This post is Part II of our Steve Weyl series. Click here for Part I!

If you don’t give buyers a reason to buy, they won’t.

People buy emotionally and justify it intellectually. That emotion that triggers them to buy is called pain. When there is no pain, there is no sale.

But how do you create pain?

Steve Weyl, who grew his home improvement company from $0 to $105MM and who is now a renowned sales trainer, offers his advice on creating pain and winning sales as a result.

1) Use your demos

You should use your demos to create pain and to provide proof of a solution to that pain.

In order to create pain, demos should have one function, which Steve calls the “FUD Factor.” Demos should create fear, uncertainty, and doubt. The “FUD Factor” helps buyers recognize problems that they didn’t even they had and introduces solutions to those same problems.

No matter whether you’re a roofer, a remodeler, or a landscaper, all sellers should come prepared with demos.

Other demo tips to help you land the sale:

• Your demo should appeal to the visual buyer, the auditory buyer, and the kinesthetic buyer.  Some people have to see the demo, some have to hear it, and some have to feel it. Your demo should take all of these audiences into account.

• You demo should change based on the situation. Buyer impatient or short on time? Make sure that you have a 10-minute version of your demo prepared. Buyer interested in every detail? Have a demo that covers everything they might want to know.

2) Create Greed

A perfect demo may create fear, uncertainty, and doubt, but there’s another emotion that you’ll need to consider when trying to make a deal: greed.

Greed is triggered through the idea of limited scarcity: buyers want more of something that is limited. Think of Girl Scout Cookies: since they are not available year-round, buyers are driven to purchase multiple boxes at a single time.

Don’t lie to your buyers. Don’t make up “limited time offers” in order to create greed. Instead, take a step back and identify how much it will cost you to walk away without closing the sale.

Use these guiding questions to help you:

• What if I have to come back to the buyer’s house for a follow-up? What is the opportunity cost of taking another two hours to come back? Whom else could I be seeing and selling to instead?

• What does it cost me to follow-up? Which one of my other clients gets pushed back on the schedule? Which one of my clients may get annoyed and impatient and take their business somewhere else?  

Then, use the principle of limited scarcity to create greed in your buyers and to give them a reason to purchase today.

You can approach this conversation by telling your buyer, “If you are in a position to buy today, we would take $X off the job because you would be saving me money….” Then, you can explain what you might lose if the buyer doesn’t make the purchase that day. Use your answers to the guiding questions as evidence.

Make your case rational, honest, believable, and convincing. And, most importantly, make your offer legitimately “limited.” If the same scarcity price is still available tomorrow, then you have undermined the credibility of a “limited” offer and lost your reputation in the process.

For tips on how to perfect your demos and invoke limited scarcity to your advantage, check out this episode of Hearth’s Sales & Business Builder Webcast Series.