- The Follow Up
- Posts
- 3 Ways You’re Talking Prospects Out of Buying
3 Ways You’re Talking Prospects Out of Buying
How to avoid messing up a deal that would’ve closed
In partnership with
Good Morning! Let's address the elephant in the inbox: Today is April Fools' Day. That special day of the year when marketing teams convince executives that bad jokes are good for brand awareness. We're opting out of the ‘holiday’ this year... with one small exception hidden in this newsletter. If you find it, let us know. 😁
Stop talking them out of buying 👀
The ‘crazy to assume’ framework ❓️
6 things every sales rep should know 🔍️
Sales jobs & a meme 😂
3 Ways You Talk Prospects Out of Buying
It's every salesperson's worst nightmare.
A prospect is ready to buy, credit card in hand, and somehow, you find a way to mess everything up and talk them OUT of the deal.
It's like having someone hand you a $100 bill, and instead of pocketing it, you rip it up in front of them.
Sounds insane, right?
Yet salespeople do this EXACT thing every day - talking prospects out of deals that were about to close.
And the worst part is, most don't even realize they're doing it.
Today I'm breaking down the three most common ways salespeople reverse-sell themselves out of commission checks (and how to stop shooting yourself in the wallet).
1. Sharing Bad Information (With Confidence)
A Reddit user shared this gem:
Game over.
This salesman nuked all of his credibility in four seconds flat. And in turn, lost the deal.
Trust is hard to gain and easy to lose, so the only thing worse than not knowing something is pretending you do.
When you don't know something, just say this: "That's a great question. I don't know the exact answer, and I don't want to guide you down the wrong path. Let me double check and get back to you ASAP."
Then actually do what you said you would. Get back to them with the correct answer.
2. Overstepping Boundaries (& Being Annoying)
Another Reddit user shared this:
Yikes.
Look, I'm all for persistence in sales. It's how you push through rejection, close deals that your competitors miss, and ultimately become great at sales.
But there's a big difference between persistence and being a sociopath. Hammering someone's phone while their kid is in the ICU isn't "good follow-up" - it's borderline criminal.
People buy from people they like. And nobody likes the person who ignores their ‘my child is in the hospital, please stop calling’ plea.
The fix? Be human.
If someone tells you they're dealing with something serious, back off. Find out when they'll actually be ready to talk. If they say "after my meeting next Thursday," follow up then, not three times before.
Their roof will still need fixing next week.
A women on Reddit shared:
This reminds me of when a Rolls Royce salesman asked Shaq if he could afford one. So to prove a point, he dropped $1 million that day on three cars.
But here's the thing - most prospects aren't 7'1" NBA legends with hundreds of millions in the bank. When regular humans get insulted or have their buying power questioned, they don't spend more to prove you wrong - they just leave and never come back.
The solution is simple: Treat everyone the same. Don't make assumptions you don't confidently know.
You never know who the ultimate decision-maker is or who's going to sign the check.
The "assistant" you dismissed might be the CEO's most trusted advisor.
The spouse you ignored might control the finances.
You just never know.
Have you ever lost a deal for one of these reasons? |
Cold Email Setup Offer
We started sending 10,000 cold emails per day, and scaled a brand new B2B offer to $108k MRR in 90 days. Now, you can have the same system set up (completely done-for-you) inside your own business - WITHOUT going to spam, spending thousands of dollars, or any manual input. Close your next 20 clients easily. We’ll set up the tech, write your scripts, give you the leads, give you the inboxes, and the sending tool - all starting at $500/mo.