How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 94

discussed in Chapter Six. The point is that if you haven’t created the
desire for your services, you will not persuade the customer that they need
your services. Why would they buy something that they don’t want? You
will need to go back and establish desire by demonstrating the benefits
your offering will provide to the customer. If you do this well enough,
you won’t have to do any more persuading – the customer will already
want what you are offering.

7.2.3 Failure to Be Perceived as an Expert
Another common reason underlying objections is that your customer
doesn’t yet see you as a partner in their business. At the very least, they
should see you as a source of expert information and assistance when they
need it. If they don’t see you that way yet, you will need to work at
reinforcing their perception of you as a benefit to their organization in
order to persuade them to complete the sale. You can do this by taking
some simple steps like:
•Sending customers information from industry publications or other
sources that are related to their business
•Keeping informed about any regulatory changes to their business
•Following your customers in the news so that you know what their
challenges are and what they might need in the future
•Creating a network of contacts so that if your customer needs something
you don’t provide, you have a specific person that you can refer them to
•Continuing to receive trai ning on developments of the products that your
company offers, as well as any products that your competition is offering
•Attending conferences that are related to your industry and sharing what
you learn with your customers
Once you are perceived as an expert in the customer’s field, you will find
that objections become much rarer. The customer will come to you asking
for advice and suggestions rather than you having to go to the customer
and ‘sell’ to them.

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