When you break sales right down to its core, it's a simple equation.

In the eyes of the prospect, the perceived discomfort of moving forward must be less than the perceived discomfort of not moving forward, and staying where they are.

Sounds technical, but what does that mean in reality?

The basic school of thought in sales is pain, pain and more pain.

I once heard a well-known sales trainer say, "People buy for one of two reasons: To escape current pain and/or to avoid future pain."

While this has an element of truth, it's far from the whole truth.

Using this methodology, the salesperson will make the prospect feel awful about the position they're in.

Make them say they feel sad, mad or disappointed with where they're currently at in life.

Then they consequence the prospect to within an inch of their life. 

Make them feel as though they are on a one way train to hell. 

Toot toot -the pain train is off and moving!

The reason this works a good amount of the time is the prospect will be in a world of discomfort.

The prospect is now unhappy with their current position, and is concerned by the possible lack of opportunities in front of them.

The salesperson is positioned as the liferaft to carry them out of there.

Even if their pitch is rubbish and the program is expensive, the perceived discomfort of moving forward has to be less than staying where they are.

This is also why a lot of people refund once they calm down after the call, but that's a whole newsletter on its own.

To make an easier sale, you have two choices. 

1.  Increase the discomfort of the prospect staying still.    

2.  Reduce the discomfort of the prospect moving forward. 

Increasing Discomfort 

Another sales trainer who is exceptional in "one-to-many" sales put it well. "An undisturbed prospect will not buy."

We must create an element of discomfort within the prospect whereby we are the clear solution to resolve.

How do we increase the prospect's discomfort of them not working with us?

• Build a large gap between where they are and where they want to be;   
• Build pain;    
• Consequence;   
• Have them recount stories of their problems;    
• VSL's; and    
• Quizzes. 

Reducing perceived discomfort of moving forward with us.

This second part confuses a lot of people.

The example I give - I don't like long haul flights which is unfortunate as being from Australia, everything is long haul.

I can't sleep, the squishy seats (I'm not a small person), I feel awful by the end of it.

Now, if I had to do the same flight, but I was in business or first class, the perceived discomfort of taking that flight just went dramatically down.

I would agree to the trip far more readily than if I were in economy.

How do we reduce the perceived discomfort of the prospect moving forward?

• A solution that closes the loops you've deliberately opened, clearly solving their problems;
• An easy to follow pitch that's customized to the prospect;    
• Love It Or Leave It period (LIOLI);   
• Guarantees;
• Lower prices; and
• Success stories. 

The first two on this list are usually enough if done well, but the others are extra bonuses if you're having troubles.

A perfect sales process has a combination of both.

Create an element of discomfort within the prospect at the idea of staying on their current path, while making it seem far less uncomfortable to decide to move forward.

Action Steps 

Break your sales process into two halves:

• Discomfort for the prospect of staying still.  
• Discomfort of the prospect for moving forward.  
• Listen back to your calls and see if the balance is optimal. 

If you are putting all of your weight in pain, and none on reducing perceived discomfort of the prospect moving forward, first focus on your pitch and customising it to each prospect.

This is also the type of idea that becomes clearer over time.

On every call, visualize old time scales and see which way the scale is tilting.