“It gets the buyer thinking long term, and when they’re thinking long term, they’re more focused on outcomes.” – Paul Reilly in today’s Tip 1034
Do you stretch your buyer’s time horizon?
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Paul Reilly. Paul is a professional speaker, sales trainer, and author. He co-authored Value-Added Selling, which is in its fourth edition, and he authored Selling Through Tough Times in 2021. He also hosts The Q and A Sales Podcast, where he answers the most pressing questions facing today’s sales professional. Here he is:
Paul Reilly: Hello friends, Paul Reilly here. And if I could give you just one tip, if I had one tip for you, it would be to stretch your buyer’s time horizon into the future. Remember that we as humans, we are hardwired to think in short term. It’s part of our mindset, and that dates back to our survival, in the caveman days, when we’re hungry, that’s our signal to go out there and find something to eat when we’re tired, that’s our signal to sleep. So we’re instant gratification-seeking individuals, which means we view things in the short term.
Now, think about how this weighs into decision-making. If you’re selling your solution, I’m guessing your solution provides a long-term gain or outcome. But if your buyer’s thinking in the present, they’re not thinking about what they’re going to gain in the future. Instead, they’re thinking about what they must sacrifice today in order to gain that outcome. And sometimes that includes switching out their process. It means changing what they’re currently doing. It could also mean paying a premium, right?
For example, if your solution is 10,000 and what they’re currently using is 9,000, they’re looking at that $1,000 as something they sacrifice today. And while they focus on all that sacrifice, they’re not thinking about the long-term outcomes. So what we need to do is stretch that time horizon. And we can do that by asking questions that cause the buyer to view things in the long term.
Here’s a couple of sample questions.
Number one. Mr. Buyer, let’s fast forward two years from now. What does the ideal outcome look like? Or two years from now, what would cause you to say, I’m really glad I decided to partner with XYZ Company. Long term, how can we create value for you on this project?
You see each one of those questions. It gets the buyer thinking long term, and when they’re thinking long term, they’re more focused on outcomes. And when they’re focused on outcomes, they’re not focused on what they must sacrifice today.
Scott Ingram: For links to pick up a copy of Paul’s book: Selling Through Tough Times and to subscribe to The Q and A Sales Podcast, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1034 and we’ll have those links for you there. You can also ask Paul a question and he’ll turn it into a show.
Once you’ve done all of that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!