I love the experiences.

@ Barbara - Yeah, I tried my persuasion techniques on my wife. To make a long story short, she watched TV while I cooked dinner . . . and your real estate example reminded me of an experience I had when I was doing a walk though of a potential investment property.

While I was walking through the vacant house taking notes with the listing agent, she at one point looked at me and said, “So being that you’re an investor should I expect a low-ball offer?”

I told her not necessarily. I was asking her a bunch of questions about the seller because I wanted to give the seller what they were really needing - which isn’t always just cash (i.e. they might want some investment that I can trade for equity). After I thought about it, I really wished I would have said, “Feel free to keep your insulting remarks to yourself. So, tell me about the square footage?”

That would have been great. But I’m too nice sometimes.

@ Catherine - “Come back with your husband?” Oh man, he deserved a SLAP and I bet you wanted to. This is a perfect example of how NOT to persuade someone to buy.

And thank you for the compliment. I’m actually going to be reworking my content as I’m about to offer web design, content development, and graphic design. I’m trying to get away from being known as a “web hosting” company and more as a “web development” company.

@ Ian - I love how you “politely” refer them a rival. This is the great thing about being your own boss. I am part owner in our family landscaping business and we had this woman giving us problems even before we signed any paperwork. We decided it wasn’t worth it and we “politely” refused her business. BOY did that ever realllllly upset her. After a few minutes of hearing her yell over the phone, we parted ways.

It’s good to be your own boss . . . uh, sometimes.

I know what you mean! I once worked selling insurance to protect loans. I bought into the hype when I wasn being trained, but after a short while selling the product, I realised it was actually awful value.

The money they were making was obscene too. But we were basically instructed how to overcome objections from low-income households, and because of our product knowledge training, we knew they were ineligible from claiming on the best benefits.

Suffice it to say I left!

It’s not often by the way I persuade people NOT to buy. I do this mainly where their expectation is too high and I know they won’t get that service anywhere and for the money they want to pay.

Equally, after many years experience in the industry I’m in, I’ve discovered what makes a bad client. And I politely refer them to a rival! Better our rival gets the demanding, low-paying customers who will never be happy no matter how hard you try.

I must admit that I’ve spent a spell out of selling and marketing and decided to work on the product. I’ve recently benchmarked our service against both competitors (and improved it beyond our rivals) but also against client expectations which isn’t always what even competitors deliver.

It will be interesting to see how marketing a far superior service will change things.

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The guy in the computer shop was trying to persuade me to get some crappy machine that i didn’t want. It was actually cheaper than what I was looking at, so I’m guessing that they made better commission on that one or something. Anyway, he actually turned round to me and said, it would be better if you come back with your husband! I didn’t go back - I ordered from a supplier in a PC magazine instead.

I think you do a great job of persuading people. Can you offer hosting where the site would not be sharing with other IP addresses? I am with Bluehost and sharing with some really low quality sites. And recently, my site has been down a lot too.

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And how does that one work? “Convince your spouse they should do all the house work.”

You’re right…..”there are limits to persuasion!”

This is a good post with lots of value. Sometimes individuals just want affirmation from a third party that what they are buying is a good deal. Steer them wrong, and you can kiss referrals good bye, but if you believe in your product, it will show, and those same customers will come back for “more” and tell their friends about you as well.

One thing I did learn in real estate was that what I liked was not what necessarily what my buyers were looking for. Once I showed a place that had, what I thought was ugly dark paneling on the walls. Prior to them seeing the place, I mentioned to them it was rather ugly. They saw it, loved it, and bought it. After that, I learned to keep my (house decor) opinions to myself.

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Even if the product was something they could use or needed I couldn’t bring myself to take money they just didn’t have.

However, that being said, just because you are persuading someone doesn’t mean that they don’t want whatever it is that you are selling. I don’t want to sell my product to someone who really doesn’t want it or can’t afford it for exactly the reasons that you stated.

I don’t want them to complain later or tell everyone they know that my company forced them to buy something they didn’t really need or want.

Persuasion is a way of “educating” the person you are talking to. Remember, they sought you out because they need something you have to offer and they need to be told why your offer is better than the next guy’s.

You need to be able to take all of your knowledge and experience and persuade your client to do what you feel is right for them. You are the educated one in this field, not them and therefore they need you. From a moral standpoint, if you don’t feel what you have to offer them is right for them, then by all means persuade them not to buy from you. That in itself may create yourself a customer.

Of course for the sake of making some money you hope that there are more people that would benefit from your service than not!

In another way, all of the people that call you up needing your services were probably referred by someone that had a good experience with you, and the people that had the good experience persuaded their friend to call you and work with you too. So persuasion can and does help you even when you don’t realize it.

As long as you go about being a persuasive person in an ethical way and give your customer what they want and need, there is nothing wrong with showing them the light of your education. Remember, I never condone manipulation.

And that’s the challenge.

Sometmes you need to “sell” because you need to earn a crust of bread. But if you were denying the buyer a crust for themself, would you sleep well?

I prefer to educate people into making the right decision. Why? Because it works for me. That way, I’m there if they decide to buy. And I can talk them out of it if it’s wrong for them too.

I don’t want reluctant buyers. They don’t recommend. They spend more time fretting over their choice. They’re more likely to bad-mouth you and your product/service.

However, those that make a conscious decision to buy - based upon facts and reality - are vocal advocates. They deliver positivity. They recommend. They are delighted with their purchase.

And because of my wimpish beliefs on “NOT” selling, I sell less in terms of face-to-face, but I don’t work as hard because people call me and buy because their friend who bought we a vocal advocate.

I work less and get more - and from the right people - people who want the product I just happen to be able to supply.

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