Selling to the Clueless, Powerless,
and Broke

© 2007 David Newman

Every sales trainer, author, and expert worth his or her salt will tell you that the tried-and-true formula for sales success is to target the prospect who has “the need, the authority, and the budget” to buy your product or service.

Sure, this is good advice. But it’s also (much) easier said than done.

Let’s face facts: these “need-authority-budget” people are darn hard to reach. In fact, according to my completely non-scientific study of this matter, approximately 90% of entrepreneurs deal with people who may not know they have a need (clueless), may not be the final decision-maker (powerless) and may not have the spending authority (broke).

What’s a smart entrepreneur to do?

Well, I asked some smart entrepreneurs this very question and I’ll share the lessons they learned from the official curriculum of the school of hard knocks.

Keep in mind, this is NOT meant to be an article on frustration or wasting your time with the wrong prospects, but rather on how to gracefully and effectively move from the wrong prospects to the RIGHT prospects in easy and relatively quick ways.

For example, to sell to the powerless, your 'sale' might consist of relationship-building with that person and giving them enough of a 'taste' of what you do to earn an introduction to the REAL decision-maker.

Marketing and PR expert Dan Janal, President of PRLEADS.com in Excelsior, Minnesota offers this advice: “Smart entrepreneurs don't look just at the quick sale. Instead, they look at the life-time value of the customer. Just because a person can't buy today doesn't mean she can't buy in the future.” Thus, the first lesson in selling to the clueless, powerless, and broke is that these folks might not be clueless, powerless, or broke for long… and that you really never know where your next sale might come from.

Janal continues, “I got a large sale from a person who was on my mailing list for four years. When she started out, she was an assistant. It took her four years to rise to a position in the company to bring me in! It didn't cost me anything to keep her on the mailing list. In the meantime I was building great trust, goodwill and brand recognition.”

Allyson Lewis, a financial advisor in Jonesboro, Arkansas and author of The Seven Minute Difference (Kaplan, 2006), says, “While we don't often work with the broke, we do see the clueless and the powerless. When it comes to selling to the 'clueless' you have to realize that many of your buyers use this emotional defense so they won't have to take the personal responsibility if their purchase doesn't work out.”

Lewis offers three cures for the clueless:

1) Spend time listening to their questions and concerns to build trust and understanding;
2) Speak in jargon-free plain language they can understand;
3) Educate them, so they won't be clueless and can make an informed win-win decision

According to Lewis, “Sometimes the clueless are simply intimidated. They may not want to look out of place. The clueless – once converted - can become some of your best clients.”

If your clients are clueless, guess what? It’s your fault – not theirs. You need to ask the right questions, address the right issues, and discuss matter that are important to THEM – not matters that are important to you and your ‘selling process’ which may very well exist in a client-free “no man’s land” of jargon, endless PowerPoint decks, canned questions, and manipulative closes. (People are rarely ‘clueless’ on issues that are important to them and to their own business success.)

Skip Shuda, author of the upcoming book, The Cheap Revolution, and founder of startup consultancy TeamAndADream.com in Wayne, Pennsylvania, puts it another way. He says, “I often find myself selling to the clueless, powerless and broke. I call them entrepreneurs and they happen to be my clients! Many times, cluelessness simply means they don't know what they don't know. It’s your job to help them ask the right questions about your product/service and show them how it can make a meaningful bottom-line difference in their world.”

Shuda adds, “Powerless can be overcome by giving them power! Bring resources to the table that they cannot muster on their own. Fill out your offering with complementary services or turnkey solutions that make it easy to do business with you.”

Let’s face it – simple sells. The simpler your offerings are, the more power prospects will have to buy – and to “sell the solution up the ladder” if they need to. People who are powerless to decide among 20 options can all of a sudden become quite enthusiastic and empowered when offered a choice of “A, B, or C.” Don’t make your sale any more complex than it needs to be.

Finally, to address the broke, the smart solution is a pricing strategy that doesn’t squeeze anybody out. Even as you develop high-end products and services, keep in mind the customers or clients who just want a ‘taste’ – who would feel more comfortable dipping their toe in the water before diving off the deep end. Remember, even Tiffany’s offers a $100 keyring. (They also have the Art Deco ladies’ cocktail watch on a diamond bracelet for $39,500 in case you are not broke!)

In short, if you are doing your job right in the sales process, and if you look to these strategies for guidance, you’ll find that you can convert prospects who at first seem clueless, powerless, and broke into customers who keep coming back.

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