Selling When People Don't Want to Buy

A good salesperson is one that can sell in difficult situations, that is, selling when people don't want to buy.  There are 7 situations when people don't want to buy:

1. You are selling something that they already have aplenty - like selling ice to the Eskimos
2. Your customer has just bought the same thing that you're selling
3. Overnight, the number of suppliers increased by 200% while your target market shrinks by 50%.  In other words, there is a massive over supply, much like the PC market here now
4. Your product or service has a bad record - and no matter how attractive you make them, no one wants to buy. This is much like the Windows Surface RT now
5. There is little demand for what you sell now as people can get it for free on the internet - much like DVDs and CDs now
6. Your prospect has been approached by over 10 vendors from your trade in one week - how would you expect him to buy from you?
7. People just don't want to buy because there is no mood - much like Thailand now where people are unsure of the political situation

In our sales trainings, we teach people solutions to the above:

1. We have already sold ice to the Eskimos before, read this blog earlier
2. Differentiate in what you're selling - even though the customer has just bought what you're selling, they still can buy again.  Look at the multiple number of smartphones and tablets that people have and you know that the more people have it, the more they want!
3. Over supply means that customers will have more choices, and you can sell easily if what you sell is what people don't have, like extra service or extended warranty
4. Previous bad record means that we can always start fresh, the important thing is we don't have a bad record now
5. Products purchased on the internet have one major problem: there is nothing hard and concrete that you can hold and touch before you make the purchase.  Thus we will emphasise on packaging and pre-sales service, something that internet cannot do
6. Over-whelmed prospects need one thing: someone to show them what they do not know, like free gifts or new product feature
7. Moods can be boosted instantly with attractive offers, like exhibitions and tradr shows. People buy on emotions and impulse. 

By Andy Ng of Asia Trainers, sales courses at here. Related articles:

1. Selling the Impossible Made Possible
2. Another 7 ways to sell the impossible
3. How I Sell Ice to the Eskimos Today
4. 3-stage questions to get people to look at you now
5. Questions to get people to switch vendor to you