The first tuxedo I bought was sold to me by a gentleman I had gone to, intending to rent. He took a brand-new tux out of the warehouse and started marking it. I told him I wanted to rent it for a wedding, but he said not to worry because he wanted to have a new one available for rent in my size.
“He must have understood me very well because I felt comfortable wearing a brand-new tuxedo, which was exactly my size and at the rental price. When it was ready and I went to pick it up, I tried it on again to make sure it was OK. He gave me a shirt, a belt, and a bow tie to wear. The whole outfit looked amazing.
“Guess what happened next? He asked me how many children I had and how many there are in my extended family. And before I knew it, he ‘proved’ that with so many weddings coming up in the future, it would be more profitable to buy this tuxedo made of mohair and silk, which ‘actually fits like a glove’, than to rent it every time.
“What the tailor said turned out to be true. Looking back, I think that even if I didn’t save money, buying it saved me from rushing to rent a tuxedo every time I had a wedding or an event to go to.” This story was narrated by Joe Girard, the best salesman in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Most people act defensively in the presence of a salesperson. They see them as someone who wants to shift money out of their wallet into their own.
Fear of making the wrong choice and losing money is greater than the fear of losing out on an opportunity. So, it’s easier for the customer to say no.
They react defensively or escape. Everyone measures themselves in terms of “pain”. How much something will “hurt” them if they don’t have it. They put themself in the worst situation they can imagine. The pain stimulus deals with it and alleviates it, so they don’t hurt anymore.
The brain only has two stimulus networks: approach or avoidance.
What does avoidance mean? We avoid bad feelings, sadness, or deep disappointment. This is a message to do something to return to a neutral state. On the other hand, approach means gain. If you don’t have it, you’re fine, but if you do, you think you’re the best version of yourself. By the way, avoidance is twice as powerful as an approach. That’s why we encounter it the most.
The answer, in this case, is that I could have had children 10 years later, but I’d have been in my forties, not my thirties, and under different circumstances, would have had less stamina. I could have bought my house 15 years later, when my finances were better but then, I’d have been 50 years old and wouldn’t have enjoyed it like I have been doing for the last 15 years. ‘Later’ is always more convenient in the mind of the customer.
But what you lose in the meantime needs to be factored in. Don’t waste time.
Some say it takes a lot of small things to make a deal. People like Chris Voss, writer and speaker, say, “Go along with ‘no’ until you get a ‘that’s it!’”
In the 1980 US election, Governor Ronald Reagan debated with President Carter and followed the following strategy precisely. “Are you better off than four years ago? Do your children go to better schools? Does the state give you better services? Do you pay less taxes? Are you happier than four years ago? If so, vote for Carter again.”
The election was won by the candidate who got consecutive negative answers until the “that’s it!”
That’s when you close the deal.
Excerpted with permission from The Art Of Selling: Strategies For Start-up Success, Lefteris Papageorgiou, Fingerprint Publishing.