The big obstacle preventing you from closing the sale

Do you believe that you can pick up sales lessons while doing household chores? Apparently…there is.

Let me tell you a story. Some time ago, after a long day of work,

I was planning to do laundry. My labahan was already tambak na and I knew I needed to make laba na as soon as I can.

But of course, after a long day of work, medjo pagod na yung tao. Pagod equals katamaran.

Simply state, I was not in the mood to do laundry, yet I needed to do it. As I was preparing to do laundry, I happened to observe the sampayan and that the sampayan was full. If I make laba today, siksikan sa sampayan. Kasya pa ba mga labahan ko? Yes definitely. But magsisiksik sila.

So what did I do? I decided to postpone my laundry. And it was at that point I realized something: when we put obstacle in people’s way or we give them excuse not to buy, they will take it.

Here is what I mean: For example you are planning on buying insurance. You know you need to buy. You also want to buy. But here is the thing: you are afraid of parting away with that money. The amount might not make you bankrupt but it feels big nonetheless. You are convinced of buying the product. You know full well the benefits of buying it. You are just afraid of parting ways with your money which you’ve earned hard for. At this point, you are looking for two things: an excuse to buy and an excuse not to buy. You want fate to decide for you.

An excuse to buy could look like a discount. If you buy now, you will get a discount or a limited-time prize. That might be just a petty reward yet it acts as the finishing touches for you and the sale. It is what makes us finally decide to buy.

An excuse not to buy could look like you having common cold and telling the salesperson to postpone the final meeting since ayaw mo siya mahawaan. And then you never set another appointment.

You having common cold thus postponing the appointment is an excuse for you to delay the decision. And as so many of us know, one delay leads to another that will lead to another. Eventually you get other priorities and you forget that insurance.

And that excuse, whether it is for buying or for not buying, could be the difference between the prospect buying or not buying. Not only does it apply to consumer behavior, it also applies to habits.

Most of us hate working out but we know we have to do it. So when an opportunity comes for us to skip today’s work out, we will grab it.

For example, traffic ngayon and late ka na aabot ng gym, you skip workout for today. Why not di ba? Is it justified? Not for people outside of you. But for you, it is.

We were hesitant to work out (or in Tagalog: tinatamad tayo magwork out), so when the chance came for us to skip workout, we would grab it.

We can think of these “excuses” to not work out or not buy as obstacles in a marathon. Yes, these obstacles might be petty and can be easy to overcome but at the end of the day these obstacles could demotivate us from finishing the race.

Tatamarin na tayo. Mawawalan na tayo ng gana tapusin yung race.

This is not unlike cold calling or approaching a stranger. Nakakatakot magcold-call. Nakakatakot mag approach ng stranger. So what happens is unconsciously we are looking for excuses for us not to call. Baka hindi pa nila business hours. Baka nagdridrive sila. Baka nagmamadali sila. Just add to the list of excuses.

So when that happens, the part in us who does not want to call is winning the battle. We end up not calling. Hindi ba talaga business hours? Or nagdridrive ba talaga sila? Nobody knows. It might not be even real. Yet to our brains, it feels so real. What we perceive is our reality.

And that is the thing: as we are venturing into a risky (like buying insurance) or painful (working out) endeavor, our brains are warning us not to continue. Our brain functions to help us survive and thrive and protect us from any harm, either real or perceived. So what happens here is our brain is trying to prevent us from that risky or painful venture.

It tells our whole body not to continue because if we do, we will get harmed emotionally, physically, spiritually, socially, or monetarily.

The same applies to our prospects. If they buy, they are at risk of losing something big either financially or emotionally. Their brains would be warning them not to get into it. And so when the brain finds an excuse not to buy, no matter how petty it is; the brain will tell them that and will even justify that excuse.

So what happens then is that the part in them not wanting to buy increases in strength. The chances of them not buying gets higher.

The lesson here is simple: Do not make it hard for the prospect to buy. What we mean is as much as possible, lets not put obstacle in the way for the prospect to buy.

On the contrary, we have to make it easy for them to buy as in such a way they do not have any other excuses not to buy except for them not needing the product.

Because when we make it hard for them to buy, we are putting obstacles on their way. We are giving them excuses to buy. And esp. with high ticket products like insurance or real estate or automobiles, as much as we want to buy, we will have lots of hesitancy because of how much we will be risking.

And why won’t we? We will be risking a lot if we buy. And if we find reasons for us not to buy, we would take them.

Making the path easy for them means simplifying the buying process. It could also mean summarizing the sales contract or the sales presentation itself to make it more understandable to the prospect.

It could also mean being more accessible to your clients. It could also mean making the payment term more flexible.

There are still lots of ways to do this but one thing we need to do: remove as many obstacle as possible in the way of the prospect buying. On contrary, make buying as easy as possible. Because when prospects find excuses not to buy, they will grab that chance.

Now, there is another side of this coin: removing objections in sales presentations. And that is what we will be talking about next week.

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