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How to avoid skepticism in a crowd

Copyright ? 2006

Maybe you have relied on things like Customer Dinners or

Customer Appreciation Days etc... These are events that bring

groups to you, with referrals in hand. Think of the beauty

of having a referral come to a function, of seeing a whole

bunch of happy campers. The "safety in numbers" syndrome

will alleviate all of the skepticism they may have brought

with'them, I assure you. People will correctly assume that

if all these others like you, then you must be legit.

Get the objections out of the way, right away. There is a

very common, but erroneous, assumption in marketing that

you should never bring up anything that's negative. That

you must always be "perfect." Well, I got some bad news for

you. You aren't, and your prospects know it.

Therefore, one of the best things to do in any marketing

piece is to admit your faults and explain why they will not

be a problem. For example: The "professional" thing to say

about an independent, smaller company is usually, "We offer

the highest level professional service, in a personal way. "

Instead, how about admitting that being small has some

draw backs, but that the benefits outweigh the weaknesses?

Like, "Yes, we are small, and we might not have the

resources of a huge company, but we can look at the very

small tasks, while taking care of you in a personal way

that no big company could ever do."

See the difference? By admitting to your fault, you make

prospects feel that you are legitimate, and not full of

typical hot air. Do you think this type of admission will

help reduce skepticism? I don't think it does; I know it

does!

The same idea applies to telling people you won't be trying

to sell them anything at the first meeting, and then

keeping your promise. If they still have doubts when they

come in, if you do the psychological interview the right

way, you will have wiped any skepticism right off the brain.

Remember, in order to keep skepticism out of the way, you

cannot start selling at the first meeting. You cannot! I

still hear from some of you how prospects say, "I just want

to buy for the lowest price, so whad'ya gonna do for me?"

And, of course, a salesperson cannot stop and say, "Let's

talk about your overall situation first, before we discuss

any specific ideas."

No, the salesperson or business owner starts selling, like

everyone else, and blows the whole deal. People will just

listen to the pitch. And since you haven't done squat to

alleviate skepticism that you're nothing more than just

another salesperson, the prospects will also do the usual

shopping, delaying and time wasting. .

Now, on the other hand, if you prove to them you are not a

salesperson, they will have revised their mental impression

of you and put you in the believable category. This is very

important, because believability equals trust. And trust

equals money.