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Are you among the many business owners who find it challenging to close deals and persuade customers to make a purchase? You’re not alone.

According to Hubspot, a staggering 79% of leads don’t translate into sales, making this the most difficult aspect of business for many. Understanding that this is a common struggle can provide some comfort and reassurance.

However, there are influencing factors at play that will damage your chances of making the sale and give customers enough doubt to not commit to the purchase, be it of your products or service.

These are some of the barriers you might be facing when sealing the deal.

Not Enough Payment Options

Empower yourself by offering a variety of ways for people to pay. Whether it’s in-person sales, e-commerce sales, or invoices or payments over the phone, meeting customers where they’re most comfortable is key. By accepting more than one payment method, such as bank transfer, cash, Klarna payments via Paypal, Google, or Apple Pay, and standard card payments, you give customers the control they need to make a purchase. With more people using smartphones to make payments, you need to have fast, smooth transactions like Tap to Pay on iPhone to ensure a seamless process.

Employees Not Knowledgeable Enough

Would you buy something from a person who doesn’t exactly understand what they’re selling and know what its capabilities are? Probably not; the same goes for your customers, too.

Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar store or you’re chasing up leads or making cold calls, your team and, by extension, you need to fully understand how to sell what the customer needs and how you’re going to help them. You don’t want them reading off a script and delivering predetermined answers and generic replies; you need them to be able to answer questions properly to the best of their knowledge, and this knowledge needs to be extensive. Because even the best salesperson will falter without the correct information. Training is a must because otherwise, you have no chance of making improvements.

You’re Not Using Social Proof

Don’t underestimate the power of social proof in your sales pitch. If you have customers who have already identified your product or service, you need to utilise this. It should be advertised, easy to find, and something you lean on regardless of what you do. This is a strategy commonly seen on social media with brands, but it can be adapted to meet a variety of sales tactics. Let the success stories and experiences of other customers inspire and motivate you to integrate these examples into your approach for conversion.

The reality is people want to see what you have to offer being used in real-life scenarios by people who have paid for it, not been paid to promote it. Use success stories and other customers’ experiences to help you with your sales pitch and integrate these examples into your approach for conversion. Don’t be tempted to lie or embellish the truth; customers will see through this. Instead, gather all the information you can from social media, feedback forms, and direct customer interactions to help you deliver the right message and content to each customer to convince them to commit to the sale.

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