The biggest obstacle to the sales of anything in the world is doubt.
There are two kinds of doubt prospective clients can have— (1) Doubt your claims; (2) Doubt their ability to get results
The first can easily be overcome if you know anything about advertising and psychology.
But the latter? Most copywriters and marketers are not aware of its existence.
This is what kills most sales;
The prospect believes your product or service is good, but they are not sure they will be committed enough, or disciplined enough to get the results.
Before we dive into how to deal with self-doubt, we need to consider…
What Causes Self-Doubt?
The cause of self-doubt is typically past failures.
Most of the people you’ll market to may have one time in their lives experienced failure in this regard
How do I know this?
Well, most marketing is targeted at the “problem – solution” aware market.
These people know they have a problem and are actively looking for a solution
There is a good reason why most marketers focus on this segment of the market.
The reason is that these are the people most likely to buy.
They are already in pain. You don’t have to educate a lot to expose the problem to them.
But after trying 1,2,3 different offer without getting the solution; they begin to doubt themselves
Especially if the alternatives seemed to have worked for others.
They now believe that something is not for them.
Some prospects even carry over failure from a different type of product to another type.
Let’s assume the prospect wants to make money online and has tried Dropshipping and failed.
Then sees a compelling ad promoting Amazon KDP passive income model
The past pain and doubt can be carried over and hinder the prospect from buying this new product regardless of how persuasive the copy is.
NOTE: This can happen for physical products, digital products, and even services.
So how do we address Self-doubt in sales communication?
3 Ways To Push Self-Doubters Over
Several techniques help marketers deal with a prospect’s self-doubt in sales situations.
I want to talk about the top 3 in this article; you can use them on sales calls, when writing a sales copy, or in any other selling situation.
With that said, let’s dive into it…
1. People Like You
One of the strategies to overcome any kind of doubt is social proof.
Social proof, especially testimonials, can be a lethal force against self-doubt.
But that’s if the testimonial shows people just like the prospect getting the desired solution.
It is important to carefully word and arrange your testimonials in such a way that shows people like them are doing it.
For example, if you are selling a new software to users who are about 55 years old; show proof that other 55-year-old people are using it and they say it’s the easiest piece of software to use in the world.
You need to overwhelming demonstrate that your solution is tailor-made for people in the exact same situation as them
The end goal is to get the prospect saying… “If it worked for Mrs. B, I believe I can do it too”
2. Tap Into Their Lazy Brain
It was legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz who said —
Imagine your prospect as a lazy man sitting on the couch with a remote control in his hand. You have to get his attention. You have to engage him immediately. You have to make him want to read what you have written. And most importantly, you have to make it easy for him to take action.
Laziness is one of the biggest appeals in the world.
Think about this, it’s what leads the world’s R&D — Research & Development.
Washing machines, dryers, mobile phones, automobiles, and more recently, ChatGPT.
The products that do very well in the market; help the prospects to take a pill of lazy medicine.
It has to reduce stress. It needs to be easy to use.
Whatever you do, make the process of using your product appear simple.
Simplify the process of using your product to get results.
When doing this, ensure you convey both the emotional appeal of your sales message and also satisfy their logic.
Do this and you will have more people open their wallets.
3. Reduce The Risk Of Failure
Most people are social animals
They will do anything to avoid looking foolish to people around them; they wouldn’t buy an item if a family member thought it wasn’t good.
This just goes to show you that people don’t like to lose.
They would rather not play the game than lose.
If there seems to be a significant risk of failure, you can only sell to bold people with a big risk appetite.
Those with self-doubt would rather pass.
But if you offer to carry the burden of their failure they will take your offer almost every time.
You do this by offering a strong guarantee.
A strong guarantee is one where the seller covers a significant part of the loss.
The bigger the guarantee, the more likely it will push your prospects to take action.
Summary!
Self-doubt created by past failures is a major obstacle in sales.
You can address it by;
- Showing that people just like them are getting the outcomes they desire using your product
- Simplifying your process to show them how easy it is to get results.
- Eliminating the risk of failure using a strong guarantee
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