Put a lid on it

It’s one of Cialdini’s six principles of influence and an absolute must when it comes to closing sales.

Now when I say closing sales I realise you might get that ‘ick’ feeling about being ‘sold to’ or ‘being salesy’ and I get that, as it’s ‘ick’ for me too if you think of it the wrong way. That said, you do need to sell your Thing if you’re going to run a business doing it, so here’s a re-frame I think you’ll like.

Sales is not about selling—it’s about decision making. Your ‘job’ as the person who has a brilliant Thing for sale is to get people to make a decision: do they want your Thing or not. That’s all, so anything you do for ‘sales’ is about helping people to make a decision. Obviously a yes is nicer than a no for your bottom line, but a no is MUCH better than a don’t know.

The worse thing you can do for a prospect is leave them ‘deciding’. That limbo land of not knowing if they want to buy from you or work with you or not. Not nice for them and not helpful for you.

So put a lid on it

Have a deadline for a decision, or a maximum number of people you can work with, or products you have available.

Having a limit (time, number, etc.) helps with decision making.

And that’s your responsibility as someone with a brilliant ‘Thing’ for sale—to help with decision making.

It’s my experience that many people lean towards lastminute-ism (I just made up that word, btw). Few (very sensible and organised people, of which I am not one very often) buy immediately that they know they want something. While a lot of people (my hand is up for this one) decide they want to buy something, but then for some unfathomable reason faff about before actually buying it, stressing that they might miss out, ‘thinking about it’, asking opinions, wondering back and forth if it's right for them, etc. Then, right at the last minute when the chance to buy is about to disappear, they jump in and buy what they knew in the first instance they wanted anyway!

Now I would like to think I am a very smart purchaser and sometimes, yes, I do buy straight away, but I am still that reflective ‘thinker’ more often than not, so I actually like it when there are limits.

And I know I’m not on my own. In the past month I’ve run 2 online launches and I had more people buy on the last day than any other day the ‘sale’ was open. Even more telling was that in the last hour for one of the launches (when the 59 minute warning got emailed) a flurry of last minute ‘deciders’ bought.

So don’t worry about ‘hassling’ people to buy—instead know you are just reminding them to make a decision before you put a lid on it. Whether that’s a time limit or a number limit, just make sure there is a limit.

Even if you’re having sales conversations in person or on the phone, add in a limit to help with decision-making.

Limbo is not a fun place to hang out (for you or your prospects!) if you want a great business doing your Thing.

Want to talk more about this?

Let’s have a conversation

Posts you may have missed:

Looking from the other side (for easy Marketing content)

When something is your Thing you look at it from ‘your’ side–the side where you know how it works well, what to do to get the results, and usually the ‘easy way’. So when you’re putting together marketing material, you need to look from the ‘other’ side.

I Get You

I know where you are right now. You know you’re here to do something brilliant and even if you don’t know what that is yet you know you have to do it. You know you’re not doing your Thing, as it’s not easy doing what you’re doing.

You know that you have a talent for something and you ‘get’ that you’re allowed to make this your job, your work, your business. But it’s just not happening.

I get you.

Are you asking the right questions?

It’s always good to ask questions if you’re stuck—after all, you’re not likely to get an answer if you don’t ask a question. But make sure you’re asking the right questions.

And if you’re not sure what the right questions are then find someone who will challenge you so you’ll ask questions you didn’t even know needed answering.

Why selling everything might be too much

I get it. Trust me I REALLY get it. You want to sell EVERYTHING YOU KNOW. The thing with your Thing is that when you realise you’ve got this better, quicker, smarter, cheaper, more detailed, simply ‘better’ way of doing something, you want to help–and you want to give people EVERYTHING you have.

5 tell-tale signs you’re doing your Thing (& 2 signs you’re not)

I am obsessed with you doing your Thing.

I don’t mean ‘any old’ thing either—I mean YOUR Thing! The Thing that you do that’s brilliant. The Thing that makes a difference to you and has you sharing your brilliance with the world.

Yeah, THAT Thing.

So how do you know you’re doing your Thing?

Well here’s some tell tale signs:

Give yourself permission (er, NOW)

Permission is something we don’t actually need, but SO many of us feel we do. I know that I used to want it. A lot.

Because, of course, there isn’t really anyone who is stopping you from doing your Thing, from being as famous as you want to be, from standing in a super-bright spotlight, from doing exactly what you want to do the way you want to do it (given legal parameters of course!).

And yet we ask—and look—for permission.

Put a lid on it

So put a lid on it

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Latest Posts

Posts you may have missed:

Looking from the other side (for easy Marketing content)

I Get You

Are you asking the right questions?

Why selling everything might be too much

5 tell-tale signs you’re doing your Thing (& 2 signs you’re not)

Give yourself permission (er, NOW)

Put a lid on it

So put a lid on it

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Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Latest Posts

Posts you may have missed:

Looking from the other side (for easy Marketing content)

I Get You

Are you asking the right questions?

Why selling everything might be too much

5 tell-tale signs you’re doing your Thing (& 2 signs you’re not)

Give yourself permission (er, NOW)