You Really Aren’t Pressuring Me to Sign on the Dotted Line.

My secret to success: find out what used-car salesmen do, then do the exact opposite.

“Only one thing counts in this life: get them to sign on the line which is dotted!”

“Wow. You really aren’t pressuring me to sign on the dotted line.”

I don’t know if it was meant as a compliment or not, but I think this is one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever gotten in business.

Years ago, I presented a proposal to a prospective client, and this is what he told me at the end. He was almost taken aback at just how low-pressure my sales pitch was.

I told him: “I don’t do that high-pressure stuff. I just tell people what I can do for them, and either they like it and see the value, or they don’t. If they don’t, I’ll just move on. No hard feelings.”

I think he was shocked because after I showed him what my proposal entailed, then told him what it would cost and how long it would take me, he was waiting for me to “tighten the thumbscrews,” tell him that he’d be an idiot if he couldn’t see what an incredible deal I was giving him, and pressure him to act quickly before the offer was gone forever.

But I didn’t do any of those things.

I never have, and I never will. It’s not my style.

Were there times over the past decade and a half of being self-employed when I could have pressured or bullied people into signing my proposals?

Probably.

Am I ignoring one of the most unbreakable rules of sales, which is to GET THEM TO SIGN… NOW?

Probably.

Have I left money on the table because I don’t do that kind of thing?

Probably.

Do I care? Not at all.

Somehow, I’ve been able to build a process where I’m really good at prequalifying people who aren’t a good fit for what I offer. If I actually take the time to give them a proposal, they have an extremely high chance of becoming a client.

If they didn’t, I wouldn’t be giving them a proposal anyway.

Sometimes, I’ve made a sales pitch, and a person will say “yes" right away. When that happens, it’s a great feeling.

Sometimes, they’ll say “Not yet,” then go away for a few weeks or even months. Very often, when that happens, they’ll come back when they see the value.

So I don’t pressure them right now, and I never say, “I told you so,” if they take a while to decide and then come back later.

I don’t think I’m arrogant. I believe I’m simply confident enough in what I do that I know it works and that if someone sees the value, great. But if they don’t see the value, I’m not going to grovel or beg.

Believe me: I have other prospects I can call instead. Lots. So many that I’m constantly dropping the ball, thinking, “Oh, yeah, so-and-so asked me for a proposal by today. Bummer.” I’ve got more potential business than I can handle, and it’s been that way for many years.

I’m not a car salesman. You’ll never, ever hear me saying things like: “What do I have to do to get you to sign this today?" or “This deal is good for today only.”

Nah. Who needs that?

Plus, I only want to work with people who see the value in what I’m offering, which is part of why I don’t believe in long-term contracts or cancellation fees in the first place.

If I’m proving my value to you, I believe you’ll see the value and keep paying me. If I don’t, and you walk, that’s because I haven’t performed or proven my value, which is my fault.

That happens sometimes. Sometimes, people do walk away. Very rarely, though: in 16 years of business, I think I can count on one hand the number of people who decided that I wasn’t giving them what they wanted. And in most of those cases, I think that was probably a fair decision. We all make mistakes sometimes.

Yet, I’m heartened by the fact that when I look at my book of business, I see names of people I’ve worked with consistently for many years. Some clients have worked with me for three years,  some for five years, some for seven years or more, and I even have one client who’s paid my invoice every single month for over 13 years.

That proves that what I’m doing is working without ever needing to “get them to sign on the dotted line.”

(And oh, by the way, the prospect I mentioned at the beginning? The one who was impressed with how low-key my pitch was? He signed my contract and became a client after all. He’s still a client today. No pressure necessary.)

---