Generally speaking, the pricier the product, the greater the buyer hesitation.  What separates sales pros from Joes, though, is the empathy with which they handle that hesitation.

Pressing the right buttons throughout the sales process requires putting yourself in their shoes, especially when you’re asking for a sizable chunk of their budgets.  Otherwise, you have no sense of key emotions influencing their decision-making.

The buyer mindset here reminds me of, interestingly enough, my first time deliberately exiting a plane mid-air.  To explain, let’s use the ole story-to-application approach.

Matt the Skydiver

I’ve always had a bit of an adrenaline streak.  So, when the opportunity to fling myself from winged safety 14,000 feet up came along during my semester in Australia, I jumped.

That said, skydiving is inherently not in one’s comfort zone, no matter how far off the sanity spectrum you may be.  Hundreds of things can go wrong the moment you let gravity take the wheel.

This considerable risk of certain death warranted at least a couple minutes of research into our options.  Company reputation and safety record are as important as you might imagine with this pastime.  We therefore checked each service’s creds, picked the one most likely to pass government inspection, and then hit the road.

Upon arrival, the first step was the safety briefing.  It was important to them that we understood our complete lack of control over anything once in freefall.  Brimming with confidence, we suited up and headed out to the runway.

The full weight of what I was about to do was really starting to hit me at this point.  Literally.  My feet felt heavier with each step toward the duct-tape-meets-steel Cessna on the dirt runway.

As we ascended, nerves really started to kick in.  Was this such a good idea?  I had a pretty good thing going down there, am I ready to give it all up?

Fast-forward to jump altitude.  The final decision couldn’t be put off any longer.  Do I wimp out at the moment of truth, or do I tighten the harness and say one final prayer en route to the hatch?

Fortunately, I was flying tandem with a reassuring instructor who helped make my decision for me:  “Get up right bloody now, mate, and GO!”  

So I went.

For a split second, I was filled with a terrifying sense of regret.  But, as quickly as it came, it left.  All fear vanished the moment I realized how incredible falling through the air at 120mph is with nothing between me and the ground but nylon and Velcro.  Over the Great Barrier Reef, across the rain forest, onto the beach.

Amazing.

Matt the B2B Buyer

Big-time purchases such as enterprise IT, corporate consulting, manufacturing machinery, etc. also typically begin with extensive due diligence on my part as a theoretical buyer.

Initial conversations with companies in my consideration set serve as the safety briefings.  Convince me that you can offer an unrivaled experience and present minimal risk to my business while helping me accomplish my goals.

Having selected a promising option, I enter negotiation stage.  Like the runway, things are getting much more serious now.  We’re talking features, terms, and numbers, all of which I’ll be answerable for down the road.

The agreement is being finalized as we approach jump height.  Has my approach been sound?  Have I chosen the best partner?  Are we getting a fair deal?

Go time.  I either take the plunge and hope for the best, or I bail on the deal because the risk appears to outweigh the reward.  After all, the status quo was fine, right?

This is where the company across the table needs to transition from sales to partnership mode.  They need to be my tandem guide, reassuring me (more delicately than my Aussie instructor) that we’ve considered the right insights in building the ideal solution for my team’s needs.  That the new reality this creates will be far more preferable to our current one.

So, I autograph the paperwork.  Buyer’s remorse hits—have I just hurt our organization if this thing goes south?

Lo and behold, our new partner starts demonstrating value right away.  Leadership is thrilled with the immediate impact to our business.  Instead of hampering my position with the company, I’ve shown competence in my ability to evaluate options and create partnerships that boost our bottom line.  Future’s bright.

Amazing.

This is obviously an idealized example.  The point is, your offer may be unbelievable, but there’s more pressure on buyers the more it dents their bank accounts.  If you want to keep them marching toward the plane, you have to anticipate pushback and overcome hesitation along the way through logical, objective empathy.  Partnerships of this magnitude require salespeople that can stop any last-minute pullout at 14,000 feet by always putting themselves in their buyers’ shoes first.

Or, perhaps more fittingly, their jump vests.

An incredible first jump only feeds the desire to do more (trust me).  Let’s talk about what we can do to persuade prospects to get in your plane, make buyers look like heroes to their teams, and keep clients coming back for more wins year after year.