Tension, Stress And When People Buy And Don"t Buy
Got a prospect who is stalling?I've had a few of those.
Got one who placed an order then cancelled the order.
Had a few of those too during my career.
There are any number of reasons why prospects stall or cancel but here is the major one.
It's called stress and tension.
Let me explain.
When a person's stress is too high, their tension can also rise to a level that causes them to make rash decisions that they will regret later after their stress has lowered.
If their stress is average and their tension is high they may buy, but they have to believe that your product or service will lower their tension i.
e.
solve their current problem regarding your product or service.
Then there's the flip side.
If their stress and tension are too low they will see no need to act now.
In this state they will tend to be in an "apathy" mode.
There's no rush so why hurry? So what's the answer? Well, traditional sales teaches that we raise the buyers tension (make them feel the pain, keep reminding them of their problem etc).
This can help create a sense of urgency unless they are operating in a high stress mode.
I'm sure you can see the problem here.
You need to raise their tension without adding to their stress, because if you raise both, well most likely no sale.
If their tension can't be raised for whatever reason, it's time to move on.
The question is how can you raise their tension, without adding to their stress, therefore closing the sale and keeping it closed? Everything causes stress and you will generally have no idea why your prospect is 'stressed out' unless you probe - carefully and thoroughly.
Keep in mind there are positive stressors and negative stressors and it's the negative ones that ultimately cause the problems in the sales process.
Everyone has a different threshold of stress that they can handle before they go into "shut-down" mode.
The key is to ask enough of the right questions before you start selling.
One of the biggest mistakes poor salespeople make is to move to the presentation stage of the sales process before they have enough accurate information about the prospect's needs, wants, problems, challenges etc.
The best way to determine a prospect's stress levels is to observe their non-verbal messages while they are answering your questions.
Of course if you're not asking enough questions, this is pretty much a waste of time.
People can lie verbally, but they can seldom hide their true feelings or emotional state - non-verbally.
The best way to build their tension and not their stress is to keep relating your solutions to their 'tension' issues.
Here's the bottom line - People with high stress may buy but beware but they will also stall if thy fail to see the connection between your product or service and the relief of their stress.
People with low stress will stall and stall and stall.
The key here is tension.
This whole tension issue however is not just black and white.
If their tension is high at the wrong times in the sales process you could still get a prospect that goes into stall mode and stays there for a while.
If you have an issue with stalling prospects or cancelled or reduced orders and want more on this subject, shoot me an email and I'll introduce you to a program that will change the way you sell for the rest of your life.
(See - just a little more tension!!!)
Got one who placed an order then cancelled the order.
Had a few of those too during my career.
There are any number of reasons why prospects stall or cancel but here is the major one.
It's called stress and tension.
Let me explain.
When a person's stress is too high, their tension can also rise to a level that causes them to make rash decisions that they will regret later after their stress has lowered.
If their stress is average and their tension is high they may buy, but they have to believe that your product or service will lower their tension i.
e.
solve their current problem regarding your product or service.
Then there's the flip side.
If their stress and tension are too low they will see no need to act now.
In this state they will tend to be in an "apathy" mode.
There's no rush so why hurry? So what's the answer? Well, traditional sales teaches that we raise the buyers tension (make them feel the pain, keep reminding them of their problem etc).
This can help create a sense of urgency unless they are operating in a high stress mode.
I'm sure you can see the problem here.
You need to raise their tension without adding to their stress, because if you raise both, well most likely no sale.
If their tension can't be raised for whatever reason, it's time to move on.
The question is how can you raise their tension, without adding to their stress, therefore closing the sale and keeping it closed? Everything causes stress and you will generally have no idea why your prospect is 'stressed out' unless you probe - carefully and thoroughly.
Keep in mind there are positive stressors and negative stressors and it's the negative ones that ultimately cause the problems in the sales process.
Everyone has a different threshold of stress that they can handle before they go into "shut-down" mode.
The key is to ask enough of the right questions before you start selling.
One of the biggest mistakes poor salespeople make is to move to the presentation stage of the sales process before they have enough accurate information about the prospect's needs, wants, problems, challenges etc.
The best way to determine a prospect's stress levels is to observe their non-verbal messages while they are answering your questions.
Of course if you're not asking enough questions, this is pretty much a waste of time.
People can lie verbally, but they can seldom hide their true feelings or emotional state - non-verbally.
The best way to build their tension and not their stress is to keep relating your solutions to their 'tension' issues.
Here's the bottom line - People with high stress may buy but beware but they will also stall if thy fail to see the connection between your product or service and the relief of their stress.
People with low stress will stall and stall and stall.
The key here is tension.
This whole tension issue however is not just black and white.
If their tension is high at the wrong times in the sales process you could still get a prospect that goes into stall mode and stays there for a while.
If you have an issue with stalling prospects or cancelled or reduced orders and want more on this subject, shoot me an email and I'll introduce you to a program that will change the way you sell for the rest of your life.
(See - just a little more tension!!!)