The number one reason your clients won’t buy from you & how to tackle it

Money is rarely the issue.

The number one reason your clients won’t buy from you is that they don’t want to make another bad decision, and unless you can give them certainty in the outcome, that’s what they fear will happen; spending money and not getting the outcome they want.

They won’t say that, because they don’t know that’s why themselves. But they will say it’s too expensive or it’s more than they wanted to spend or worse…. they won’t say anything at all.

But they’re not struggling to buy the latest iPhone or to spend thousands on Amazon for stuff they don’t really need.

The fact of the matter is that money rarely stops anyone from getting something they really want. If they want it, they’ll find a way, even if it means going into debt.

If they’re not spending money with you, it’s because someone on your team didn’t do a good enough job in justifying why it costs what it does.

That’s all we’re ever doing in selling…. we’re selling the value. How will their life or their business be different as a result of spending that money with you and how certain are they that that will happen? 

Why is the thing you’re offering, worth the money you’re requesting?

No profession or expert on earth is above needing to do this.

Selling doesn’t mean being pushy or self-serving or trying to get them to do something they don’t want to. The reason we often think that, is because we’ve experienced terrible salespeople in the past who were like this, and we don’t want to be like them, or even be associated with the concept of selling. 

Selling means that you’re simply going to take the time to help them see what you’re offering in a different way than they do, when they say no to you.

Selling is about helping someone to see something through a different lens or from a different perspective, so they can make a better decision for themselves.

Selling is about ethically influencing them to achieve a positive outcome, that they couldn’t achieve without you. That’s the intervention of selling.

This is why selling is one of the most valuable skills on the planet.

Done correctly, you can help remove the blindfold that was preventing your client from seeing something, just moments earlier. For example, why taking over their full finance function will bring them greater insights, faster AND free them up to work on much higher value activities.

When what we do is helping them to build a more robust, profitable business which can in turn, generate greater wealth for them to live the life that they want…. is there a more valuable skill to have?

The accounting profession is constantly telling you that the path to success is to gain more and more skills, to offer additional services and to use more technology.

And then you do all that and your financial success seems stagnant.

So, you conclude it must be your clients and you invest more time and money into trying to attract better clients.

But still, very little changes so you go back to looking at your service offering and round and around you go. Spending more time and more money and seeing very little results. And by results, I mean more cash in the bank and more time to enjoy it.

But the reality for most accounting businesses, is that within the skills you already have, your standard set of core services and the clients you’re already working with, there is significantly more impact you can have and much more money to be made, simply by mastering the art of selling.

You can be THE best accountant, bookkeeper or CPA in the world, with ALL the technical skills, but if you can’t get people to understand why they need to have monthly management accounts then you’re not going to make much impact or much money.

It’s only the awarding bodies that sold you your high-priced qualification, that will have you believe this is possible. You’re subliminally (or overtly) told that selling is wrong, and you won’t need to do it if you’re technically superior. You’re made to feel that selling is beneath you, which is why they don’t train you in how to do it.

So, you leave your training, expecting clients to be throwing money at you for your enhanced skills, only to find that they don’t. And at that point, you start to question your skills and ability, which makes you even worse at selling and conclude that you need to be better. You don’t. You’re more than likely great as you are.

But the training providers will happily sell you your next program to enhance your skills further. 

Remember, a best-selling book is not necessarily the best book. It’s the book that had the most sales. There are many incredible books that sit on shelves, unheard of, unread and having no impact.