What can you do if companies aren’t buying? Part 1

The first thing is to stop selling. Stop trying to convince someone to buy. If they don't want to buy, it will be very difficult to convince them to do otherwise. If they don't want to buy and you are successful at changing their mind, there is a good chance they will resent you and your product/service because they had to break their commitment to not spend money. (Remember the Snickers bar at the weight-loss clinic?)

As I make my daily pilgrimage on the 405 to meet with business owners, fellow service providers, strategic partners, and vendors, I am noticing that people are not making offers. I have concluded that they recognize people are not buying because the business owner doesn't want to spend money, so they are reluctant to approach anyone with the idea they will be selling them something. They are correct in their belief that trying to sell to business owners right now can make business owners very uncomfortable. Maybe they are confusing making offers with selling.

Often selling means trying to get someone to buy a product/service. We know how difficult that is today. So often selling is all about the salesperson, the product/service and the benefits for the buyer. On the other hand, making an offer means I have found out enough about the person I am speaking to to understand what they want, enjoy, believe they need, or are interested in doing. If I discover something that falls into any of these categories, I can make an offer. The offer might be to get together for coffee to discuss the want, need, hope or dream. It might mean revisiting the conversation in a week or two. It might even mean a free trial of the product/service or a money-back guarantee. It might even mean an invitation to a golf game or a sports event IF THEY SAID THEY WANTED TO DO THAT. In any case, when someone says "yes" to an offer, a decision has been made and the process moves forward.

It doesn't really matter what the offer is if it prompts a decision and moves the process forward, but the offer must be tailored to the personality, behavioral style, wants and needs of the other person, and their level of trust. Otherwise, it comes across as just another ploy to get them to buy, and their discomfort will stop the process.

The new normal in the economy requires a lot less selling and a lot more attention paid to other people. And if we do that, won't we rediscover some of the best parts of being human? We might find lots of opportunities to do things together because we like doing them. We might find more trust. My challenge for this week is to recover the art of being human and paying attention to other people. My daily initiative will be to find out from the people I am talking to what sort of offer they would find worthy of acceptance. I am stopping selling and looking for offers that they want to accept. I invite you to join me. Try it. It's lots more fun.