Practical Sales Training™ > How To Lose The Sale> Unsolicited Advice
What is it?
Unsolicited Advice is that moment when someone who is outreaching you offers to check or critique something for you even though you haven’t asked for it…
Why does it work?
It works to lose the sale because it borders on being both overly critical, potentially rude and applying unnecessary pressure to your buyer. If someone hasn’t asked for your advice, then merely offering it to them (whether they want it or not) can more often than not sour your interaction. Why? Because you will be pointing out where things have gone wrong and then asking for money to fix it(!)
How can you use it?
Unsolicited advice is pretty much best avoided as it’s so hard to use it without offending people. Rather than directly outreaching and critiquing people, could you instead produce a “best practise” guide to share with your prospects. Rather than pointing out the flaws, you could offer to send a “6 common pitfalls to avoid” style resource that will have a similar effect, but leave the client feeling cared for and having received value – rather than offending them.
Hypothetical Example:
A web designer cold-emails a small business owner with:
“Hi, I noticed your website is slow and poorly designed. I’d love to fix it for you.”
While the intention is to offer help, the business owner feels criticised and defensive because they didn’t ask for this feedback. It comes across as pushy and rude, immediately turning them off from the offer.
Instead, the web designer could take a softer approach:
“Hi, I created a short guide on ‘5 website tweaks that increase sales.’ Would you like me to send it over?”
This approach offers value without offence, building trust rather than resentment.
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