If you’re generating a ton of traffic and a ton of leads but you’re seeing people back out in the home stretch?
It might be something you’re saying – or NOT saying- in your sales pitch that’s causing you to lose out on conversions!
So if that sounds like you, stick around because today we’re covering the 4 little words that drive sales every time.
Let’s jump right in!
Takeaways
- The same sales and marketing tactics that worked in the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and even 2010s may not work the same anymore.
- Don’t ask for the sale too early or pressure your lead in the name of ‘always be closing.’
- The way you address your audience and the way you deliver your message will determine whether they hear you or not.
- “It’s up to you” relieves the consumer of any pressure they may be feeling from talking to you.
What Doesn’t Work In Sales Anymore
There are a bajillion pieces of content out there on how to perfect your sales pitch. Videos, articles, everything.
And while some of it may be helpful, we also see a lot of content circling around that isn’t really helpful.
There is a lot of outdated information that is still being driven home today like it’s the end all be all to getting sales.
When in reality, the way people respond to a sales pitch in today’s world is just different.
The same sales and marketing tactics that worked in the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and even 2010s may not work the same anymore.
Let us give you an example of what we mean.
If you’re in sales at all, we’re sure you’ve heard the ABC acronym which means Always Be Closing.
While this rule holds true SOME of the time, it’s not always appropriate to follow.
Some people cling to that rule like a life jacket in circumstances they shouldn’t.
The perfect example of this includes a story of my from the early days of my career, when I was fresh out of college.
I worked as a sales rep for a company where we would have booths set up inside of grocery stores…
…trying to pitch people directly on the spot on what we were selling.
Yes, I was THAT guy, sorry y’all.
The product we were selling ranged from pillows to heating pad kits and everything in between.
And we would walk up to people who were just trying to get their groceries and go home…
…and just start talking to them unsolicited.
We had a script we had to follow that predominantly did not let the customer speak because we didn’t want to give them the chance to say “no” too early.
So picture that, we’re walking up to people who have a buggy full of food.
And we’re diving right in about how great this pillow is and we’re just continuing to talk to them as either:
- they’re trying to walk away from us, or
- they’re looking at us confused like who are you? What are you talking about?
And when we finally did get around to asking them a question, it was something along the lines of “Now do you want 1 or 3?”
If that makes your shoulders reach your ears just envisioning that, think about how I felt doing it and how the customer felt experiencing it.
It’s cringey, right?!
Our trainers used to drill so hard into us to always be closing.
And that’s why the script made us ask, “do you want 1 or 3?” of what we were selling because you didn’t even want to give them the option of buying zero.
But more often than not, that sales tactic failed. People would avoid coming down the aisle we were on.
Now, while your sales step process is probably less extreme than what we just described, the same principles apply.
Don’t ask for the sale too early or pressure your lead in the name of ‘always be closing.’
You may not think you’re being pushy, but your leads do!
According to HubSpot, while 17% of salespeople think they themselves are pushy, 50% of their prospects do!
And what’s more is “57% of people said they would be encouraged to make a purchase…
…from a salesperson who DOESN’T try to apply pressure or hassle them when following up.”
Advertisements and salespeople have been around so long that customers today:
- don’t fall for the pushy language anymore, and
- don’t like it.
As we just saw from that statistic, people do not respond well to being pressured. And they KNOW when they’re being pressured.
We know a lot of people, friends, and family alike, who are not in our profession at all.
They’re not marketers or salespeople or anything like that and still, they recognize sales language when they see it.
And they are totally aware of when they’re being sold to.
With the complete online saturation of advertisements, cold calling, cold emailing, and so on in today’s world…
…the public has wizened up to salesy people and content, and they’re auto-ignoring it now.
So even if you have a product or service that you think could really help the person you’re talking to…
…the way you address them and the way you deliver your message will determine whether they hear you or not.
And this is where inbound marketing strategy comes into play and why inbound marketing is so effective.
It’s because instead of cold calling people, you draw people into you, but we don’t have time to go into all that in today’s post.
We have another post comparing inbound marketing vs outbound marketing here if you want to check that out.
But for this post, we want to keep moving.
The point of us sharing all of that with you is to drive home the fact that if you’re losing people in your sales pitch…
…it’s probably what you’re saying or how you’re saying it.
And that could be a result of following outdated sales tactics or following them too closely.
So, we have 4 words you can add to any sales pitch that will alleviate those issues.
These are the words that drive sales. Let’s check them out!
4 Words That Drive Sales Every Time
It’s up to you.
We know, all you ABC’ers out there including my old boss are probably like WHAT?!
But breathe, we promise it works and we know what we’re talking about.
“It’s up to you” relieves the consumer of any pressure they may be feeling from talking to you.
Maybe back in the day, controlling the conversation and giving the lead the options YOU wanted them to choose between worked.
But in today’s world, most customers see right through that and don’t like it.
The phrase “It’s up to you” and any variation of it plays off the I in the sales acronym FUGI.
We’ve talked about this on our blog before but in case you missed it, FUGI stands for Fear of loss, Urgency, Greed factor, and Indifference.
Sprinkling a little bit of FUGI in your sales pitch has been known to increase your conversions.
But particularly the I, indifference, not only gives the customer their freedom to choose…
…but it strengthens their relationship with you in the process.
Only 21% of customers said they trust salespeople in one study.
That number is likely to increase as soon as they feel like you’re not just trying to sell them something to boost your commission.
If you’re indifferent, it implies:
“Hey, you can buy or not, it makes no difference to me, I’ve already got a ton of people wanting to buy this. I was just trying to help YOU out.”
It gives shrug emoji vibes, if you will.
So if you’re losing people at the bottom of your sales funnel, try adding those 4 words that drive sales into your pitch.
And maybe carrying that tone of indifference throughout your presentation as well, and see if it makes a difference in your bottom line!
We’re betting it will.
Otherwise, that wraps up everything we had for you today guys!
Contact us today if you want to increase your business’s sales and conversions!
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