What’s one of the biggest (and most common) sales and marketing mistakes you can make?
It may not be what you think. And, in fact, you may be doing it right now without even realizing it.
And that is simply being needy.
Like it or not, think it FAIR or not, this’ll destroy your profits in a heartbeat. I don’t care if you sell online, offline or on the sidelines — doesn’t matter. People sense when you NEED them. When you need their money, their time, their vote or their affection.
And the more you need something, the more it eludes you.
Yet, at the same time, people are almost irresistibly attracted to people who DON’T need them.
To give you a perfect example of this, there’s this TV sitcom you probably heard of called “Seinfeld.” In one episode, George Costanza is complaining to his friend Jerry about how just once in a relationship he wishes he could be the person who isn’t the needy one — and instead be the one with the upper hand.
As George put it, “I have no hand.”
So, in one of his more clever schemes, George, who’s afraid of losing his girlfriend, pulls a complete “180” on her, and tells her he has decided to break up with her.
A “pre-emptive break-up”, so to speak.
The result?
Instead of telling George to hit the road, she emotionally and physically sticks to him like white on rice — even though she was about to dump him.
Now, that’s just a sitcom obviously.
But that’s EXACTLY how it works in real life, too.
If you need someone to buy from you, they’ll smell it on you. They’ll also emotionally (and physically) back off to escape. They will do whatever it takes to get away from you — like lie and tell you they want to think about it, or say they need to talk with someone else, etc.
But the reality is, you need them, and they KNOW it.
And because of that, they want nothing to do with you.
So the message is clear: Don’t be needy. It drives people AWAY from you… instead of attracting them TOWARDS you.
Which is why the less you need, the more sales you make.
