Barriers to Purchase

“Selling begins when the prospect says “no.”" — Sales Maxim

Key Ideas:

Selling anything is largely the process of identifying and eliminating Barriers to Purchase: anything that is prevents your prospect from buying what you offer.
These are the five standard objections in every sales process:
- Loss Aversion: It costs too much. Makes spending feel like a loss.
- It won’t work.
- It won’t work for me.
- I can wait.
- It’s too difficult.
It’s smart to structure your offer with those objections in mind:
- Objection #1 is best addressed via Framing and Value-Based Selling. If it’s clear that the value of your offer exceeds the asking price, the objection is moot.
- Objection #2 and #3 are best addressed via Social Proof. Show the prospects how others like them are benefiting from the offer. That’s why Referrals are such a powerful tool.
- Objection #4 and #5 are best addressed via Education-Based Selling. If the customer doesn’t realize they have a problem, they won’t be looking for a solution. Focus your early efforts in making them smarter and then helping them Visualize what would happen if they proceed.
Once you have their Attention and Permission, there are two possible tactics if they still have objections:
- Convince them that the objection isn’t true.
- Convince them that the objection is irrelevant.
If the prospect still doesn’t buy, it may be a problem of Power. Always try to negotiate with the decision-maker, he who has the Power to buy.