Last week, I struggled with a client to get a decision made on a proposal. After me urging them to invest in my offer, I realized I had failed to create a sense of urgency. The client believed they could continue to put off making a decision despite my imploring pitch. Looking back, I could’ve done three different things to create urgency.
- Create scarcity - There is an element of supply and demand in every transaction. Even though I put a deadline on the proposal, the client knew I could offer this service next month or quarter. Just like the photo at right shows, people make decisions when supplies start to run out.
- Calculate the benefits – My pitch was laden with qualitative benefits, but I hadn’t shown the client the qualitative reasons to say yes. I could’ve created a ROI calculator or shown a side-by-side comparison with my solution compared to the current process. Either way, I failed at showing numbers that documented my claims.
- Don’t be soft – Saving time and resources can resonate, but for many decisions the impact on real dollars grabs the most attention. Just like an investor pitch, people want to know the monetary impact of the decision. This specific person wasn’t freely offering the numbers I really needed to show specifics, but I could have used industry data. Dollars and cents almost always matter and I knew better.
How do you create urgency? Do you have tricks that get a decision made? I’d love to hear your input.
