We all buy stuff every day. Some of these purchases are repeat purchases and some are new. When you think about that, you may realize that we really don’t mind buying stuff. Sometimes it can be kind of fun getting something new.

But even though we might enjoy buying something or know that we need something, we don’t feel good and enjoy it when a salesperson tries to sell to us.

Here are a few reasons why:

 

1. They get sold to a lot

In the business world, prospects have salespeople trying to sell to them all day long. They get cold calls, voicemails, cold emails, social media invites, salespeople drop by their office, and they even still get direct mail as well.

When you add all of this up, there is a lot of noise and it is nonstop. This definitely plays a role in how the prospect feels when they receive a call, email, voicemail, or something from you. If you were the only person to reach out to them, things would be different in terms of how they feel when you try to sell to them.

 

2. Salespeople can be annoying

Let’s face it, salespeople can be annoying. What was previously mentioned about a flow of attempts to contact by itself can be annoying. But you can add to that the way that most salespeople operate.

All about me
First, salespeople can often be abrasive in what they say when they are prospecting and then things can become very annoying. Most of the emails, voicemails, phone calls, and in-person conversations with a typical salesperson will revolve around them talking about their company and products.

Most of the time, there will not be enough discussion focused on the prospect and this leads to an approach that is more “all about me” instead of “all about you” and this can be annoying to a prospect.

They persist when they shouldn’t
In addition to that, many salespeople do not know when to be persistent and when to walk away. There are prospects that you need to continue to follow up with in order to close the sale. But there are many prospects that will never buy from you and these are ones that we should walk away from.

Many salespeople do not know how to separate good prospects from bad and they end up just being persistent with all of the prospects that they cross paths with. For the prospects that will never buy and don’t need what the salesperson is trying to sell, this persistence is annoying.

 

3. The salesperson trying to get what they want

On each side of a transaction or purchase, you have two parties. And each party has its own interest.

For the salesperson, their main interest is to close sales, which leads to them making commissions and hitting their sales targets. The buyer’s interests are more around buying a good product, buying the right product, and getting a good price.

When a salesperson is trying to sell something, it can be easy for the prospect to feel that the salesperson is pushing only to get their own interests filled. And if that is done in a way where the prospect does not feel like the salesperson is trying to also fill the prospect’s interests, the process of being sold to will not feel good and the prospect might not want to be so easy to give the salesperson what they want.

 

4. The salesperson does not seem trustworthy

As the salesperson is outlining all of the great things their product can do, it all sounds great. But can the prospect trust the salesperson? Is it true, all of the great things that the salesperson is saying and offering?

When a salesperson tries to sell, there can be some uncertainty in this area. That can cause stress and discomfort for the prospect, and this makes the process of being sold to not feel good.

 

5. Is the salesperson trying to take advantage of the prospect?

When you factor in some of the already mentioned points and others, it can be easy for a prospect to feel like they are being taken advantage of when being sold to by a salesperson. When you take away all the factors of the money the prospect has to spend and whether or not they should purchase, there is still a feeling of respect that the prospect deserves and will want.

In other words, even if the prospect has an unlimited amount of money, they still do not want the salesperson to take advantage of them. For example, a lottery winner with more money to spend than they know what to do with might still not appreciate a car salesperson not providing the same price and treatment as they would to an average car shopper.

It would not feel like the car salesperson respects the lottery winner and that they are taking advantage of them. And this does not feel good.

When a typical salesperson gets really aggressive and caught up in selling and pushing things forward, the prospect might start to feel this way and feel like there might be some way that they are being taken advantage of.

 

The good news in all of this is that all of those things can be avoided by the salesperson changing how they sell to prospects. In order to do that, it starts first with realizing that prospects don’t mind buying, but they don’t enjoy being sold to.

From there, here are some quick tips to try to incorporate:

  • Try to present yourself and communicate more as a business person than a salesperson
  • Talk as much about the prospect as you do about your products
  • Be able to separate the good prospects from bad
  • Be persistent with the good prospects, walk away from the bad
  • Build a foundation of trust with the prospect
  • Make sure you are considering and filling their interests as you try to fill your own