by Tony Vidler 
We all want all of our prospects to say YES, but getting them to do so isn’t necessarily about having a clever line that they can’t say “no” to.
Which do you think is more effective with todays educated, wary and sophisticated consumer?
1. The clever sales technique that has you taking the dominant position and “winning”, or,
2. Pre-empting the predictable typical human behaviour and giving them what they are most likely to want up-front, most of the time?
Nobody likes being in the “winner-loser” game of hardcore sales pitches other than those who just love winning at anything, anytime, anywhere and against anyone.
For the vast majority of advisers though, when you have a genuine prospect – a potential future client – who is checking you out and wondering whether to choose you or the other guy just down the road, you can make it easy for the prospect to say “YES” and choose you if you understand the 4 fundamentals that virtually all prospects are wanting ideally. As well as understanding these essentials, it is important to cover them in the correct sequence.
1. Expectations.
2. Value.
3. Convenience
4. Safety.
The first is simply a ticket to the game….it is the entry level concern of the prospect. You need to assure the prospect of your technical and professional expertise, and demonstrate your credentials. It is a simple (and relatively quick) step, but it is a pre-requisite to then being able to move on to the other areas with credibility and a degree of trust.
Articulating the value that the prospect receives follows as that gets straight to addressing the “what’s in it for me?” question, which is the dominant thought. Until it is addressed nothing else matters really as far as most prospective clients are concerned.
With professional credibility and clear client value demonstrated it is then necessary to move into the realm of making it easy for the client to say yes. Discussing the convenience factors is the logical next step as it supports the value proposition…in some respects the convenience factors are an extension of the value for the client.
The final step is to try and make the decision a safe one for the client – remove risk from the equation for them so their is no reason to say “no”. Choosing you becomes the proverbial No-Brainer…no real thought is necessary.
Here is a quick example in bullet point form (very brief!) of how that comes together in a thoughtfully structured approach:
This process moves between addressing the logical or rationale decision-making points together with addressing key emotional drivers….rational….emotional….rational….and finally emotional again. It should go without saying however these bullet points demonstrate the structure only. The actual expression of the value you provide, or the convenience factors for example, need to be thought about carefully in advance and they need to be genuine and pertinent to the prospects.
The process does pre-empt the typical questions and concerns and supports the logic of why you are the right choice together with openly addressing typical fears and uncertainties, and will make it a no-brainer for most people most of the time to say “yes” to working with you.
You may also find this post useful:
Comments (0)