Have you ever had a prospect that likes the product, trusts you, but just won't close?

We call this prospect "The Procrastinator." And man, procrastinators can be so frustrating. Today, Dr. Croner is going to give you some psychological selling tips to help get that procrastinating prospect over the finish line.
 

 

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At SalesDrive, LLC, we help companies perfect the salesperson hiring process by offering a variety of tools, like a sales assessment and psychologically-based interview guides, that aid companies in never hiring a bad salesperson again. SalesDrive was founded in 2005 based on the single biggest frustration many companies face, selecting sales candidates who interviewed well, only to flame out when placed on the line. Dr. Croner reviewed more than 90 years of academic research as well as his own work in conducting intensive behavioral interviews and discovered that high-performance salespeople shared three innate personality traits. After identifying a gap in the marketplace, he went on to develop The DriveTest® sales assessment. The only sales assessment to measure the three non-teachable traits necessary for new business acquisition.
 
 If you are hiring salespeople, request a free DriveTest assessment today: https://salesdrive.info/free-trial-request
 

 

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[00:00]  Katherine Abraham: Hello and Welcome to the Sales Psyched podcast, where we discuss strategies for leveraging psychology within the world of sales. Each episode is hosted by Dr. Chris Croner, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and has spent his career helping companies around the world build stellar sales teams.

[00:20]  Let's get started.
 
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[00:30]  Chris Croner: Dr. Chris Croner here. We've all had prospects who behave like this: "I really like this product. It really does fit all my needs. Let me think it over and I'll get back to you."

[00:41]  That doesn't seem too unreasonable, except it's the third time the buyer has said this to you. He likes the product. He trusts you, but he just won't close.

[00:54]  We call this prospect The Procrastinator. And man, procrastinators can be so frustrating because we wind up spending so much time covering the same real estate with them over and over. So, let's figure this guy or gal out once and for all, together, right now.

[01:14]  From the psychological perspective, procrastinators are usually risk averse and to make it worse they perceive change as risk. So, they tend to hunker down to protect the status quo. And, if they're asked to make a change, or in this case buy something, they often stall because they see higher risk in buying and possibly making a mistake than doing nothing.

[01:43]  So, it becomes pretty obvious what we need to do. We need to reverse the buyer's mindset. In other words, we need to shift his perspective of the higher risk of doing nothing, a.k.a. the status quo, versus making a change.

[02:00]  Now, there are a lot of gimmicky ways marketing and advertising uses the psychology. Things like " Offer only good today" or "Act now, there are only five left." We even sometimes see a ticking clock on their websites. They're pushing the buyer to make a decision with time pressure.

[02:20]  We don't recommend these high pressure tactics. But, we can learn from them as we watch the big ad folks focus on moving risk perception from fear of change to fear of missing out on something. In our world, we can use similar psychology albeit much more gently and with integrity and sincerity when our products and services really do meet the client's needs.

[02:47]  Metrics work the best. For example, if you're a realtor and trying to sell a client's house, but the client is dithering. It's fair to point out the cost of not selling, i.e., the client is probably paying a mortgage and taxes, so each day he or she puts off a decision costs real money, say $3,000 a month. Or if you're selling a true energy saving solution, it may be costing an office building portfolio prospect $5,000 per month by delaying installing the new technology you're offering.

[03:25]  I want to emphasize that there's a difference between a careful buyer and a true procrastinator. A careful buyer needs some nurturing and trust-building but does not need nor want to be pushed. Persistence and patience are the prescription for a careful buyer.

[03:44]  But, a true procrastinator probably needs to be released from his or her fear of changing by understanding the greater cost of not changing. It's then our job as salespeople to make that crystal clear. See you guys next time. 

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[04:06]  Chris Croner: Thank you for listening to the Sales Psyched Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to click the subscribe button and leave us a five-star review. If you found this information helpful, please consider sharing it. We'd love your help in spreading the word.
 
[04:23]  Until next time, take care!