You Can Lead A Customer To Water, But You Can’t Make Them Drink

I was reading a little story today about a sales person who lost a big sales opportunity, and found the story applicable to those of us who are online store owners. The story was not credited, so I am not sure who originally wrote it, but if you know, leave a comment so I can credit the author. Basically, the story goes like this:

“A young salesman, after losing a big sales opportunity walks into his sales manager’s office and tells the sales manager that his prospect walked away from the sale. When the manager asked why that was, the young salesman replied, “I guess you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” The sales manager responded by saying, “It was never your job to make them drink, only make them thirsty.”

Now I suppose some famous sales coach or author came up with that story to illustrate the basic premise of why people buy. And I agree 100% with the story’s point. I think when we describe our products we focus too much on the facts or specifications of an item. When presented in such a way, items are just described by their simple facts. But most people buy for emotional reasons, or for the simple fact that the item they are purchasing saves them time, or gives pleasure. Its the “reason” for the purchase.

If you can tap into a customers emotions and co-mingle the reasons behind the buy you can “make the customer thirsty”. You do this with your product descriptions, product photo’s, and ad copy and if you do it well, you can increase your conversions.