There are a myriad of factors that influence buying decisions. Understanding why people buy is crucial for business’s success. From timing to price, a need to fear. Several elements are involved at any one time – making selling a notoriously difficult occupation.
On occasion, it is possible to strike it lucky; hitting the nail on the head by being in the right place at the right time. Most of the time, however, influencing someone to buy requires a great deal of time, effort and patience!
Understanding what makes people buy can be useful in speeding up the process, however. People have written whole theses on the path to purchase and what influences selling decisions; something that is far beyond the scope of this blog.
Here at Aspect Market Research we have put together a few useful things to think about, on why people buy.
Creating a need
The scenario described above, when you hit the nail on the head and make a quick sale, usually happens for one reason – because the client needs your services at the time. Bumping into people that just happen to be looking for what you offer requires the alignment of a number of stars at one time, and therefore isn’t a tactic we recommend for business development! Influencing someone to buy is all about creating a need for what you have to offer. Explaining or showing how your company is different and demonstrating how you can create benefit can help, but remember to make it relevant to the client you are trying to win.
The FOMO factor
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Developing a need by focusing on the positive outcomes of your service / product is one method. The other is to create a fear of what will happen if the customer doesn’t choose to buy. If you work with other clients in the same industry as the prospect, describe how existing clients are seeing the benefit of your service – preferably with figures to back up what you’re saying. Fear of missing out can also be prompted by the use of deadlines – setting a time that the bus is departing will make people want to get on it!
Don’t under sell yourself
Setting the right price for your service is incredibly difficult. Whilst you don’t want to put potential clients off, it is arguably even more dangerous to go in too low on price and devalue what you have to offer. If you have spent time creating a need and waiting for the right moment to go for the sale, the last thing you want is to sow any seeds of doubt. There is definitely something to the phrase ‘reassuringly expensive’ – clients like to feel that they are investing in the best, and setting a price that makes them feel like this can help rather than hinder getting the deal over the line.
Price vs. investment
Spending money on something is one thing. Making an investment in something that has a potential to give a return is quite another. Whenever you are discussing the price of your product / service, refer to it as an investment and emphasise what the client can stand to benefit in return. Be it greater efficiency, increased output, the potential to save money or improve any aspect of their business, putting what customers are set to gain into context can help them to compute the value of what you are offering.
Keep on keeping on
If all else fails, good old fashioned persistence can really pay off. That isn’t a green light to become a pest; which can quickly have the complete opposite effect. Rather, keeping in touch subtly but consistently and not being afraid to ask are often the hallmarks of successful sellers.
The psychology of selling is extremely complex and the above only really scratches the surface of things to consider.
Hopefully, however, it has got you thinking about how you approach clients and what you could look to do to improve your sales technique get in touch with us here at Aspect Market Research to enable you to answer the question of why people buy from you?
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