The Danger of Your Sense of Urgency

For years sales trainers have been telling us "you gotta have a sense of urgency or your prospects won't buy."  And what did most of us do?  We mustered up the greatest sense of urgency we could.  Believe me I was in the front of the line.

Let me tell you what I discovered about having a sense of urgency in sales.  I found that the more my prospects felt my urgency the less I would sell.  For months I would express the urgency for my prospects to get on board before it was too late.  I would tell them that they would lose out if they didn't act now.  I would share with them that the price is expected to go up and they would definitely have to pay the higher price if they didn't act now.  You name it I tried it.  The only thing was it was all to no avail.  When it did work, I found my clients canceling after they cooled down after the sale.

Urgency is an interesting thing when it comes to customers.  I'll use myself as an example.  About 18 months ago I got the new care fever.  I've been wanting a Mercedes Benz for about 10 years but I felt the time just wasn't right.  Every time I went to the dealer to look at a Mercedes, the salespeople would all express a sense of urgency that really turned me off.  Consequently I never bought the Mercedes. In two distinct shopping experiences in the last 10 years I went to my old dealership and bought another Dodge.

Just about 16 months ago I went to another Mercedes Benz dealership "on a mission" to get my Mercedes.  This time things were different.  I had the sense of urgency this time.  All the salesperson had to do was show me what I wanted to see and follow my lead.  What I discovered was that it was my urgency that made the sale.

Here's my point.  When we work with prospects, it is not our responsibility to push them to a place of having a sense of urgency but rather discern how urgent they are and flow with them.  When a prospect shows up with a sense of urgency, we will never be accused of manipulating them to do something they didn't intend on doing.  While our own sense of urgency can get us in trouble at times, just remember that the urgency of a prospect is much better than our own in the sales process.  They key for us as salespeople is recognizing the level of urgency our prospects have.

Until next time,

Ced Reynolds

Career Recruiter