The Art Of Telling Your Prospects “What They Should Do”
September 5th, 2019 // 1:43 pm @ Scott Manning
Today, we are rounding out our multiple part series on how to direct, communicate with, influence, and otherwise get your customers, prospects, patients, clients to buy from you.
The moral of this story is: if you string all of my concepts together from giving them hope, the answers to the feelings, reasons why they should buy, and now finally telling them exactly what to do, it all boils down to your leadership and confidence to actually be a guide and not just an order taker.
I can’t possibly over emphasize this. Even in a place where you would expect someone to order off a menu or a shelf at a retail store or online at Amazon.
The businesses that do this best do not leave it up to chance nor are they are not at the mercy of the customers’ decisions. They in influence, encourage, and, to a certain extent, control it.
At a fine dining restaurant decisions are guided and formed by the waiter. For the best retailers (especially high end ones), it’s all about the experience of determining what is best for you and that often is not what you first came in for or even thought you wanted.
Amazon exerts influence with their “others who bought this also bought that” and “this goes really well with” and other aspects on the website that guide, direct, and encourage you to buy more and buy more appropriately.
So, take that into your business and today I say to you: tell your prospects exactly what they should do.
Over time I have written about “confidence” many times because pretty much everything boils down to this one word. And I can tell you this, your prospects and customers buy your confidence more than they buy anything else.
They don’t know the best solution or answer; that is why they have come to see you in the first place.
They walked through your door because they are in need of something and they are open to guidance about it because they are not the experts. You should hold that sacred, take it seriously, and create an experience that represents this fact. This is the only way to take advantage of you becoming the leader of the customer, client, patient experience and not commoditized by them.
So, what does ‘tell them what they should do’ really mean? Other than exactly what it says, it means that if there is any doubt in the prospects’ minds, any confusion about what to do, or anything that is unclear about the next steps, then you risk losing them altogether.
The best way to do it is to spell it out after you have gone through the other obvious aspects of any sales experience, relationship creating, and trust building process based on what they said they want.
That’s worthy of an article all by itself – you want to match recommendations to their ideas. In dentistry, I call this self-diagnosing meaning let the patient play doctor and say what they want to buy BUT ONLY AFTER everything else has already been established. Their answers will be obviously tied to what you have guided and led them toward.
Once this is established, then we want to be able to say, “great and because of ‘that’ this is what we are going to do next…”
Now, on this point it is important that it’s not coming across as a suggestion and it’s not coming across as an option but rather a definitive fact and resulting next step, decision, outcome, investment because of what has been decided so far.
Each of these last three weeks (the feelings, the reasons why they should buy, and the specific next steps) should be woven into your experience with them and made a part of your back and forth dialogue.
If a website can do it you certainly can take it to the next level with human interaction and make it an interactive process that leads your prospects and customers right down the path to what is in their best interests and your desired outcome for them.
When things are up to chance you might as well flip a coin but when you take a methodical approach to this while making it personal you can work magic even with the most difficult opportunities.
Remember, clarity and confidence in your prospects’ minds comes from clarity and confidence in your own. Then transparent demonstration of “what they should do” will have more of your prospects and customers doing exactly as you wish because they will want what you have guided them down the path toward.
Be a leader not a follower with your customers, clients, and patients. You’ll realize that they are coming in search of your guidance even if they don’t know it yet. The thing about people is most will do exactly as you tell them to if it makes sense to them and by following these tips over the past several weeks that is exactly how they will feel.
Finish the job with confidence and you’ll find your influence to be greater than you ever imagined.
Category : Blog
