People actively avoid uncomfortable situations. Buyers and clients are even more sensitive to discomfort if they get the sense that they are being pressured into a product or service.
One of my clients, Bill, recently talked with me about how challenging himself to make his buyers and clients comfortable has benefited his property management business. Not long ago, Bill was meeting with an acquaintance to review a very large property. Bill talked with the owner about the building and the surrounding area. He also shared his typical ways of managing a property and why he works with people the way he does.
Bill told the property owner, "Hey, if any part of this makes you uncomfortable, let me know. I don't want you to make the wrong decision. I want you to make sure you're comfortable with the decision you're making and seeing where that goes." He gave the property owner total freedom to back out of working with him.
Instead of choosing to pull back, the property owner was comfortable enough to ask some questions about Bill's processes and how that might look for this particular property. Because Bill had established a level of comfort he was able to ask some specific questions about the property which let him analyze whether it was a good fit for his services. At the end of that conversation both Bill and the property manager had conducted a fairly thorough review of what the property management role and scope would be. The building owner was so comfortable with Bill's review that he signed up for services on the spot.
In most business development conversations, there's the possibility of discomfort on both sides. You usually can't know how comfortable or uncomfortable a buyer is without first diffusing any their anxiety. When you try to make the prospect comfortable, that changes the interaction.
If you're sincere when you tell prospect they should choose whoever they're comfortable with, even if that's not you, that's a huge pressure reliever. You will not, and should not, be the right choice for every situation so it only makes sense to alleviate the anxiety by making that clear for both you and the buyer.
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Having personally tested and proved the Sandler Method to be effective, Tina is passionate about assisting clients in reaching their full potential through the Sandler sales methodology.
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