The six elements of a sale
Sales don’t just happen. They are an alchemy of need, trust, value, clarity, visibility, and a call-to-action.
Need. As in, how badly does the customer need what you offer? I don’t only mean “need” in the sense of basic survival requirements. I mean “need” in the sense of leverage in order to achieve something. No one needs a pocket square to survive. But someone might need one to stand out at a formal event. Here’s the question: is it crucial for someone? Is it critical to achieve something? The need sector is where many products die before they even hit the market.
Trust. As in, do your customers trust that you will deliver for them? Trust is gained in many forms; exceeding expectations, creating with quality, delivering on time, maintaining your reputation, packaging things in the right way. Ask yourself, how do I increase trust in my products and in my brand?
Value. As in, do your customers feel like they get more than they pay for? Price is part of this equation, but the more impactful variables are quality and status. This goes beyond a flat markup on cost of goods sold, or services rendered. Does the quality far exceed cheaper alternatives? Does the exclusivity increase someone’s status in their social groups?
Clarity. As in, how clear is the value you offer? You can have the most valuable product in the world, but if people don’t know it, sales won’t happen. How can you better explain the value people will get? Which questions do they keep asking that you could get out ahead of? How can you pull back the curtain on the process to increase clarity?
Visibility. As in, how often do busy people see your product? Sales are a war of attrition. Eventually, people let their guard down, whether that’s after a busy week, or during a late-night scrolling session, or after a stressful moment at work. Is your product visible to them at that moment? You can increase the chances of that happening by posting more, sending more emails, running more ads, and showing up in more places.
Call-to-action. As in, are you asking your customers to buy? Are you running sales? Are you letting them know it’s a limited-time-offer? With all other things being equal, the business that calls their customers to action is the business that wins the sale from the ones that don’t.
I called sales an “alchemy” in the second sentence of this article because it’s a little bit different every time. Each business, each seller, each product, and each customer has a slightly different, somewhat mystical experience in which everything finally comes together, and a sale is made. A no-name Amazon business will have to rely more heavily on need, value, and visibility, to make up for the lack of trust. Meanwhile, an influencer can ride their trust and visibility all the way to sale, even if their products lacks in need, or value, or clarity.
If sales are stagnant for one of your products or services, consider which of these elements might be lacking in your alchemy. What practical actions can you take to increase each of these six elements?
Is the need not quite there? Can you angle your product toward a new customer base with higher need?
Do people not trust you enough? What can you do to increase the trust in your reputation?
Is your product not valuable enough? Don’t look to decrease price—instead, ask how can you stack more value on top of your product.
Is your offer not clear enough? Do people have consistent questions about what you offer? Ask friends to read your landing page and send you any questions they have.
Is your product not visible enough? Are you simply not showing up in enough corners of the internet? How can you increase the visibility?
Are you not calling customers to action? How can you make a click more compelling?
