The number one mistake sales people make is… they make it too hard to become a customer.

Think of all the sales opportunities that started out strong only to have the prospect decide to stay with their current supplier. The #1 reason they stayed with their current supplier is: it was not worth the effort of becoming your customer.

One of the keys to turning prospects into customers understanding the level of emotion a decision maker has and matching the effort of becoming your customer to this level of emotion.

When you get to decision makers after they experience a Trigger Event they have a certain amount of emotion related to solving the problem. As long as the level of effort required to become your customer is less than the level of emotion they have they are likely to become your customer.

BUT when decision maker’s perceive it to be too much effort to become your customer they typically stay with their current solution/supplier – aka the Status Quo.

Here is a personal example… I am a customer of ActiveConversion.com a Sales 2.0 service that lets you know who visits your site and how often they visit and I recently became aware of their autoresponder offering, for those who fill in a form on my web site. An autoresponder allows me to set up a number of emails that go out a specified number of days, weeks, or months after a form has been completed.

The reason I want an autoresponder system, beyond the traditional reason of drip/nurture marketing, is that I want to know when a prospect’s/customer’s email address starts to bounce. This signals the Trigger Event of a change in decision makers and typically means three opportunities:

  1. The person who left where did they go
  2. Who took their place
  3. The person who took their place where did they come from

After doing some initial investigation I learned that I needed an account with VerticalResponse.com in order for my autoresponder emails to go out.

Because I am currently satisfied with my current email marketing solution, if Vertical Response had only sold a monthly subscription plan, based upon how many people are on my mailing list, I would have stayed with the Status Quo – no auto responders. BUT Vertical Response has a pay as you go plan that I could take advantage of. For as little as $15 I could buy 1,000 autoresponder emails that can be used any time and keep my current email marketing solution.

Because the level of effort of becoming a customer was less than the amount of emotion I had about solving the problem I spent $15 and bought the 1,000 autoresponder email, package.

Now Vertical Response has me as a customer and I am learning how to use their systems. When I experience a Trigger Event and become dissatisfied with my current email marketing solution who do you think I am most likely to buy from. You guessed it Vertical Response.

Too often sales people are so focused on getting the big sale that they miss the opportunity to make a smaller initial sale with those who recently experienced a Trigger Event and then harness the future Trigger Events that create larger follow-on opportunities in the same account.

My question, to be answered by commenting below, is “What can you do to match the effort it takes to become your customer to the level of emotion the prospect has ”

Win $1,500 worth of Trigger Event services by getting the most votes for your answer.

Answers are voted on by clicking on the Top Seven Mistakes in Sales Voting Button - Trigger Event Selling button that appears at the end of each answer and voting ends on Monday June 29th.

Answers/Comments need to be approved – to avoid spam – which typically takes just a few minutes. Contact me by phone (+1.403.874.2998), Skype me (Craig.Elias), or this contact form, if you don’t see your comment approved within a few minutes of posting it.

Stumble!, Digg, Tweet, and email your friends so you get the most votes, because the voting system I use does not allow you to vote for your own answers.

Have an EVENTFUL week!

Craig