At the risk of overstating the obvious, we’re in a tough sales environment these days. It seems like a lot of people are following the philosophy of former Chicago Bears football coach George Halas, who supposedly threw nickels around like they were manhole covers.In the old days, this sort of person was called a skinflint. You probably know the type. They turn out the lights to save on electricity, often before everyone has left the room, or they try to squeeze every last mile out of a gallon of gas. They see saving money as a game.
Even people who aren’t skinflints by nature are more carefully guarding their dollars in today’s economy. So what motivates these people to buy, whether it’s something for their personal use or from the corporate budget? Usually they’ll splurge for something they really want. That might be a new suit or a cruise for their own use, or something that solves a business problem in their corporate lives.
Making a skinflint buy something requires a better understanding of their reasons for buying … not your reasons for wanting to sell them something. That means uncovering what the prospect is trying to overcome, improve or eliminate by buying from you. However, if you focus too soon on features and benefits it sets up a dynamic that makes it easy for the prospect to compare you with their current vendor or other competitors. And then they may decide that everyone’s product is about the same, so price becomes the deciding factor.
You can break this cycle by understanding the prospect’s problems and the negative effects that are already costing them time, energy and money by not using your product or service. Then you can turn skinflints into buyers.
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