“You don’t ask, you don’t get.”
That phrase was part of my family lore growing up. We picked it up from a Mississippi realtor who lived his professional life by that credo. His comically plain-spoken insight applied to so many things in life.
Since then, I’ve heard that same concept said in many less folksy ways. Working with sales organizations, managers lament that salespeople will spend all week working a lead but never directly ask for the sale.
Products miss their chance to ask for the sale too.
Here’s an example. In a usability interview for a customer support experience, a subject threw us two curve balls.
First, she didn’t own a desktop device, so her experience was entirely on the phone.
Second, unprompted, she expressed interest in upgrading — paying more for a better tier of service.
We took a detour from our support test to find the upgrade. It was not good. The upgrade button must not have made the cut for phone users. (This reminds me of a previous experience regarding button prominence.)
When she did find it, she was genuinely, truly excited at the opportunity to pay more to get better service.
So this week, take a fresh look at your product. Is it taking every (appropriate) opportunity to ask for the sale? ‘Cause you don’t ask, you don’t get.
And if you’re not sure, our flexible programs, UX audits, or user research can help you gain the insight needed.