What are you doing wrong?

Nothing – you are not doing anything wrong. Here’s what’s going on.

You are making a ton of sales calls and constantly reaching out to prospects. You are sending the emails and crafting proposals and yet… your prospects are not buying.

Your prices are too high. Yep. That’s it. Your prices are just too high. I have proof because sales managers across the country in all industries are hearing this right now from their sales team and sales people all over the country are hearing it from their customers.

So, now that you know this, all you need to do is… drop your prices!! Then you will be a Rock Star!!

You are probably feeling a little empty right now and even a little annoyed that you’ve been duped because in your case, it’s really not true. You know that your pricing is more than fair for the considerable value you offer. You also know that many prospects have become happy customers within your pricing structure. So what are the real reasons they are not buying from you?

If you can focus on overcoming these four things, you’ll never have to worry about your prices being “too high” again. Here are four real reasons that your prospects don’t buy from you.

1. They don’t know you: Customers don’t buy from people or companies that they don’t know – unless of course, someone they know knows you. If you are reaching out to cold prospects, you have to make sure that they have the ability to get to know you and your company personally. Studies show that it takes over 8 touches to get a prospect to begin to recognize who you are and understand why you are reaching out to them.Most sales and marketing people stop after 3 attempts. Recent studies by Medallia further support this, finding that buying decisions are most influenced by recommendations and personal experience meaning that they need to know you or know someone who does know you. Here are some best practices to help your prospect get to know you:

• Use your network to find someone who can make a referral. According to Biz Stone, co-Founder of Twitter, 6 degrees of separation is now under 4 and getting smaller. If you work at it, you can find a connection. (he is getting ready to launch “jelly”, which is slated to take networking to a whole new level and you can get on the waitlist now)

• Don’t stop at 3 touches. Find at least 8 good reasons to communicate with your prospect and use a number of different methods and messages.

• Work on your personal brand, increase your LinkedIn social selling index and be visible as a thought leader in your industry.

2. They don’t need your services: If you have a segmentation strategy and are targeting clients within your strategy, then they probably do need your services. The fact is they just may not know it. According to our research, most prospects that need your services are not ACTIVELY looking for it. In fact, only about 3% are actively seeking a solution like yours. About 30% won’t buy even if they need it, so that leaves 67% of your target market prospects that need your services and don’t know it. Your job is to bring them to a recognition of needs. How can you do that?

• Get in your prospects’ operating reality by understanding their buying persona.

• Craft a unique Value Proposition that will resonate with that persona

• Point out the pain that you could alleviate with your solution.

• Use case studies and diagnostics that speak to their WIIFM (what is in it for me). The operative word is me. Speak to them about how your solution solves their problems and makes their world a better place – both personally and professionally.

3. They don’t like you: They may not like you because they don’t know you (see number 1). They may not like you because you are more focused on selling than you are on solving their problems. (see number 2). Your prospects are people. Focus on being likable.

• Take the time to understand their needs and wants.

• Respect their time; don’t waste it by not being prepared.

• Bring information that can improve their performance and may not be readily available to them. Be a valuable resource.

• Differentiate yourself and your company. Don’t let your prospects bucket you with “all the other sales people that they don’t like”. Do something unique. Stand out.

4. They don’t trust you: Unfortunately, the sales profession is riddled with skeptical and untrusting prospects. The best way be trusted is to do what you say you are going to do and prove what you say you can do. The value you plan to provide must resonate with them, show how you are different and be substantiated in order to get your prospect to buy. Try these actions:

• Apply the 6 to 1 rule for your reach outs. For every one time you make it about what you are selling, the other 6 times is about building trust. Those 6 touches are where you are sharing thought leadership and providing information or insight about their role, or industry. It’s even better if you can share something that they might personally like – unrelated to work.

• Share case studies that they can relate to about your company.

• Put numbers and proof statements around the statements you make so they have no reason to distrust what you are trying to sell.

So if your prospects know you, like you, trust you and need you, you are going to see results. If not, you can always blame it on your prices.

Butler Street helps companies and their people grow by providing the tools and training to get results. If you or your team is struggling with prospecting and getting the pipeline filled with viable opportunities, call us. We have just the answer for you and trust me, our prices are not too high.