#2 – Customers HATE Surprises

They do… BIG time.

If you’re not closing as many sales as you’d like, I’ll bet it’s because your prospects aren’t familiar with you, don’t know you, don’t trust you, and see a big surprise coming. And, for most people, what they can’t see and what they don’t know is ALWAYS bad.

Not all customers hate surprises. There are “early adopters” who thrive on newness and surprise. They make up 15% or less of the total market and they’re the adventurers, extreme sports enthusiasts, risk-takers, and folks who just love NOT knowing what awaits them around the next corner.

If your product or service fits this market then, by all means, go for it. Make sure you spell out all your product’s fancy, new, whiz-bang features and let your prospects and customers know that nobody else on their block will have what they’ve got. I’ll caution you, though – while these high octane people get their kicks from winning a triathlon or base jumping off a cliff or closing a huge business deal, when it comes to buying TVs, food, cars, personal services, and the like, most of them hate surprises just as much as the rest of us.

So, if your business doesn’t have a fancy, new, whizzy thing-a-ma-doodle to sell to early adopters and you want to sell your product to the remaining 85% of the market, you need to stay low on the surprise meter.

And, just so you know I’m completely daft, Rule #3 is Customers LOVE Surprises which is also 100% true. What happens is that customers only love surprises after they hate them.

Still with me? Ok, I’ll quit beating around the bush. Here’s the rule in plain English…

Customers buy from businesses they’re familiar with. They buy from people they know, like, and who make them feel comfortable.

Years ago when I worked at IBM, we relied on this rule. There was a popular saying in the industry, “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”. IBM was the familiar, safe, no surprises option

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