One of the worst things in business is being haunted by the ghosts of your ex-prospects.
I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about. (don’t we all?!)

You’re on a call with a qualified prospect, helping them to move to a decision that’s in their best interest so they can solve their burning problem with your service.

But then, all the objections pop up left and right like hot, buttery popcorn.

Prospects need to “think about it”, they need to speak to their partner, or even worse, they say they will buy but then end up vanishing off of the face of the earth.

They ghost you and you’re left wondering what happened and how you could’ve prevented this, constantly thinking of the ones that got away.

But here’s the thing:

You can prevent this, if you know how.

You’ll be pleased to hear that it doesn’t take rocket-science.

All you need is to understand your prospect’s mind.

As you already know, there is always a reason why someone doesn’t buy, and most of the time it’s because psychological barriers are standing in the way.

These barriers are challenges that affect your prospect’s behavior.

But the good news is that once you understand exactly what they are and how they’re stopping prospects from buying, you’ll be able to counteract accordingly and increase your chances of closing more prospects effectively.

Let’s cut right to the chase and unpack the top 4 behavioral barriers that may stop your prospects from buying:

1. Hyperbolic Discounting:

Our brains are wired to see more value in smaller, immediate rewards over larger, future rewards. (eg most people would much rather choose to have $10 now than $15 in 6 months)

You can offer payment plans so clients can pay less immediately, even if that means paying more over the long run. (eg paying in monthly instalments including interest rather than paying a bigger fee upfront)

Pro Tip: Think of how you can structure your service in a way where you can include some immediate wins and short-term rewards, too.

2. Choice Overload:

Giving prospects a few options to choose from is good but TOO many options can overwhelm prospects and slow down decisions as well as stop them from buying altogether.

Think of how many different packages and services you currently offer and how many different options you’re presenting in a proposal.

If it’s any more than 3, your prospect is most likely going to experience choice overload. Cut anything that is unnecessary and focus on presenting prospects with no more than 3 options at a time.

3. Affect Heuristic:

As humans, we tend to make decisions based on our current emotions which has its pros and cons. The downside is that this can distort our thinking and lead us to make poor choices.

If a prospect is having a bad day and they’re not feeling great when they speak with you, then their emotions are directly going to affect the way they judge the risks and benefits of buying from you.

But just because someone is in a bad mood when they speak with you, doesn’t mean that it’s a lost cause and there’s nothing you can do about it.

First of all, focus on evoking positive emotions and make them feel good. You have to give your prospect an experience, not just another one of those boring calls they’ve been on a hundred times already.

Secondly, make sure to stress the benefits of your services during the sales process. When your prospects perceive benefits as higher, their perception of risk will be lower.

Which brings us to the next point…

4. Zero Risk Bias:

Sure, some people are more risk-tolerant than others but overall, as humans, we prefer safety and security.

Most people buy when risk has been drastically reduced, seemingly been eliminated, or when the rewards and benefits of buying clearly outweigh the risk and potential downside.

This is why having a solid guarantee is so important, especially nowadays where scepticism is rampant in the digital landscape!

A guarantee ensures that both you and your clients have “skin in the game”. If you place all the risk on them you’ll have a hard time converting prospects in today’s marketplace.

Now that you know what to do to help prospects eliminate these psychological barriers, you won’t be haunted by those ghosts any more.

Sure, despite your best efforts, you may still get ghosted every now and then…

But at least you won’t be wondering why any more.

As they say, knowledge is pow… peace of mind.