The Hardest Person to Sell To

Who’s the hardest, most frustrating, most aggravating person to sell to?

The person without a need? Nope. It’s easy for most salespeople to walk away from someone once you realize they have no need for what you sell. And a person without a need may very well be able to refer you to someone who does have a need.

The person without a budget? Nope. If they’re motivated enough, they can often find the money. If they can’t, again, it’s pretty easy to walk away.

The person without buying authority? Nope. They can direct you to the appropriate person and typically endorse you to them as well.

No, the person who is the most difficult to sell to is the person without motivation. They have a need, a budget and the authority to make a decision, but they either don’t perceive the need or they don’t care. This is the most frustrating person, because you know you can help them or their organization, but they aren’t interested.

In a sense, a prospect is like an alcoholic, a drug addict, a kleptomaniac—the first step to getting better is acknowledging there’s a problem and desiring to do something about it. If the prospect doesn’t believe there’s anything wrong, you’re not going to make the sale. Period. You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.

What can you do in situations like this? Two things:

1. Walk away.
It’s tough to do, but it’s the smart move. You’re not going to sell anything to a person who isn’t motivated. Don’t drive yourself crazy. Invest your time and energy instead looking for prospects who are motivated to improve their situation.

2. Keep in touch.
Don’t invest serious time and effort, but don’t completely ignore an unmotivated prospect either. Send articles, call occasionally to see what’s going on, cultivate other relationships in the organization. People die, retire and change jobs. The person with blinders on could be replaced by someone who sees the problem clearly and wants to do something about it immediately.

That’s someone you can sell to.