November 19, 2019

Gut instinct

Sent by Jonathan Stark on November 21st, 2019

Can you set a value price on a project for a client who doesn’t measure anything specific, but instead makes decisions based solely on gut instinct?

Yes. Yes you can.

(It’s not always simple, but it is possible.)

Here’s the thing…

Your prospect’s “gut instinct” is almost certainly not delusional. It is likely that it’s based on some sensory input - i.e., they saw, heard, read, watched, or otherwise observed SOMETHING that caused “their gut” to tell them “things are not okay”.

In a case like this, your job in the sales interview is to uncover some change that you can deliver that would make the client’s gut tell them “things are good now”.

This probably sounds tricky - and sometimes it is - but it could be as simple as asking:

“What can I do to make you feel like the problem has been solved?”

Or:

“How would you know that you wasted your money hiring me?”

Or:

“How will you know if I hit a huge home run for you?”

Or:

“What would cause you to request a refund from me?”

The bottom line is this:

If you don’t know what is going to satisfy your client, the odds of satisfying them are pretty dang low. And if you’re not satisfying your clients, you’re not going to be in business very long.

Yours,

—J