Everyone has a scale in the back of his or her mind. Every action is weighed on this scale. We only act when the weight on the reward side equals or exceeds the risk side.

Certainly everyone has his or her own idea of where to place information on the risk-reward scale, but it is the sales person’s job to think about the buyer's scale. It is necessary to learn what weights are on the risk side. Try to move as many weights of risk to the reward side of the scale.

If you are thinking only about your own risk-reward scale and not about the buyer's scale, you are reducing your chances to get orders.

Before a buyer will take any action, the scale in the back of his or her mind will first weigh the information known about the issue. The buyer will not act until the reward perceived is greater than or equal to the risk. Not everyone makes the same judgements about risk and reward. For example, if several people are standing on the sidewalk waiting for the traffic light to turn green,

• some people will try to run across the street before the traffic can move.
• some people will try to sneak across during gaps in the traffic.
• some will remain on the curb if a car is in sight, but will walk across in front of a bicycle.
• some will not move if a policeman is in sight.

These judgments may not be consistent, weights on the scale are not always the same. The pedestrian who will patiently wait for the light to change on most days, will risk running across traffic if he or she has an urgent need to cross on a given day.

The weights on the scale can be made up of many small weights, or one very large weight. An approaching truck a mile down the road is a minor weight. An approaching truck 100 feet down the road is a major weight.

If there are a number of different vehicles at different distances and speeds, the risk side can have a number of different weights of different sizes.

Buyers do a risk-reward analysis before placing orders. For you to get an order, you must be sure the buyer's reward side of the scale is tipped in your favor. Be aware that you must deal with the buyer's perceived evaluations.

At Sales Concepts, we believe that a perceived risk is real to the perceiver. Should a buyer perceive that your company has delivery and support problems, you do! If the buyer's risk, although only perceived, is higher than the perceived reward, you lose the order.

At our courses, we have the opportunity to see thousands of sales people making sales calls. Far too many sales people are so interested in their own risk-reward scale that they fail to even address the buyer's scale. It seems that many, if not most, sales people rapidly list all their features hoping that something said will strike a responsive chord with the buyer. We call this core dumping, a favorite action of high-tech sales people.

We recommend you take time to list the perceived risks the buyer believes may exist with a purchase of your products or services:

• product may fail
• slow delivery
• high price
• competitor is better
• up-time
• service

Then list the reward statements that will reduce the perceived risks. In other words, try to view the sale from the buyer's point of view. Address the buyer's risk-reward scale.