What Stops the Sale – Part 2: Fear

So what prevents a buyer from buying? The cost? Certainly, but also the fear. Today we’ll learn what stops the sale by looking carefully at the customer’s level of fear. 

If you follow my work, you know that there’s a formula that I teach that shows why people purchase and why they don’t. The formula suggests that people buy when their current dissatisfaction multiplied by their future promise is greater than their cost and fear.

Let me break that down just a little bit. The current dissatisfaction and the future promise are motivators. They propel a customer forward into a purchase decision. The cost and fear are inhibiting factors. They hold the customer back from making a decision.

Make no mistake about it. Fear is the real culprit in preventing buyers from moving forward. 

Fear comes in many forms. It could be fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of missing out on better terms. Fear of salespeople. Fear of what they hear in the media or from people they know. Fear of future regret. I could go on as the list of fears is seemingly endless. 

The important thing for you to understand is that fear is tied to one thing. Risk.

When there’s no perceived risk to a decision, there is no fear in that decision. So if I’m vacationing in Rome and I come across a famous gelato shop that serves hazelnut, and I’m hungry, I perceive no risk, and therefore there is no fear to hold me back. But if I’m in a convenience store, and I see a hot dog cooking, that looks like it’s been there since the Clinton administration. Well, high risk and high fear.

So what’s the opposite of risk? The opposite of risk is confidence. And that’s where you come in. That is your job. If you want to minimize fear, you have to maximize confidence. 

So how do you do that? How do you maximize confidence? Let me give you three ideas.

Know Your Facts

Fear is based on emotion. Facts are based on logic. You cannot win an emotional battle with a customer, you will always be outmatched, but you can win the facts battle. Are you well-prepared with the reasons why purchasing today is a very wise decision?

Share Your Enthusiasm

The concept of emotional endorsement is really powerful. Suppose you’re at a restaurant and you like and trust your food server. The server tells you you have to try the chocolate fudge cake. When she raves with all her heart, that emotion gets adopted. So don’t be afraid to unfurl your emotional flag. 

You don’t have to be sappy or syrupy, but you must be excited about what this means to your buyer.

Gain Agreements

It is far easier for your customer to make a purchase decision a little bit at a time. And the best way to do that is to ask plenty of small agreement questions throughout the process.

Think about establishing a decision making rhythm with your customer. The premise is simple but important. People don’t argue with themselves when they continually say yes, they will continue to say yes. 

Fear is real, and it can be debilitating. This is your opportunity to help your customer through the tough part. Replace fear with confidence, and you’ll change their world.

Until next time, learn more to earn more!