"Why don't my prospects buy? “Even after - especially after - I demonstrate (and they agree!) such awesome ROI from purchasing my offerings?
This palatable lament has been expressed by entrepreneurs and salespeople since time immemorial, but perhaps never so consistently and discouragingly as in this "Buyer Power" Internet Era of ours.
Yes, no matter what product or service we are selling these days, it is quite likely being received in the market by some frustrating combination of apathy, distraction, and a “commoditized” pricing pressure response.
As I have written before, statistics show that this phenomenon is accelerating and for sellers becoming even more vexing because - quite simply - buyers are just spending so much time and energy on their mobile phones to pay attention to anything else!
The result - especially for higher-priced offerings - is buyers not having the attention span to "Stay with Us" through a Problem Definition, Solution Scoping, and Work Proposal as is typical and necessary in a complex sales process.
So, in spite of the speed of communication being quicker than ever, paradoxically decision-making timelines are stretched and even more frustratingly, buyers are giving sellers “More of that Maddening Thing” than ever before: Radio Silence.
Radio Silence, or Buyer Non-Response has driven even the mentally toughest of us to a dark, philosophical place from which the only way out is by being far stronger and more committed to the value of our products and services then we are empathetic to the trials, tribulations, and competing commitments (of time and energy and everything else) of our buyers.
Yes, in the infamous words of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross’ character Ricky Roma, anyone that has “Spent a Day in their Life” can attest that only through this kind of mental toughness can we truly “Breakthrough” and get our message Heard and Bought.
Now, a bit more idealistically, this mental toughness need has another key dimension: Getting Fully Comfortable with Full Transparency.
Buyers - with quick swipes of their thumbs and clicks of their mouses - can find out just about everything about us and the value, real and perceived, that our customers have gotten/are getting from our offerings.
They can find out directly - and painfully - from the very many product and seller Rating Sites and indirectly but as powerfully via the quantity and quality of traffic and interest that our websites and social media postings receive and garner.
And when the reviews are bad and web traffic and social media non-existent?
Well, as opposed to cursing to the Internet Gods about the unfairness of it all, the Effective Executive instead takes these on as both challenges and as Charges to Keep.
A challenge to get one's happy clients to digitally share their experiences.
And a challenge to deliver and develop value-added Thought Leadership Content (No more sales schmaltz!) that shows (not tells!) our unique value-add.
And a Charge to Keep because if we can't get happy customers to talk about us or if we can’t share ideas of value to our target audience, well then it is time to roll up our sleeves and to work harder and smarter so we can and do.
And as we do this, we will develop a conviction so deep that no amount of distraction and/or apathy can shake or stand against it.
And then that palatable lament of "Why Aren't They Buying" will turn to that wonderful spirit and sense of possibility when the sale is made and the deal done.
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Modern Business Wisdoms from Ricky Roma (among others)
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