The needy cat!
We have two cats. One, Charo, is extremely needy and insecure.
She always wants attention. And she hates when people are behind closed doors.
When our youngest was born, we closed the door to our bedroom at night, so Charo couldn’t sneak in and get on the bed.
What did needy cat do? She’d start scratching on the door, meowing, letting us know in no uncertain terms that she wanted to be let in.
The same thing happens when I get on phone calls with clients. I keep my office door closed while working. And for the most part, I get left alone. But when I get on the phone, needy cat Charo figures out that I’m in there. And so she starts scratching on my office door, meowing, and making a fuss.
The worst is when I’m on a Skype call. I use a USB microphone and headphones, so I’m tethered to the desk. Lacking better options, I have a bouncy ball I throw across the room to hit the door and scare her off.
When I’m on a phone call, I can actually get up, walk across the room, open my office door, walk out of my office and across our basement, open the back door, and get her to go outside, at least until the call is over.
It may sound a little mean, but I know she’s okay out there.
And besides…
Nobody likes a needy cat.
Don’t get me wrong. I like to cuddle with her and pet her when she’s not being a feline embodiment of neediness. But when she is, I can’t get her out of sight and earshot soon enough. I just want her to go away.
I’ll get to the full sales and positioning lesson here in a moment, but first I hope you’re getting this point…
You DO NOT want to be the needy cat.
Back to the story.
So there’s a near-universal truth about cats. Namely, that they want to be on the other side of a closed door.
Some are quietly annoyed by closed doors — our other, non-needy cat, Chico, for example.
Others are more prone to protest.
You may notice that my two examples of needy cat above are all about closed doors.
But there’s another thing I’ve noticed about cats.
Both our cats are indoor-outdoor cats. And due to the annoying-ness of needy cat, they spend the night outside.
Which works just fine when they want to go out. Unfortunately that is only about 50% of nights. The other 50% of nights, it can be a bit of a struggle to get them out.
I’ll open the front door wide, and try not to stand in their way.
They’ll walk to the door, sit down just inside, and stare at the open door.
They don’t want to go through the open door.
Now remember, a closed door is a cat’s worst enemy. You’d think that once a door was opened, they’d want to go through. But about half the time, they’re just not interested when you make it available to them.
Your sales prospects are the same way. Swing the door wide open, and they’re actually less interested in doing business with you. They’re actually more interested in closed doors than open ones.
Back to the cats though.
The other night, I did an experiment on needy cat.
She’s the worst about the open doors. The most complaining when a door is closed. The least compliant when it’s open for her.
We have two front doors — the main door, and the storm door.
The other night, I opened just the main door. I swung that wide open, and she was interested.
At this point, normally I would also swing the storm door wide open, and wait there looking dumb while needy cat Charo makes up her mind about whether or not she’s going out.
I took a different tack.
I put my hand on the handle to open the storm door, but kept it closed. Suddenly needy cat was NOT faced with an open door, but a closed one.
She stuck her little nose in the corner of the storm door, where it would normally open.
I still didn’t let her out.
She looked up at me with a curious meow.
I still didn’t open the door.
She looked at the door.
She looked at me.
She couldn’t stand the closed door.
I waited just a moment more…
Then I opened it.
She ran out.
This is a huge lesson about how to sell your products and services — in short, NEVER push too hard.
The better you get at sales, the more urge there is to — in this metaphor — swing that door wide open and shove your prospect through.
(And I’ll admit to having done that a time or two with needy cat, when she was simply refusing to go outside.)
If you have the sales skills to do it, it’s oh-so tempting.
But it’s NOT what a master salesperson should do. Because the master salesperson wants all the sales they can make PLUS they want the customer to feel like they got exactly what they wanted.
That’s why you need to put a closed door in front of your prospective clients and customers.
That’s why you need to slow them down in their buying — and even push them away a bit — rather than trying to speed them up.
When you show them the door to walk through, but don’t open it right away, you’re giving them time to let their desire build. You’re teasing their own inner needy cat.
And the more you can build that desire without actually opening the door for them, the more you’ll make them want what you’re selling.
So when you do finally open up that door, they’ll run right through — and be totally stoked they got the opportunity.
This is the most important sales positioning strategy I know — your choice whether to be the needy cat, or to be the one that closes and opens the door for the needy cat…
If you’re the needy cat, you’ll constantly be met with disgust and resistance as you try to make the sale.
Nobody likes the needy cat.
Selling will be harder, and you’ll deal with a ton more rejection and missed opportunities.
On the other hand, if you can make the conscious decision not to be the needy cat, and instead be the person closing and opening doors for the needy cat to go through, you’ll find selling far more fun and profitable.
Try closing doors on clients, instead of holding them wide open. Try resisting their need to go through the door, rather than beckoning relentlessly.
Then only when you can see the desperation in their eyes to get through that door, open it up.
I know this can be especially hard when you NEED the sales and cash flow — but that’s when it’s most critical.
Trust me, it will be a breakthrough.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets
PS — This is not quite a closed-door scenario, but it’s close. I was looking at the attendee list for my workshop next month, and I’m happy where it stands. While I can take a handful more attendees, I know I don’t need it to deliver a life-changing experience to those who are already signed up. As we approach next Monday’s final cut off (not only for me, but for significant savings through the hotel room block), I have this thought. I do not need you to register and attend. But if you want one of those final spots, I’d be happy to have you walk through this door before it closes. Click here.
