Are You Pushing Too Hard?

Are you pushing the sale too hard with your prospects and clients?

Look, we all know sales is about persistence. Sometimes though, sellers don’t know when to slow down on that persistence and actually repel the client away.

Yes, persistence is often a virtue in sales, but it needs to be used with proper judgment.

Make no mistake about it, there is a dark side to pushing for the sale. While I never advocate giving up too easily, you also need to know when you’re pushing too hard on a prospect. If you continue to push when someone is simply not ready to buy, you risk losing the sale entirely even at a later date should the prospect become ready to purchase your product or service.

One of the best ways to avoid needing to push too hard is to always have a full pipeline.

I get it, as sellers, it’s easy to become “too persistent” when you don’t have a sufficient number of leads to sell to and have targets and quotas you must achieve. Remove this barrier completely by consistently prospecting, so even if a particular prospect isn’t ready to buy today, you always have new opportunities to pursue.

You also want to ensure you’re absolutely clear on why it isn’t the right time for the prospect to buy. If you don’t have the information behind why a prospect is hesitating on the sale, you could be neglecting the opportunity to present an easy solution to help make the sale go forward, rather than pushing an idea or avenue that doesn’t currently align with the prospect.

Use your judgment, ask questions, and observe past buying behaviours—especially if you are selling to existing clients—to best gauge when it’s time to stop pushing. Remember, just because the time isn’t right now, doesn’t mean it’ll always be that way.

Don’t buy into the belief that persistence is always a good thing. In fact, persistence without judgment can actually be damaging to your relationships!