Revenue Journal®

People buy when they're comfortable that they're making the right decision. If they're uncomfortable, they don't buy. This is especially true when money is tight or people are fearful. Their comfort zone - and how well you stay within it - will determine if you make a sale, or not.

Let's look at what will kick you out of their comfort zone - and how you can stay inside.

1) Lies. If you say something that simply isn't true, or conflicts with their personal experience, they will decide they cannot trust you. You're out.

No matter what, no matter how embarrassing or uncomfortable it makes YOU, tell them exactly what is true.

2) Manipulation. If you try to get them to do something through trickery, no matter how subtle, you'll end up outside the zone. It could be manipulation via omission - such as failing to mention an extra charge until they had signed a contract. It could be manipulation through "clever" communication - such as using the word "free" when it's only "free' when certain conditions are met. It could be making one thing look like another - like those checks we all get in the mail, and, if you read the fine print on the back of the check, you discover that by cashing it you will be signing up for some sort of monthly service and a long-term contract.

State things exactly as they are, in clear language. Don't assume you're more clever than your customer. They've seen it all before.

3) Whining. Salespeople often spend valuable selling time lamenting about how broken something is in their company. The customer then decides he won't do business with a company whose own salespeople are dissatisfied with how things are run.

Listen to your salespeople actually delivering pitches, whenever you can. Send them out in teams and have them grade each other. One of the criteria should be "speaks positively about the company, both in terms of what is said and in terms of what is inferred."

4) Inability to explain clearly. Some things may be complicated, but - and I speak from experience - even the most complex subject can be explained in plain English, language that any business person could understand. Everyone knows this, and everyone is suspicious when something simply cannot be understood. Techie CEOs suffer from this the most; as soon as they start talking as if they were talking to another techie, they leave the customer's comfort zone.

Hire a professional writer for your website and your other marketing materials. Make sure he or she thoroughly understands your product or service, has interviewed customers, and understands how they talk about your stuff.

5) Cultural and language differences. We are living in a world where people in one country routinely do business with people in another. If you're selling to other countries, make sure you have separate sites and/or materials for the countries where you are selling.

Have a writer in each country "clean up" your copy (or generate it in the first place), so your prospective customers can remain in their comfort zones while reading.

6) Realize when they've left the Zone. The best salespeople can sense when the customer has left their comfort zone. He will stop, and ask the customer if he needs to answer any specific questions. The worst salespeople will either not sense it, or will sense it and decide to keep going - because they have a script to follow or because they love to hear themselves talk.

Train your salespeople to sense when the customer has left his comfort zone, and to respond appropriately.

7) It's all about....THEM. People don't care what your problems are. They only want you to solve their own problem. They care about you only to the extent that you are able to solve their problem. You can be the nicest person in the world, but if you can't solve their problem, they will take their business elsewhere.

During the sales process, the minute you start to make it about you instead of them, you will be stepping outside the comfort zone, and you will lose their interest.

Keep your mind focused on their problem. Do this while you are developing your product, hiring and training employees, creating marketing and sales materials and your website, making calls, making sales calls, making things right, and making things work well. Nothing will make you more successful than doing this one thing: Focus on their problem, and take personal responsibility for solving it.

That will take you to your comfort zone - that place where life is filled with satisfying work and you get paid nicely for your effort.