Qualified Prospects Are Not Enough. You Also Need This To Sell…

Orren Prunckun
3 min readJan 13, 2020

There is a sales adage that says: “people are more likely to buy from those who they know, like and trust.”

I reference this obliquely quite a lot.

But the statement it needs some clarification…

Plenty of people know me, like me and trust me.

But knowing me, liking me and trusting me is not enough to sell.

Very few of those people are also qualified to buy what I sell.

To be qualified they also need to have a problem, be aware of that problem, be aware that solutions exist, know my solution exits amongst those options, believes my solution works, believes my solution will work for them and that there is no other obstacles stopping them from getting the end result they desire.

Now the opposite is true: just because someone is qualified is also not enough to sell.

Someone can be aware that they have a problem, be aware that solutions exist, know my solution exits amongst those options, believes my solution works, believes my solution will work for them and that there is no other obstacles stopping them from getting the end result they desire, but they may not know me, like me or not trust me.

Now you maybe thinking “how can someone know my solution exits amongst those options, believe my solution works and believe my solution will work for them, yet not know me?”

Well, knowing someone is a never-ending process.

Even my closes friends and family don’t know me 100%.

The only person who knows me, is me (and even then, there may be subconscious things I don’t know I don’t know about myself).

I have lived with myself for 36 years, no one else has spent that amount of time with me.

But I digress!)

Yes, superficially, you can “know” someone in terms of “knowing-of” them, but the process continues…

Every time you have an interaction with them, you add to your body of knowledge of them.

Now liking someone, is simply the by-product of helping people.

Think about this: every person you like, helped you in some way.

They offered something to you that you thought was valuable.

Likewise, people you do not like, did not offer you something that you thought was valuable.

Someone trusting you occurs when you make a promise and keep it.

Trust is reliability, consistency and congruency.

That is the definition of making a promise and keeping it.

Do you do say what you do and do what you say?

So, how can you practically use this in your marketing and sales?

To get the most ROI, start targeting qualified prospect, then help them know, like and trust you, not other way round.

Knowing, in the first instance is about getting attention and awareness, but it doesn’t stop there like I said before.

It is about continuously building rapport with people:

  • Sharing your life;
  • Being vulnerable;
  • Connecting on similarities and interests;
  • And so on…

None of these have to do with the solution you offer, but they can.

Liking, is about helping people.

All you content, AKA sales scripts, should be making people:

  • Problem aware;
  • Solution aware;
  • Product aware;
  • Etc.

But it can also be broader than that, as long as who you are helping are qualified customers in the first place.

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Orren Prunckun
Orren Prunckun

Written by Orren Prunckun

Entrepreneur. Australia Day Citizen of the Year for Unley. Recognised in the Top 50 Australian Startup Influencers. http://orrenprunckun.com

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