Hey there

When buyers are deciding to buy or not, your role is to influence them to buy because it’s in their best interest.

“Influence” is a key word here.

Question: Who influences you?

Those who cut you off before you finish your thought?

Those who tell you what you need to do before they know what you want?

Those who have a clear personal interest in you taking their “advice?”

No.

What does it take to influence someone?

You are NEVER influenced to do, think or believe anything unless and until you first believe that the other person:

1. Genuinely understands your situation and

2. Has your best interest in mind.

3. And will do what they say they will do when they say they will do it.

In other words, you are only influenced by people you TRUST.

When someone raises their hand, you’ve earned their INTEREST.

Next, you need to earn their TRUST.

What is trust?

When you trust someone, you feel comfortable and confident that they will do what they say they will do when they said they will do it. And that they have your best interests at heart.

So the objective for level 2 is to lead your prospect to feel like:

1. Comfortable and confident that you and your product can and will do what you say it will do.
2. And that…You have their best interests at heart.

What are the tools and tactics for level 2?

To be honest it almost sounds hypocritical to use “tools” and “tactics” to gain trust.

But tools and tactics are neither good nor bad. It’s how you use them.

Here are some of the tools you can use to build trust:

1. Care. Really care.
2. Earn Your Reputation.
3. Call it as you see it.
4. Tell a good story.
5. Testimonials.
6. Provide a mouthwatering experience.
7. Offer a low priced entry product.
8. Be thoughtful.
9. Be vulnerable yourself.

Here are some of the most likely pitfalls when you’re at Level 2.

1. You don’t really care.

If you don’t really care about your clients, you’re going to have a hard time. Best to figure out where you can go into a business where you do care about the people you’ll be serving.

2. Carrying someone else’s load.

This may be the flip side of # 1. Some people mistakenly think that really caring means they need to do everything and anything for their client.

Not so.

In any relationship, each party must do their part. If you do your part and your client doesn’t do theirs, doing it for them will usually work against you both.

For example, if someone looks like a really good prospect, but they don’t keep

appointments or you’ve noticed a pattern of letting things slide on their side, despite promises…

DON’T bend over backwards.

All you’d be doing is enabling their behavior.

What should you do?

First, put their behavior on the table for discussion.

Do this by focusing only on observed behavior without adding any judgment.

You may say something like this:

“I just want to be sure that I’m not misinterpreting something here. This is the third time that you promised to have the information for me and it’s the third time that you’ve come back asking for more time. Is there something I should know?”

In other words, your first step is to call them on their behavior without judging them for it.

Once they agree with your observation, ask them how you should relate to it in light of your mutual commitments.

Often just your courage and willingness to respectfully call them to task will be a trust and respect builder and lead to a change in their behavior.

If not, and if you still believe there’s a possible deal in the works, be polite but firm about what you need from them to move to the next stages.

It looks like this:

“You told me that X, Y and Z results are important to you. I can help you get those results. But I can only do it with your cooperation. It seems that these results may not be such a priority right now because we’ve noticed how other things keep taking precedence. As much as I’d love you as a client, I need to respect that.

“So let’s do this. Let’s look at our calendars right now and schedule a time to speak for 10 – 15 minutes in three to four weeks and we can see if anything has changed by then…”

When you really want a deal, it’s hard to see.

But when you step back and take in the big picture, you remember that you can’t afford to waste time with people who are just not that motivated to buy right now.

And if they’re not keeping their agreements, they’re not serious.

Walking away from a deal that doesn’t meet your standards is a tremendous confidence booster.

Especially if you’re under great financial pressure.

I’m talking from experience.

WARNING: When you do manage to carry someone else’s luggage all the way through to a sale, it almost always turns out to be the deal you wish you never made.

Tomorrow we dig into level 3 and how to understand the needs and aspirations of your prospect.

Till then..

Play a bigger game.

CTM

PS:

• This week Saturday will be our very first #hpenconnect meeting. We'll be talking about how to competition proof your practice. It's an opportunity to learn and connect with each other and it promises to be fun. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

• If you signed up for the 97day Challenge, your startup week resources are live in the members area, all you have to do is log in to access it. Our first clinic session goes live tomorrow so be sure to register for it and if you haven't yet joined our telegram change...make sure you do.