My 3 Biggest 'Selling' Pet Peeves (and what to do instead)
Do you ever come across a sales technique that makes you cringe?
Or worse - have you ever seen a selling strategy that has left you feeling frustrated, guilty, and just a bit… ‘icky’? I see things like this all the time and I am always wondering to myself - surely these can’t actually work?
But they clearly do or else businesses around the world wouldn’t use them!
Now it may just be that I am British, and stereotypically we tend to be a bit more conservative when it comes to selling. I’m personally not a fan of ‘louder’ selling techniques, and I do wonder if that’s to do with cultural differences. But regardless, I know I’m not the only one!
So I thought I’d share my top 3 pet peeves I see when it comes to selling things online, and also talk about what you can do instead if these make you feel uncomfortable or if - like me - you’re not a fan!
Prefer to watch? Check out the YouTube video 👇🏼
1. Inflated values & obscene discounts
Have you ever been on a sales page that describes all the things you get included in your purchase, and each item has a value next to it? These are usually big numbers that have seemingly been plucked out of thin air (eg. ‘Get a 30 minute coaching call - value $457’ or ‘Get my 6 step sales formula - value $541!’)… and then when you get to the end of the page it says:
TOTAL VALUE $3456 - BUT TODAY YOU GET IT FOR $27!!
Yikes. That’s a hefty discount!
The tactic is clearly supposed to make you unable to resist the discount because you’re getting SO much more value for your money. But here is the thought process that actually happens in my head when I see this:
Where are they getting these original values from? These seem incredibly subjective and a bit random.
Why is the price discounted so much? Is there a catch? Am I missing something? If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
If they’re able to offer it for this cheap right now, it’s unlikely it’s actually worth that original amount in the first place.
So what can we do instead?
First of all, my biggest piece of advice would be - if you really are able to deliver all this amazing value, don’t undersell yourself! Charge what you’re worth and people will have so much more respect for you and your knowledge.
My second tip would be, if you think you are providing amazing value, explain this with words, rather than trivial numbers which can cause suspicion. Great copywriting can help you to sell in a far more authentic way.
Or, rather than just telling people how great your offer is - why not show them? Either with video demos and providing a really hands on experience, or sharing screenshots of rave reviews from others who have tried it. Social proof is SO powerful when it comes to making sales.
2. Pre-recorded Webinars you have to wait for
You’re signed up for a free webinar or video training, and you’re asked to book a time slot to watch it. After booking your slot, you then have to wait on the screen and watch the countdown timer go down until you’re allowed to watch it, and then while you’re watching it, you’re not able to pause or skip the content - you have to be glued to the screen to watch the whole thing…
Now, I totally understand the concept of this, and it’s a very commonly used tactic; you want to make the training feel exclusive and give the impression that it’s ‘live’ to make it feel more personal. But the reality is very different…
The idea of booking a time slot initially feels like it’s good because it’s giving you a choice of when suits you, but then you realise that right now actually suits you best (otherwise why would you have clicked it?), and then you feel frustrated that you have to now wait 7 minutes and 33 seconds for the soonest time slot to begin…
You then feel more annoyed when you’ve waited for it to start, only to find that now you can’t pause or skip past the introduction.
This feature is designed to a) make it feel like you’re watching a ‘live’ video, as I mentioned, and b) make sure you can’t skip past bits when the person starts promoting or pitching paid offerings.
But what happens if you need the loo? Or you’re interrupted by a colleague/family member? Or there’s an urgent task you can’t ignore? You have to miss a chunk of the video anyway to deal with this because you weren’t able to pause it…. so this really makes the ‘non-skip’ feature pointless.
Therefore I personally feel like these types of pre-recorded webinars don’t come across as more personal; they come across as fake, manipulative, and it gives the impression that they think I’m not smart enough to know it’s not live.
Sorry, I’m ranting - but you get the point!
What can we do instead that is more authentic & doesn’t leave people frustrated?
Understanding your target audience is really important first of all. For me, I don’t believe that my target audience have the time to waste on waiting for something that isn’t necessary for them to wait for, because it’s pre-recorded, and because they’re usually juggling their business with family life, it’s likely they’ll want to pause videos to deal with distractions and come back to them.
So consider whether you can deliver this training the same way through either a normal video that people can pause and skip through OR via an actual ‘live’ workshop, either on Facebook Live or Instagram Live, for example. Because people can really truly engage with you and it feels much more authentic.
Also I feel like worrying that people will skip paste the pitches/promotional parts of a video is not the mindset we should be having when it comes to being generous with our free content. If the people watching are truly your target client and love everything you do then they won’t mind listening to what you have to say and sell.
Would you rather get your sales message across to people, but make them feel forced into it while you do it, or build a community of people who are always amazed by how generous you are with your free content and remember you for that?
I know which one I’d rather.
3. Guilt buttons on sign up forms
These are basically the options you get when someone is promoting their free download or opt-in incentive in exchange for you signing up to their mailing list, and usually go along the lines of this:
The “SIGN ME UP” button will opt the person in, but is next to a button that opts out, saying “NO, I DON’T WANT QUALITY ADVICE”.
Or “YES I’M READY” or “NO THANKS, I’M NOT READY TO UPLEVEL MY MARKETING”.
Essentially, the second button is designed to make you feel guilty so that you don’t press it, and instead you press the button that signs you up to the email list.
Now I am a big fan of creating opt-in incentives to grow an email list, and I’m always talking about how important email marketing is (I even have an online course all about Email Marketing that talks through all this), BUT I really don’t like this tactic…
What can we do instead?
First of all, let’s remember that the last thing we want to do is have peoples’ first impressions of our brand be a negative one of feeling guilt or pressured. Every ‘touchpoint’ with your business should make your target audience come away feeling positive.
So, my first tip would be first of all to make your ‘YES’ button really appealing. Be sure to use positive, action-inspired verbs that make people feel inspired to click - such as ‘LET’S DO THIS!’ or ‘SEND ME THE FREEBIE’ or ‘GRAB MY DOWNLOAD’.
The most important tip though, is to make your opt-in incentive so appealing that people just can’t resist it. If you’re giving away amazing quality and value, and it’s highly tailored for your ideal target audience, then they should be scrambling to click that ‘yes’ button - and you don’t need to use guilt at all.
