Profit Hacking 018 - What’s a ‘why’, and who cares?

You have a solution. They have a problem. It should be a no-brainer for them to accept your offer, but they don’t.

It’s infuriating.

They don’t care about their own well being.

They don’t care about making more money or paying less to the government.

They don’t care if they succeed or fail.

Or so it seems.

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In reality, people get comfortable in their current state. Action from a place of comfort is difficult, even if that person knows they want the desired outcome.

So why is it so hard?

Most sellers make it all about themselves.

Trying to qualify their offer - I can help you make 3x more money

Qualify themselves - I’m and expert because I have 3 degrees and 8 certifications

Or trying to prove their experience - I’ve helped 58 people over the last 18 months do this thing.

But the prospect doesn't care.

See, it was never about you, your education, your experience, or your offer.

It’s about them… and their comfort.

And in order for someone to take any action, a few things must first be true.

They must be unhappy with their current circumstances.

There is the presence of risk. If they don’t do this thing they will lose money, their home, future opportunities. And they must believe it - deeply.

The pain of staying the same must be greater than the pain of change.

There must be a vision of a better future.

Wanting things to be “better” isn’t enough to make a change. If it was, we wouldn’t all have friends and family who complain about their jobs every day, or worse, their spouse.

It’s too risky to make a change without a clear vision of a better future. So we will tolerate a LOT of unhappiness if we don’t know what “better” looks like.

They must believe they can achieve a better future.

That it’s within their grasp and they can get it without enduring more pain than staying the same. They either need to believe that they can do it or that you will do it for them. But it has to be a near sure thing.

Last week, I saw a master of getting humans to take action at work.

Michael King, CFO Accelerator, led a “7 Strategies for Marketing” workshop. And the most valuable lesson wasn't one of the 7 strategies. It was a few sentences in the opening of the presentation.

I’m paraphrasing, but Michael challenged the group of 240+ attendees to think about their "why".

“You’re all here because you’re fractional CFOs, or want to offer fractional CFO services. You need more clients because someone at home is counting on you. Maybe your kids, your spouse, elderly parents. Someone needs you to succeed.

If not, you probably don’t need to be here.”

👆️ Unhappy with their current state

Then he spoke about how poor marketing decisions early on almost cost him his firm. After $100,000 wasted, he found a better way. And one of the strategies was worth $600,000 to his firm.

👆️ Vision of a better state

Followed by the step-by-step guide to the 7 Strategies with Upsides and Downsides.

👆️ A clear step by step to show them they can achieve a better state

But the most profound part was the beginning. Cutting through the surface level “Why” to the core of their motivation.

Simon Sinek wrote an incredible book called “Start with Why”, that is worth a read, on the subject.

Asking someone their “Why” isn’t enough.

You’ll get the 'Miss America Pageant' version.

“I was hungry once, so I want to cure world hunger.”

It probably won’t be that bad, but you get the idea.

You will get some altruistic version of the truth.

Instead of asking for the surface-level "why".

“Why do you do this?” or “What got you into this line of work?”

Dig a little deeper and ask, “What are you working to achieve?” and “Who in your life is counting on you to succeed?”

Because “I want to make $500,000” is great, but “My kids are counting on me to make $500,000 to send them to top universities.” is better.

Once you know their truest aspirations, you can ease their fears.

On your next sales call, or even a check-in with a client... Don’t move past the intro until you know who is counting on them to make their next move, and what's at stake if they don't.

It's a learned and practiced skill, so don't be hard on yourself the first few times. But this is what unlocked selling high ticket services for me, and I believe it will work for you too.

Thanks for reading the 18th issue of the Profit Hacking newsletter. Past issues will be located on the blog section of profitandgrow.com.

If you need help scaling your fractional CFO firm, adding advisory to your CPA practice, or are an entrepreneur interested in maximizing profit, minimizing taxes, understanding your cash flow, and making the best spending decisions, connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielt6/

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By: Daniel Talbott