s about taking risks and learning skills.

Get out there and be the best at what you do. Your life is on the line.

Tell me what you think below.

Photo credit Nicole Shackelford

© Fox for PersuasionTheory.com, 2010. | Permalink | Leave a comment |
Post tags: More Buyers, Motivation, Persuasion Skills, Rapport, Selling, selling skills

Persuasive Power Of Price

Fox — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:28:29 +0000

When you’re selling something have you considered the impact your pricing plays in they buyer’s mind?

Price is a fine line to dance across and it hit me (again) the other day when I was filling up my car with gas. I was a little taken back when I saw the prices for gas. The options were:

Regular Unleaded – $2.19/gallon
Plus Unleaded – $2.29/gallon
Super Unleaded – $2.19/gallon

I normally fill up the car with Plus because it’s generally about $.10 less than Super and, well, it’s the middle option. I don’t simply want the cheap stuff.

On that day however, I filled up with Super (the real good stuff, right?) because it was less expensive than the Plus I normally buy. However, as I was leaning up against my car watching the numbers roll by on the pump, the following thoughts kept playing in my head:

Why are they pricing the premium stuff so low today?
What’s wrong with this batch? Is it filled with the crud at the bottom of the storage tank?
Did they really make a price mistake and I’m getting away with something?
Should I go inside and ask to make it’s not the crud and I don’t hurt my car?
Why isn’t this advertised on the sign, what’s wrong here?
Am I the only one seeing this mistake?

Then I realized what I was doing and stepped back to analyze the situation.

Think about it now. What does pricing play when you’re working to sell something? Does it convey “cheap” or “inferior?” Does it convey there could be a problem compared to the other options available? Does it convey “bargain?” Does a higher price imply “quality?”

As I said, this is a fine line and needs to be handled with care. It’s not so easy as to say, “do you present the low price option first and work to up-sell? Do you present the high price option and down-sell if they don’t buy the first option? Do you present multiple options and let the buyer choose the price?”

Each product and situation is different and careful consideration has to be brought to the table when pricing. Often bringing multiple options will confuse the buyer and put them into a state of indecision.

I wish there was a flat answer to these questions to make it simple. However, I’ll be exploring these more in time.

© Fox for PersuasionTheory.com, 2009. | Permalink | Leave a comment |
Post tags: Marketing, Persuasion Strategies, Pricing Options, Pricing Strategies, Selling

Persuasion Is A Beautiful Art

Fox — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:44:30 +0000

Persuasion is a beautiful art. It’s one of those things that not everyone can do well. And, those that do it well often do it by accident. It’s an elegant dance that can be learned when you break the individual pieces down and analyze them.

When you think of persuasion, influencing or selling, you probably think of the manipulative used car sales type. We’ve all seen the stereotypical slick salesperson obviously out to part you from as much of your money as possible without considering your desires or providing real value. That’s not what I like or encourage.

I was at my mother’s house today for her 60^th birthday. While watching my son play Wii, another guest mentioned to me he just bought a brand new large TV and entertainment system for their new home. He said, “After I picked what I wanted, the guy helping me asked if I wanted to buy a Wii. I asked how much they were and he told me about $250. So, I said, ‘when they go on special I’ll get one.’ They guy helping me then told me they never go on special and they’re lucky to have them in stock now so if I want one now would be a good time. So, I bought one.”

I noticed a lot in what he said and how easily he was sold. Here are a couple items I quickly picked out:

This was a “Would you like fries with that?” up sell. McDonalds makes a ton of money every year with that six word question. Once you get a commitment it’s always easier to get just a little bit more.
After purchasing a couple thousand dollar entertainment system a $250 up sell doesn’t seem like as much money. This is a law of contrast. If he was only there buying a $15 music CD a $250 option is a lot of money. Compared to the couple thousand he just spent on the entertainment system a $250 purchase was a very small price.
“The guy helping me.” Whether or not the salesperson’s title was actually “salesperson,” the customer did not perceive him as a salesperson. He was “the guy helping me.” He was trusted and providing help. There are many factors to this and I did not learn enough about the event to find out how “the guy helping me” earned that title.
“The store was lucky to have them in stock.” There are a few things implied here:
1. They can’t keep them in stock because they sell so quickly.
2. You are lucky to be here today so you can buy one. A feeling of good fortune and “specialness” for my friend because he’s there when they’re in stock.
3. Scarcity gives an added illusion this is something special. If he doesn’t act today he will have to wait until a store has one in stock to buy.
4. Social proof this is a “hot” buy because they’re selling out so quickly. It’s the “Everyone wants one so it must be good” mentality.

This is not an exhaustive list of the interaction. I’m sure there were many other factors that attributed to his easily saying “Yes!” But, this is what I thought I’d quickly share from the conversation.

Whenever I hear stuff like this I often start thinking:

What is the strategy or strategies behind what happened?
How can I apply these strategies in my persuasive situations?
Where are the key moments of power where one begins to get or lose control of the situation?
What can I do to prevent or minimize the points where I could have lost the sale?

You can see the persuasive tactics used here were not manipulative or pushy. The salesman simply asked for the sale and quickly answered a couple of questions with some loaded answers.

Persuasion is a beautiful art.

© Fox for PersuasionTheory.com, 2008. | Permalink | Leave a comment |
Post tags: Cialdini, Persuasion Strategies, Scarcity, Selling, Social Proof