Practical Sales Training™ > How People Work > The “nice to have” objection
What is it?
Sometimes when you speak with people, they can be nice to you and supportive. But this can be a problem. We need buyers, not supporters and we need the truth. Too many people (especially in the UK) are polite when, in fact, they see your offering as a nice to have and don’t want to buy it.
Why does it work?
If people who need your offering aren’t buying, but they are making nice noises about it – they can’t see the value.
Maybe you need a QER.
Maybe you’re not selling the destination.
Maybe they don’t know about the bad things they face if they don’t buy and solve their problems.
How can you use it?
When you share your ideas and products/services with people it can be all too easy for them to be encouraging and say nice things (without actually wanting it themselves or really believing it’s any good)
The only way I’ve found to overcome this is to ask for money.
“Here is my idea – I am taking deposits, would you like to leave one” is a lot more compelling than “Here is my idea what do you think?”
Hypothetical Example:
An entrepreneur has developed a new project management app and starts sharing the concept with friends and professional contacts. Everyone says things like:
“That’s a brilliant idea!”
“I can totally see people using this.”
“Wow, that sounds amazing—good luck!”
Encouraged by all the positive feedback, the entrepreneur invests heavily in building the app… only to discover that when it comes to paying for the service, none of those “supporters” actually want to buy.
To avoid this, the entrepreneur changes their approach:
Instead of asking, “What do you think?” they now ask, “Would you like to pre-order the app at a founder’s discount?”
This instantly filters real interest from polite compliments and helps them validate demand before investing too much.
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