Residual Risk: The Bigger Fish That’s Scaring Your Clients Away

There’s a scene in George Lucas’ film, Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace where two Jedi are in a submersible vehicle trying to outrun a sea monster.

Just when you think their small ship is about to eaten by the sea monster, a much larger creature appears out of nowhere and takes a bite out of the sea monster.

The submersible manages to escape unharmed and one of the Jedi Masters in the sub remarks to his junior partner:

“There’s always a bigger fish.”

You already know about the little fish; a fish called risk. You thought he was a monster. He’s nothing compared to the much larger one swimming in the same water. In this article, you’ll learn about the bigger fish that takes a bite out of your customer’s resolve when they read tour next sales pitch.

What could be more dangerous than risk?
Risk -It’s the uncertainty clients feel when reading your sale pitch. You already done battle with this monster by establishing trust with your client. You’ve worked hard to demonstrate your credibility. So what could be worse than a little risk?

Residual Risk -The bigger fish
In most cases, it’s not the kind of risk that be addressed with building more trust or credibility. Ordinary risk that pops up on the first sale is easily overcome. We might call it risk with a ‘little r.’ But Residual Risk is ongoing and it’s a leaner, meaner, wigglier fish. It’s Risk with a ‘capital R.’

This is the type of risk that rears it’s ugly head when you’re trying to move your client from Product A to Product B. But like our Jedi Master, we know there’s always a bigger fish. And in this case, it definitely needs to be dealt with.

Clients hesitate to buy your second product or service because Residual Risk paralyzes them. It’s a sense of they can’t identify. Unless you can identify the root causes of Residual Risk, your customers will not only not buy, they’ll go elsewhere. (For a detailed discussion of this phenomenon, see our free audio program, Bound & Gagged: Three Ways Residual Risk Keeps Your Clients Tied In Knots.)

Why do client leave as a result of unresolved Residual Risk?
Because they retreat to the familiar with that being the lower level of risk they can name and deal with more successfully. The kind that alleviated by a bit more trust and credibility.

It’s not unlike falling off the wagon.
It’s easier to go back to smoking than it is to quit. It’s easier to keep sleeping than it is to strap on your running shoes the morning after party. It’s easier for a client to confront risk elsewhere and resolve it successfully than it is to stay around and figure out why it feels so yucky on your site.

Residual Risk is definitely a big fish.
But like all big fish, if you use the right kind of bait, you’ll ultimately reel him in. When you do, your customer will thank you with another purchase. We’ll talk about taming the bigger fish in another post.

Until then, feel free to leave your comments below.

Tags: Blog Posts, Risk