How To Put Yourself In The Right Position To Make The Sale

Marketing simply defined, is the art of getting the sale. But before any sales can be made there is work to be done…

The process can easily be broken down into three steps. Each step requires a different strategy to move a prospect into the next step. Do it right, and you can take someone who didn’t even know they needed your product into a customer.

Do this wrong, and they will still end up buying. But they won’t be buying from you…

People need three things to happen before they will buy something from you. The first thing is the most important. They have to actually want what you have to offer.

For example, let’s say you sell automobile insurance. What kind of luck do you think you will have with that nice Amish couple down the road?

Yea, good luck with that…

That’s why this comes first. If you want to make sales, you have to give them what they want.

The No. 2 thing is they have to have the funds, possess the disposable income to purchase the product you are offering.

This time you would be a Ferrari salesman, so you would say this to the man drooling over the latest model “She’s a beauty isn’t she and fast…  You know you want it. Take it for a spin and we’ll get the papers started.” But they’re like, “I’m on welfare. I only make $16,000 a year.” Despite the fact that he really, really, really wants the car badly, he can’t afford it.

The best way to make sales is to give people what they want.

Your job is to to offer whatever that is to them in a package that they can afford. Often what people can afford is relative to the importance they place on solving a problem.

People will say, “I can’t afford x-amount” when they really can. Other people will find ways to make it happen if it’s just a bit beyond their means, and they’re motivated to own this.

There is a limit to how far you can go,if you make something so expensive that your target audience has no possibility of owning it, then you won’t make sales unless you lower the price. I bet there’s plenty of things you’d like to have you can’t afford. Don’t feel bad, me and most other people are the same way…

So that’s No. 2.

No. 1 — they have to want what you’re offering; 2, they have to have the money; but no. 3 is the one that will make or break the situation.

Say you walked up to me and said, “Look, Stephen, I know how much you love Vettes, especially 67 Stingrays. So I’m going to sell you my numbers matching 67 Corvette Stingray. And because I know you’re on a budget, it’s only going to cost you $3,000.”

Then I’ll reply, “Back that up a second here. I’m having a hard time believing you are willing to part with such a rare car for practically nothing. That’s way too good to be true. Can you show me the car?  Then you say, “No, really, just trust me. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

Well guess what? I’m not going to buy because I don’t believe you…

Net result: you have to make any claims believable or you still won’t be able to get a single sale even if someone wants what you’re offering and also has the money to purchase it.

This is the place where most sales are lost. It’s a credibility thing. The seller is failing to overcome skepticism. In the next few posts we will look at some ways to do just that.