You’ve been in this situation before. You spend an entire afternoon talking animatedly about the merits of this one product you’re trying to sell; and after wasting about a bucket of saliva on the effort, your prospect tells you he cannot possibly find any use for it.

Deep inside, surely you’d want to lash out at him for pulling your leg in the first place. But, hey, that’s just part of the challenges of being in the sales industry.

How do you persuade a person, who thinks he doesn’t need your product, to actually believe on his own that what you’re selling is indispensable and something he shouldn’t be leaving home without?

This sounds like an impossible feat, doesn’t it? But it’s actually very possible. You just have to know what buttons to push to get a ‘yes’.

And that button, much to the surprise of many, is pain. Yes, you read that right. Hit your prospect where it hurts without him knowing that he has been subliminally injured. It is in his pain where he is unguarded and very likely to succumb to whatever you say.

How is this done? Think of it this way. All of the things in this world, no matter how seemingly far-fetched, has a potential value for your prospective buyer. Every person needs something, almost often not knowing that he needs it. Your job is to persuade that person that there is something lacking in his life that your product would fill perfectly. This is how you get commitments. If your prospect is bent on finding a solution to his ‘dilemma’, then expect him to run to you for respite. After all, you’re the one who introduced the concept of this pain in the first place, so you better be smart to know when to reap the fruits of your labor.

When the prospect comes to you, remind him of his quandary. Once it has sunk in on him, be firm and ask for a commitment. More often than not, you will get what you want. However, should it happen that the prospect will still not give his commitment, then perhaps it’s best to move on to someone else. It’s either he doesn’t take you seriously or he really has no resources as of the moment.

In the end, the key to a closed deal is a commitment. If you don’t have it, then it would take a lot of luck and persuasive effort from you or someone of influence, or a sudden event, to win one. Always remember the world of sales does not come out with victories at all times. There will be moment when you have to turn around and look the other way. After all, there are billions of people in the world; you will never run out of potential clients.