Although your prospective customers may appear very calm and confident on the outside, just underneath the surface lies a deep state of fear, uncertainty, and doubt with the project, and how to go about selecting a company to complete the work.
This fear, uncertainty and doubt clouds the picture, making it harder for them to decide which direction to go in. Many times, when you hear “We want to get other quotes” or “We want to think it over” after asking for the sale, it is a result of their fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
There is a psychological component to this as well. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt are powerful emotional triggers. The concept of Herd Behavior can help salespeople have a positive effect on these negative emotional triggers. From the beginning of humankind, we have banded together and ran in packs. When every day was a fight for survival, this was a defense mechanism against predators, and was used to hunt more effectively, and just exist. In today’s modern world we still want to belong to groups, be around people socially, and seek the safety of other’s opinions, especially when making large purchase decisions. This creates a deeper level of trust and feeling of safety in our decisions. If it’s good enough for my neighbor, friend, family member, or co-worker, then it’s good enough for me. Let’s look at how these four strategies can help alleviate fear, uncertainty, and doubt with your prospective customers.
Testimonials: Seek out positive comments and glowing reviews from your customers. Document them, and add them to your website, sales brochures, proposals, etc. After the job is complete, ask customers if they are happy how the project turned out. When receiving positive affirmation, dig a little deeper to uncover what they are specifically pleased with. Record what you hear and find ways to share it with others.
Referrals: When asked what the best type of lead you could receive is, many of you would answer “referrals”. In fact, industry wide you’d be hard pressed to find anybody that would not list referrals at the top of list for best leads. Sadly though, very few companies have a system in place to capture referrals. Sure, you take all the passive referrals that come your way – you know the ones – “Hey, you did work for my cousin, and I’d like to talk to you about a project for my house.” Not many proactively ask for referrals. Customers would gladly give referrals if somebody would just ask for them. A simple example would be ““I want to let you know how thankful I am that you trusted us with your project. The very same courtesy and service you received is how we treat every customer. Can you think of a couple of people who may want some information on our services?” Keep it simple, and just ask!
Facebook Leads: I’m not talking about paying for Facebook leads. I’m talking about organic, grassroots activity on Facebook designed to let people know who you are, what you do, and what your customers think of you. It takes time and patience to build a following. Some tips to get started; Post often, be consistent, use humor, include photos or videos to increase clicks and shares, and have fun with it. You don’t need to spend hours in a day interacting with your network, you can communicate effectively on this platform in 20 minutes a day. If you’re not comfortable with Facebook, ask an employee to put together some thoughts for how to get started, or lean on a family member.
The more you can positively impact the emotional trigger of belonging, the less likely you are to hear customers say to you, “We want to get more quotes”, or “wW need to think it over.” The three tips above can have a positive effect on your business. The first step is often just that…just get started and keep moving.
