It’s curious that the following Steve Jobs quote is one of the less mentioned ideas, in business and marketing:
"People don’t buy products – they buy different versions of themselves"
Yet it’s one of the most powerful notions in business, so if you take away anything from today’s missive, let it be this:
A purchase – even a small one – always relates to identity, or: self-view.
It says something about a change in identity for the buyer, usually on a subconscious level.
And the bigger the price tag, the more impactful and meaningful the change in identity.
This gives us as sellers a massive clue, especially when we find that our prospect isn’t buying in.
When you encounter objections, or resistance or fears, the worst thing you could do is push on, argument more persuasively, highlight the benefits and so on.
Resistance means that there’s some sort of dissonance for the other person: somehow, buying in would mean they’re going against who they are or how they see themselves.
So instead of putting forth better reasoning, ask yourself:
If they buy in to my offer (or idea, in general), in what negative way would that change their self-view?
Someone who likes to play it safe won’t like "I’m taking a risk here".
It doesn’t fit with how this person sees themselves, so find out how to demonstrate certainty and low-risk.
Someone who struggles to delegate won’t like "They’ll handle the whole project for me", so tell them how you’ll free them up to work on the other stuff, which they’re not delegating or outsourcing.
If your buyer is highly independent and autonomous, you’ll never sell them on "Our complete, 25-step implementation roadmap", so show them how implementation will require a lot of independent thinking and decision-making from them.
Whatever resistance you encounter, always ask yourself:
How do they see themselves, and is what I’m suggesting or offering in line with who they want to become?