Imagine you’re trying to get your friend to come out with you. They’re laying in bed. They’ve had a full day already and they’re exhausted.
You’re dropping all the value that you can. Their favorite band is playing tonight. Their crush is going to be at the bar you’re going to. And you’ve got them right at the edge …
There’s this window of opportunity, where your friend is half-leaned up in bed, and they’re interested, but they’re still not 100% sold. But you know that they see the potential.
They want to try it. But they have the pain right in front of them—they have to get out of bed.
Or, they can stay under their safe, warm sheets and not risk putting forth a bunch of effort just to have a dud night.
You know the value of your product. You know the night won’t be a dud. But if you don’t get your friend up and showered and dressed in the next two minutes then they’re going to lay down and go to sleep and tell you to leave them alone.
It’s the same thing with clients in a sales encounter. They’re interested. They see value and potential. They want to try it. But they’ve got this pain right in front of their face.
They have to open their wallet and give away their hard-earned money. They can stay in the safe world of their “budget” and not change anything and get along because they’re already doing “just fine.”
Fast forward a couple months after they’ve signed up, when their business is thriving and your client is calling you back saying, “Thank you for signing us up!” Just like your friend will high-five you later in the night when he’s having fun and say, “Thanks for getting me to come out tonight, man!”
You know this. You’ve seen it happen before.
But your friend/client doesn’t have the fortune of knowing this ahead of time (or else your job would be a lot easier). All they see is the pain right in front of their face.
Your one and only job is to get them past the pain and over the edge to where they can enjoy the value. And you only have that small window of opportunity to get it done.