Today’s post is sponsored by ActiveCampaign and Mindstudio.ai.
If you’re selling Fords and a guy pulls up in a Chevy, compliment him on his choice.
DO NOT say crap like,
“‘Like a rock’ is right. Those things ride like a rock!”
“Hey, that’s the first one I’ve seen this week roll up under it’s own power instead of being towed in!”
“A Chevy, huh? Well, we all make mistakes. At least you’re here now. Let’s get ya into something that won’t embarrass your wife and kids.”
Those sound cute and funny and pithy and innocuous, but they’re not.
Not-so-deep down, you’re insulting their prior decision-making abilities. You’re putting yourself above them, which is NEVER where you want to be in a selling relationship.
David Sandler was teaching this nearly sixty years ago.
You never want to be okay while your prospect is not-okay…okay? Okay. Which reminds me, I need to dive deeper into that soon. Thanks for the reminder. Okay, now where was I…?
You cannot make your prospect feel inferior, stupid, silly, ignorant, etc.
Well, you can…and you might even make a sale…but you won’t make a friend…and you won’t get a referral or a testimonial or repeat orders…and you’ll probably get some canceled POs and chargebacks and other nasty things like…but you do you, Boo.
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Anyway. You need to stay a little less okay than your prospect. Help them feel good about what’s going on, or at least don’t make them feel worse!
They made a decision.
For whatever reason, it didn’t work out, or it didn’t go as well as planned, or maybe they’re just open to trying something new, and it’s your job to lead them to discover their true reason(s) for wanting to make a change now with you.
So, back to the guy pulling up in the Chevy.
Meet him as he gets out of his truck and say, “Nice ride. You’re not getting rid of that, are you?”
When you hit your prospects with a question they’re not expecting, you’re more likely to get the truth since they didn’t prepare for your unique question.
Prospect: “Hell no. I love my Chevy. I’m a Chevy man ‘til I die. I saw you had a used Chevy and wanted to take a look.”
Prospect: “This old thing? I’ve never liked it. Rides like a rock. Rebuilt the transmission. Burns oil like a tweaker. I’ll never buy a Chevy again.”
You’re looking for the truth.
They’re looking for someone they can trust.
By not criticizing their choices, you’re at least not starting at a deficit.
By allowing them to speak their mind, they feel heard, seen, and understood.
This is how I’ve sold SaaS, services, coaching, and consulting for decades, fast, at high margin, with no pressure or slimy tactics, while others struggle to sell over multiple calls while reducing their prices and damn near begging them to buy at the end.
Small hinges swing big doors.
You don’t need NLP, body language mirroring, hypnosis, handwriting analysis, feng shui, palm reading, FBI hostage negotiation tactics, tarot cards, or astrology.
Start well.
Compliment your prospect if you can do so sincerely.
Keep your prospect more okay than you.
Observe their mannerisms, their replies, their tonality, the words they use, their passion, their enthusiasm or lack thereof.
If there are multiple prospects, see who’s in control. There is always a leader in every pack.
Only show them what they want to see.
Determine what they want to see by asking better questions and listening to the full reply.
See how easy it is to sell?
Market like you mean it. Now go sell something.
~Wes
P.S. Want feedback from fellow closers? Drop your story in The BJJ and Biz Boardroom.