Pull the string and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all. —Dwight D. Eisenhower

While it is true that people buy because they are forced to buy, it is not true they can be forced by you!

You cannot force people to buy. Period.

First, people have an extreme dislike for pushy salespeople. If people feel they are being pushed or forced, their emotions will take over, and they will resist buying, even if it hurts them not to.

Second, it is a waste of your time, energy, and resources to push people. Pushing people who are not motivated is like trying to carry a horse to the trough—extremely arduous and bordering on impossible. You will be far more successful, and much less frustrated, if you let the customer push. That is like jumping on a hungry horse’s back when the bell rings at feeding time. You can only go where the horse wants to go, which is to the grain bin, but you will get there really fast!

Third, if the customer feels you are trying to force a purchase, the customer will not trust that you are working in their best interests.

Change leadership is counterintuitive in that the change leader must lead where the followers want to go. That is why the concept of a change “agent” is more appropriate, that is, a person employed by the customer to achieve the customer’s desire.

Let the “horse” decide where to go and when to go.

Calibrate your mindset that you are the customer’s agent, the customer’s servant, looking out for your master’s best interest.

See yourself as a service provider. The service you provide is to assist the customer in making a change and achieving her desired outcome. Your product or service is just the vehicle for the change and the desired outcome.

When the customer takes action to make a purchase and make a change, it will be because something forced him to do so. Seek to understand what that will be.

Do NOT try to force people. Do NOT even consider yourself part of the equation. Do be an agent who can be trusted to help the customer.