Today, we’re going to break down the psychology behind take-away selling so you can connect with the right clients and make sales. But first… a couple of examples.
Imagine you’re a five-year-old staring up at a jar full of chocolate biscuits. A booming voice suddenly says, “DON’T touch that!”
Well, guess what you want to do.
Yeah, me too.
Imagine you’re out shopping for house trinkets, and you stumble upon the most beautiful piece of furniture you’ve ever seen.
You approach the clerk and ask how much, and they say, “It’s not for sale. You can’t buy it.”
Suddenly, you want to buy it even more. In fact, you might be willing to pay anything.
This same principle works with potential clients.
What is take-away selling?
Take-away selling is an advanced sales tactic that only works when the following conditions are met:
- You’re viewed as a reliable source in your niche – you are KNOWN for something.
- You have a solid number of client leads and enough work to be somewhat satisfied.
- You have a good sales funnel that gets your clients excited about working with you.
Once you have those three things intact, you can engage in take-away selling.
You’ll get someone interested enough in what you’re offering and to the point where they’re ready to move forward. Then, you start taking things away or otherwise make it hard for them to get “in” on whatever it is you’re selling.
You’ll throw obstacles in front of them, but only enough to make them want your service EVEN MORE.
This can be done through tactics including screening phone calls, or short essay questions asking things like, “What makes you an ideal client?”.
People don’t want to be sold to (but they do want to buy)
There’s a big difference between telling a client, “Please buy this,” and telling a client, “This service doesn’t sound quite right for you. How about this one?”
Clients are much more willing to trust the latter phrase than the first one.
When you shift focus from getting any clients to only the right clients, you’ll find that more people want to become the right clients. If you position your offerings as special services that work best for only a certain kind of person, your potential clients will get excited at the prospect of becoming the kind of person who obtains those services.
It’s all about deadlines
In sales, deadlines work. Eventually, potential clients realise they could be missing out on a fabulous opportunity to make a difference in their lives or businesses.
It’s your job to make them feel that way, no matter how horrible that might sound (you’re actually doing them a favour).
Let’s say you’ve already mastered your service delivery. You’re confident that your clients are the right clients, and they’re all getting the results they want.
If that’s all true, then take-away selling could be one of the most powerful approaches available to your business
You’ve heard all the terms: ‘limited time offer’, ‘offer ending soon’, ‘available until the end of the month’, and so on. Positioning your services as exclusive offers for only the right clients could lead to clients who will run, not walk, to jump on board with you.
Use FOMO to your advantage and connect with your ideal clients. They’re waiting for you!