Hey, welcome back. I've got a little challenge for some of you out there that are in the business development world, that think it's your job to get your prospects or suspects so excited that they can't say no to your offer. I've got to tell you, it may work, but it won't work consistently. Positive emotion, excitement, energy, all of that, "Hey, how are you? Great to see you, you're gonna love what I'm going to show you" stuff, you got to put it in the box and leave it at home, when you want to go out there and truly make a difference in the marketplace.
Today's topic is pretty straightforward. Sugar does not sell. What I'm trying to get you to think about is what your job really is in business development world. Your job isn't to close business, it's to collect decisions. If you want to get decisions, you've got to be able to have managed, well-executed, deliberate, adult-adult conversations that people want to use as a way to decide should I do it now? Should I wait? Is this the right thing for me? Or is this not the right thing for me. So, getting them all enthusiastic and excited and pumped up about what you're going to offer them, often leads to a lot of disappointment for you and your prospect.
Positive promotion is not conducive to building trust. People don't trust that, "Hey, how are you?" guy. It sounds like they've got no option to make a decision on their own. I personally don't like when people tell me, "you have to love this", "you will love this". "This is the greatest." If anybody tells me "I have to go see a movie" because it's the best movie they've ever seen, I immediately take it off my list, because my belief is I'm just going to be disappointed that it wasn't that great. Getting people all jacked up and excited emotionally, brings back all of the connotations that they have about the negative experience with over energized, super happy, gonna love it, no way you're going to be disappointed feature and benefit pitchmen. So, if you're doing anything that brings back that type of connection to what's happening, you're probably getting in the way of your own success. That enthusiasm and excitement, really doesn't get you where you want to go. All the features and benefits that you think carry the day and justify what you want them to do, I've got to tell you, feature and benefit selling is positive performance before trust. In other words, I don't know you well enough to trust you, to believe in this unbelievable outcome that you're telling me I'm going to experience by working with you, so I've got to ask you to start thinking about killing the seller centered pitching.
By that, I mean if you're talking about you, or your product, you're not listening to what drives most business development decisions. It's not your enthusiasm that matters on the call. It's the emotional context that the buyer finds themselves in when they think about why they need to do something, and when they need to get it done. The more you talk about you, the less effective you're most likely going to be and the longer your sales cycle will become.
Trust in this fact, all decisions are driven emotionally. They're only justified intellectually. I don't care if it's buying a car, buying a new piece of capital equipment for your business, going out to dinner with your spouse, what you want to buy your children for holiday gifts, It's all emotionally driven. We bring the numbers back at the end. Don't try to drive it with data and facts and all the statistics that you think make it an undeniable bargain.
Positive emotions are not right, either. That's too much sugar, and what do we know about sugar in our diet? We know it all tastes good. I could go for a couple Oreos right now, but I know in the long run, it's not good for me if I give in to that urge all the time. People feel the same way about buying sugar loaded presentations. So, you've got to understand that negative emotions, the things that we remember as less than pleasant, as less than ideal, as annoying, aggravating, upsetting confusing, those are the things that your buying prospect needs to realize that you understand, in his or her perspective.
Negative emotions create urgency, and the two most powerful emotions for human beings are fear and anger. It's not love and happiness. Fear and anger make people say "I've got to change or take action now". Learn how to develop a conversational approach that's got the right negative emotions that are in there, not the burnt baby doll from the early world of selling fire alarms to homeowners.
Get real, get honest, know your business, know your prospects business, and get comfortable talking about the negative circumstances, conditions, or realities that you can help people realize they don't have to continue to live with. Get out of handing out sugar cubes, thinking you're going to make a lot of friends and money in the marketplace.
Thanks for checking out this week's Fast Tip Friday. Have a great day. Have a great weekend. Go out next week, hit the street and make some money!
