It’s awkward. You know they’re interested in what you offer, you’re not just making it up.
Frustrating. You know they need what you’re offering. They know they could sure use it. And the first of the month is coming up again. Yet, they haven’t bought yet. It’s been weeks (months, really). When do you give up on them?
The real question here, of course, is “How long does it take for someone to buy?” And here’s the surprising answer.
The Myth of the Spontaneous Purchase
I received my training in spiritual healing at the USHS and also spent two years as faculty. In one session of a teacher training we were discussing this very issue. Not surprisingly, most people believed fervently in the “spontaneous purchase” where someone was so moved that they just signed up.
In particular there were many examples in the room, people who said they had just been moved in their heart and in a moment they had decided to take on the big commitment to come to the three year training the school offered.
It sounds good. It looks good. But it ain’t a duck. I brought several of the spontaneous committers up to the front of the room and asked each about their commitment. ?In every case, every case, the spontaneous Sufi in question admitted that they had actually had multiple contacts with the school, or students from the school, or students from similar schools, dating back two to ten years.
What seemed like a spontaneous decision of the heart had been years in the making. Yes, the move from not-committed to committed happened in a moment of the heart. But the preparation for the moment had never been acknowledged.
What This Means
It means that, barring an Act of God, you aren’t probably going to convince someone against their will to purchase from you. Not that you wanted to, but you get what I mean. Your future client-to-be has his or her own timing and preparation.
This has two implications.
One implication is that it pays to stay in business. The longer you are around, the more people who are prepared to buy from you. Just keeping your doors open for a year or two, if you’ve been at all visible to your best potential clients, means that your pool of people ready to buy has increased with every passing month.
So if things are slow starting out, don’t despair. Keep going.
The second implication is that you can do a lot to help prepare the soil for your potential clients and customers. Do you understand the Three Journeys of Marketing?
The First Journey is when a stranger, who is struggling with something your business can help her with, comes into contact with your business and she’s interested to know more.
The Second Journey is when she sees enough to think, “Hey, maybe you can help me.” So she wants to stay in contact to see where it goes. But she’s not ready to buy. So you need to stay in contact with her. Ezines, blogs, newsletters, post cards, phone calls, whatever you do to maintain a sustainable relationship with her over time.
And, as we saw above, she doesn’t have to go through the Second Journey with you, she can be prepared through contact with other life experiences. It’s just then less likely that when she’s ready she will get help from you instead of from someone else.
The Sacred Moment of the sale happens during the Second Journey.
The Third Journey is when she’s had an ecstatic experience as a customer, and sends other people into your First and Second Journey marketing.
So How Long, Mark?
To get back to the original question, if you’re looking for a formula, there ain’t one. However, you have two choices, and you can choose both.
Choice one is to ask your heart: what’s your guidance? Do you think they are genuinely interested and just on their Second Journey, or are they putting you off?
Choice two is to ask them. “I don’t want to be pushy, and what I’m hearing from you is that you are genuinely interested. Do you want me to keep following up with you? What would be most helpful?”
You’ll be surprised, many people will give you permission to follow up with them. “Oh yes, I so want to do this, but life is crazy.”
You then have a few options. You can tell them, “Great- thanks for being honest. Should I follow up with you in one week? One month? What seems like good timing?”
Or, if you’re not wanting to do that, you can tell them, “Great- thanks for being honest. You’re on my email list, you get my articles. Keep letting them help you, and when you get an email from me and you know the timing is right, just reach out and we can see what the next step is.”
This is where the email newsletter, or other keep-in-touch strategies show how sustainable they are. If you are give real help on a consistent basis, eventually people will respond in their own timing.
You don’t need to be wandering around in the dark, wondering if you should follow up with someone. Ask your heart, ask theirs. And make sure you have some kind of Second Journey marketing strategy in place to make it easy on both of you.
Tell me about it below in the comments.
p.s. Want to go in-depth with the whole follow-up, getting-clients thing?
For one, there’s still time and a few seats available to join us for the Sacred Moment seminar here in Portland, February 25-26.
For two, around the time of the workshop we’ll be offering a special price on the home study version of the Sacred Moment. So if you can’t be there in person, you can still get everything we’re teaching.
17 Responses
I loved your story about the myth of spontaneous conversion and how long it can take people to actually commit to plunking the cash down for your services.
In the prehistoric days before I got into online marketing I used flyers that I mailed out to people on my list to apprise them of my upcoming classes and workshops.
And I can’t tell you how many times I would hear the same story from folks once they finally came to a class. ” I have had your flyer sitting on my desk, or magnetized to my refrigerator for 2 or 5 or 7 years. And only now was I able to find the time or money or courage to actually make this happen.”
Which really brought home to me the importance of timing in someones deciding to move forward with a purchase… even if it was something they really wanted.
And also how important it was for me to stay constant and consistent with my marketing efforts, giving the folks on my list the space they needed to find the readiness to take action on their desires.
Thanks also for your transparency about what’s happening in your life. So sorry to hear that you’ve been sick so often. Sending love and prayers that the spring season is easier on your body and immune system!!
Hi Chris- thanks for such clear examples! And no worries- I’m fine- it was Dec-January that were so hard. Thank goodness I seem to have come out of it.
Hi folks,
I think it is interesting this thing about timing – I remember one of my teachers saying about patient / clients – ‘they are always there’ – even if you don’t see them for 5 years – and I have noticed this.
And then for getting new folk in – I know I keep things for years – but I thought I was the only one!
sad story – sort of – I was sent a freebie personalised pen a few years ago round xmas – and kept the pen, and chucked the info which came with it. Since then this has become one of my most favourite pens, and I’d like to get more – but I don’t know how to find the person who sent it to me!…
cheers,
Catherine.
Catherine- you are not the only one. As you can see. And the pens… I hear you. I’ve been there, too, with other things. Why don’t people put phone numbers or websites on these things?
Hi Mark,
The post of all posts. If we stop thinking of it as selling and instead relationship building, you keep following up as long as you want to maintain the relationship.
Is the goal a sale or to stay in contact with cool people you meet? Since I only work with folks that enhance my life or have some kind of spark to them, I wouldn’t be staying in contact with someone that I didn’t enjoy connecting with.
It’s what you say about the sacred moment coming to early in the story.
I’ve been in contact with some folks for years before they said – usually out of the blue – I’d like you design my visual identity. Just like Chris says above – things align up for everyone involved – and it just works.
Great article … Giulietta
Giulietta- I agree and yet I must admit that my business is not entirely about staying in touch with cool people I meet. With thousands of people on our email list, a significant blog following and twitter following, and even the folks I’ve met in person over the last ten years- I can’t stay in touch and be in a personal, connected relationship with all of them. I have a conscious understanding that my business is a vehicle for service- yes there is a social/relationship component, but that’s not the primary role of my business.
It’s not either/or. For my business definitely has the goal of making sales- when someone buys a product or service from us, it means we get to serve that person more deeply and we get to keep going to serve someone else.
Follow up is so important for any business, and you make such excellent points. There are so many businesses, on and offline, that would get more of my hard-earned money if they just reminded me that they exist. I’m one of those crazy busy people who thrives on lists and calendar reminders. In fact, there are some service providers who would get my business now if only THEY would call ME so I can make an appointment. (Of course, that would work for me if I was already a customer.)
As for my own business, I have a recurring item on my To Do List to follow up with potential customers once a week. My client newsletters always seem to remind at least one client that they need some work from us. This posts reminds me that there is much more that can be done.
Laura- isn’t that a cool dynamic, when you send out a newsletter and someone responds like that? And yes- OMG I just wish someone would follow up with me sometimes…
Yes. Definitely. Thinking about this I realize that one of my current coaching clients first met me at a conference in May 2009. He didn’t pay for coaching until over a year later. But he’s now still with me.
And I also notice that I do this myself. I have I don’t know how many tabs open in Firefox all the time of stuff I want to think more about (the new version of flyers on the fridge?) and stuff lying around on my desk that I don’t want to file because I want the reminder that I’m thinking about it.
JoVE- so interesting, isn’t it? I’ve had the same thing happen.
Wonderful post Mark! When I first started out, I did up a proposal for a local business that I was just so jazzed about! They needed my help so badly, and I was in love with their product and their mission. I thought it was a shoe-in. But like you describe, I just didn’t hear back, no matter how I tried to follow-up. I was lucky enough to have a friend working there, so I was able to learn that there was a ton of other stuff going on with the business and that the timing just wasn’t right for them. It had nothing to do with me.
So, as you say, you just have to believe in the value of what you are offering and know that things will work out when they are meant to. I still haven’t signed the client, but I am confident that when they are ready, they will think of me.
Martina- right on. A great story and perfect example. I hope you do connect with them when the timing is right.
PS – I’m curious, how come some of you have photos by your post?
(Is it something to do with the funny gravatar thing below?)
cheers, c.
Yup- the funny gravatar thing. Highly recommended. 🙂
ok – let’s see if it works.
c.
Finally, the truth!
I’ve heard many online marketers say that successful people make decisions immediately, regardless of whether or not the answer is yes or no (which is a statement that is to their advantage because it supposedly gets people to buy faster).
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience and for delving deeper into what I have always suspected was true.
Hi Amy- yes, the truth. 🙂 So glad it helped give you clarity here. It is true that successful people make decisions quickly- but they also understand timing and research. There’s a difference between the natural amount of time you need to come to a decision, and putting off a decision that you really already know the answer to. The latter may be what folks are referring to, without being very clear about it.