Two Things that Actually Move a Prospect

"If you can combine both effectively, you’ll be a step ahead."

I read a white paper study on a phone room that sold newspaper subscriptions. It was built on thousands of repeated pitches. A far different venue from what most of us work in today, but the principles hold true. The research isolated two levers that consistently outperformed everything else to get a prospect to take action: social norming and loss aversion. Almost everything else in the pitch was noise.

I use both of these constantly on my demos, and if you can combine both effectively, you’ll be a step ahead.

Social norming is simply that people want to know what people like them are already doing. I don’t necessarily just say our platform is great, but I’ll say something like, “organizations that come to us from X competitor tell me they were missing opportunity that was sitting right in their own backyard.” Or, when I’m talking with a performing arts organization, I’ll mention that other well known cultural institutions in their region already use a tool we offer. None of that is a feature pitch. Once a prospect sees themselves reflected in a peer group they respect, a lot of the decision starts making itself, because now the question isn’t “should we do this” but “why haven’t we done this yet.”

Loss aversion; the other lever. It’s underused in sales typically because people are afraid of sounding pushy with mission driven organizations, but there’s a real difference between manufactured urgency and true urgency. If I mention for example, that our fiscal year ends in September, It’s a real deadline with real flexibility attached to it while it’s open. Losing that window is a real cost to the prospect, not an invented one. I would rather show someone clearly what they are leaving on the table by waiting than oversell what they stand to gain by acting.

Bonus points when you can combine the two in a single phrase. For example: “Most organizations do sign on September, that way they lock in the current rate and not miss out on the client opportunities they can capitalize on at by end of the year.”

Every demo I run, I’m quietly asking myself two questions in the background. Where is the mirror, meaning who else like you is already doing this. And where is the window closing, meaning what does waiting actually cost them. Get those two things right, communicated honestly, and you’ll likely have a prospect with momentum.