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A Marketing Story: Why Doctors Have An Almost 100% Sales Rate
The Waiting Room: It is 9:45am and you have been in the doctor’s waiting room for over 45 minutes. Your appointment for your annual physical was at 9:00am. You are feeling fine, and you are wondering whether you should just get up and leave. Do you really need a doctor just to verify that you are healthy? The longer you wait, the more idiotic the annual physical seems to be. You are getting angrier by the minute. You are telling yourself that instead of paying the doctor for the physical, they should be paying you for the time you’ve wasted while waiting in their lobby.
The Examination Room: Finally, the nurse calls your name and takes you to the examination room. Even though you are angry, you decide to bite your tongue while the doctor gives you the checkup. You decide you just want to get this over with quickly and get back to work. After the examination, the doctor leaves to check another patient while the nurse processes some results. The doctor says they’ll be back in a few minutes. You get angry again about how much of your time they are wasting.
The Doctor Finds Something: Finally, the doctor and the nurse return. The doctor tells you that your heart pattern and blood tests show a dangerous abnormality and that you need some more tests immediately. The doctor is clearly concerned! All of the sudden, the cost of the annual physical and the long waits are forgotten, aren’t they? You want the doctor to find out what is wrong, no matter what it takes!
The Compliance: You will do whatever the doctor tells you to do. After all, they are the professional. The doctor was not trying to sell you anything you didn’t need. But when they found a problem, you quickly turned to them for help in solving the problem. The prior issues and cost are no longer an issue.
Executive Summary: The Importance Of Urgency
To drive conversions in a competitive market, you must move beyond passive interest and spark immediate action. This marketing brief expands on the core principles of psychological triggers to help you accelerate the decision making process without damaging brand trust. Think about how the doctor uncovered the potentially dangerous illness. They asked key questions that led them to develop an informed diagnosis. They performed certain tests that gave them an indication of things which could not be seen at the surface.
You can fulfill the same role with your customers. Your job is like that of the doctor — to ask potential customers the right questions so you can make and intelligent and informed diagnosis. You are not looking for something that is not there. You don’t want to create pain where none exists. But if your poking and prodding finds an unhealthy situation, you want to encourage your “patient” to take immediate action now – for their own sake.
Background: The Context And Origin Of Urgency
The concept of urgency is rooted in behavioral economics and the fear of missing out. Historically, marketers used heavy handed tactics that often felt manipulative. However, modern consumers are highly attuned to artificial pressure. Today, effective urgency must be grounded in transparency and value. The shift from "selling" to "helping the buyer decide" has made urgency a tool for clarity rather than just a tactic for speed.
Analysis: How To Create Buyer Urgency
Creating buyer urgency is the art of reducing the time between a lead's initial interest and their final purchase. By leveraging psychological triggers like scarcity, social proof, and the cost of inaction, businesses can overcome the natural human tendency toward procrastination. Following is an outline of specific, actionable methods to build authentic urgency that encourages buyers to act now rather than later. Urgency works because it forces a mental shortcut. When a buyer perceives that an opportunity is fleeting, the brain prioritizes the decision to avoid a potential loss.
Scarcity and Availability: Humans assign higher value to items that are difficult to obtain. Real time stock indicators or limited edition labels serve as a visual cue that a choice must be made before the option disappears.
The Power of Time: Fixed deadlines, such as countdown timers or flash sales, create a "ticking clock" effect. This reduces the "I will think about it" phase, which is where most sales are lost.
Social Proof as Momentum: Seeing others take action provides the safety needed for a quick decision. When buyers see live purchase notifications or high demand alerts, their confidence in the product increases.
The Cost of Inaction: Often, the biggest competitor is the status quo. By highlighting what a buyer loses by waiting—such as lost revenue, continued inefficiency, or rising prices—you pivot the focus from the price of the product to the cost of delay.
Recommendations: Actionable Steps To Build Urgency
Start With Questions: When you first meet a new prospect, start your relationship by asking questions. This shows your genuine interest in the “patient” while helping you find if and where they are having “health-related” problems that you can solve. Once you have identified a specific problem, you can either refer them to another specialist, or show them how you have the answer which will resolve their problem.
Review The Cost: Budgets are no longer a problem if the cost of NOT dealing with the illness can be shown to be greater than the consequences of leaving it unattended. The “patient” will find a way. Budgets only become relevant when you have identified the illness or pain, but the customer only sees it as a minor inconvenience. For example, there’s not much you can do about the common cold. You just have to live through the inconvenience.
Some Will Decline: Every doctor knows that some people will not follow their advice. They will not pay the price to improve their situation, just as there are some people who never go to a doctor even when they are sick. In those situations, there Is little you can do. Don’t waste hours of time trying to get people to do something they don’t want to do. Move on to other people who want your help.
The Indecision Barrier: Your worst prospect is not the “no’” but rather the one who says, “I will think it over.” That leaves you both in limbo. People who recognize their illness rarely have to think it over. If there’s a cure, they want it.
Key Take Away: Core Insight
Think of this doctor story (or tell it) and ask more questions to find out why the prospect doesn’t have a sense of urgency. In the end, if you discern that they choose not to be cured, move on. At some point the illness will become serious enough that they will be forced to seek medical treatment. Of course, by then it may also be too late. Be courteous, stay in touch, and let them know you are available when that time comes.
To implement these strategies effectively, consider the following technical and creative steps:
Use Dynamic Visuals: Demonstrate online capacity or schedule limits such as countdown timers for seasonal offers. Ensure the timer is truthful; resetting a timer upon refresh destroys credibility.
Highlight Low Inventory: Display exact numbers for remaining stock if you sell physical goods. For services, mention "only 3 spots remaining for this quarter" to imply limited bandwidth.
Tiered Incentives: Offer a "Fast Action Bonus" for the first small group of buyers. This rewards early adopters and creates a race for the added value.
Leverage Real Time Proof: Use tools that show recent activity on your site. Small popups indicating "seven other people just purchased" can create a powerful sense of movement.
Reframe the Deadline: Instead of just saying a sale is ending, explain why. Is a new model arriving? Is the seasonal window closing? Contextualizing the urgency makes it feel more authentic.
Urgency is most effective when it is combined with a strong value proposition. While a ticking clock might get someone to pay attention, the quality of the offer is what gets them to pay. Use urgency to remove friction and indecision, but always ensure the buyer feels they are making a smart, informed choice for their own benefit. Keep in mind that your “patient” must go through three steps before you prescribe any medicine:
First, you must both agree on the nature of the problem.
Second, they must have the resources (time and money) to buy the cure.
Third, they must have the authority to do so. If they need to “check with their spouse” before making any decisions, get “the spouse” in the room early in the process. Don’t let the patient try to explain what they think they heard.
Never begin making your curative presentation until you have determined the answers to these three questions. Then set the stage for your diagnosis. Like the doctor’s patient, your customer will be ecstatic if you return them to good health.
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