Can I Test Drive You?

Last month, I found myself looking for a new car. It was late on a Friday and I was rushing around, trying to find the best deal. I’d done all my online research and ended up at a particular dealer. He sensed I needed to decide on the car quickly, as it was the end of the financial year, so he let me take it home for the weekend to try it out.

This certainly eased some pressure for me. I didn’t have to rush my decision; I could drive the car for the weekend and return it on Monday. The dealer wasn’t pushy. He was helpful, listened to my needs and made the whole process easy. As a result, I decided to keep the car.

According to Forbes, 60% of a buying decision is made before the customer buys from you. Similarly, the CareerBuilder Survey found that 58% of recruiters extended a job offer because they got a good sense of the job seeker’s character and personality.

One of the best ways to encourage people to test drive you is to write a blog. It’s a bit like being allowed to take the car overnight. Your posts take the reader from their world into yours. They give the reader your insights and perspective. Too often, we want the customer or recruiter to make a decision there and then, and we risk looking pushy, salesy or just feeling weird about the whole situation.

Seth Godin, author of 17 books including Tribes, says we’re in the connection economy. People want to connect and buy you, but they will buy when they’re ready.

We’ve all come across the stereotypical car dealer who just wants to get their commission. But we need to get to know the car first. “Will it give me what I need? Will be it economical enough? Do I like it? Is it safe?” Your client or recruiter is asking these same questions. Organisations don’t have extra cash floating around if things go wrong anymore, so every dollar matters.

So allow people to get to know you. Give samples of your work through your blog so there is less pressure on you to sell. As F.W. Woolworth, the founder of Woolworth Corporation, said: “I am the world’s worst salesperson so I must make it easy for people to buy.”

Can I Test Drive You?