Webinar: Small Business Expert Explains How to Sell Anything to Anyone

February 15, 2023

Why understanding your customers' motivations is key to success

Webinar: Small Business Expert Explains How to Sell Anything to Anyone

At a time when inflation is seriously cutting into small business’ profits and hiring is historically difficult, making a successful sale is as important as it’s ever been. Guest speaker Cliff Ennico, a legal and small business expert who focuses on the issues faced by startups and small businesses explained his strategies to sell anything to anyone. Ennico starts by laying out the value of the sale in simple terms: “Selling is one of the three essential business skills that every entrepreneur or small business owner needs to develop and cultivate throughout their lifetimes, the other two being negotiation and bookkeeping. But we won’t go into those today. Selling is by far the most important of the three skills, because without buyers, what you are doing is only a hobby.” However, Cliff notes that when most people think about salespeople, they think of persistent telemarketers or pushy used car dealers. There is a right way to sell which is effective, ethical, and does not make you feel like you’re doing anything wrong. Understanding why people buy anything is essential to being able to sell effectively. While many gurus would say that the reasons people buy things are needs and wants, Cliff has an alternate theory: people buy based off passion and fear. Cliff gives an example from his own life: his hesitance to get a will. “I’m not stupid, I knew I needed one, but for years I resisted it. I have a lot of attorney friends who do wills, some of them offered to do it for me for nothing. Here I am, a relatively intelligent human being, I know I need something, and I have people willing to give it to me for free, and I’m still resisting. Needs do not sell.” He explains that people are naturally inclined to talk themselves out of buying things the more time they have to think about it. Would-be customers are not motivated to buy things simply because they need them, and instead, it is their passions that drive them to make a purchase. He gives Starbucks as an example: countless people have switched from instant coffee or Folgers to more expensive Starbucks because the product inspires passion in people who try it. Fear, meanwhile, motivates the decision to buy things so something bad won’t happen. Cliff gives the example of how he could sell an LLC to a small business owner by highlighting the fear of getting sued and losing everything, and then presenting the LLC as a solution that would protect personal assets even if the business was destroyed by a catastrophic legal defeat. “We all need food – but whether we satisfy that need with a salad or a Big Mac with bacon and cheese has everything to do with our fears and passions. Not knowing the fears and passions of your market is probably the biggest reason why you are not selling as effectively as you could.” Cliff goes on to discuss the three steps to successful selling, how to be memorable and likable to sell a product, the art of the elevator pitch, what to put and what not to put on your business cards and websites, and more.

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