Buying into fear

You've probably had it happen to you, or someone you know. Where the sales person is comparing the competitor as "New" to the market, downplaying their newness by using how "Old" the sales persons organisation is.

I've recently come across this argument and the client bought into the "stick with the tried and true" The issue is the old way is going to cost them more in the short term and long term. This is usually done when there is too much risk in what you could lose rather than what you could gain.

Just because something's new doesn't mean they're a bad bet. We all start out small and new. The small and new are there because the old didn't change fast enough leaving gaps that the new was able to fill.

If people truly wanted to innovate they wouldn't use old techniques to solve new problems or old problems, they would use new techniques. Don't buy into the "stay with the tried and true" to try and solve a new problem. Choose the best fit on what they can do, not what they might not do.

The fear sales technique is used widely with lots of companies, it's a survival game for sales professionals. The learning is in making a decision. You can choose to move fast with a small amount of risk or move slow with low risk. There will always be a risk, the wisdom you get from being around the buying of goods and services is you should see the patterns of risk, and when you look at the companies using "new" if they're not falling over, the fear is not worth your time.