By Jacques Werth
High Probability Selling
Many salespeople try to rationalize that objections are good because they indicate the prospect’s level of interest and pinpoint the keys to making the sale. That is analogous to saying that you should not prevent the cause of pain in your body; pain is good because you then know what ailment to cure.
Take notice of the kinds of objections that salespeople are plagued with and how some otherwise smart salespeople try to overcome them. Some objections are caused by flawed prospecting methods. Other objections are caused by flawed sales methods. Instead of learning a new sales process, or a new way of thinking about sales, most salespeople try to use clever rhetorical manipulations to overcome each objection. Those manipulations raise the prospect’s sales resistance, which then creates an adversarial relationship.
The way top producers prevent objections is to tell all of the detriments of each feature – along with the benefits – before the negatives occur to the prospect. Most prospects are just as smart as salespeople. Therefore, avoiding or obscuring the negatives is not a viable sales strategy. Even if everything that you tell them is true, that is not good enough. Withholding negatives is perceived to be half-truths by most salespeople. However, most prospects perceive half-truths to be lies. "Total Disclosure" eliminates objections and creates relationships of trust and respect with clients and prospects.
The High Probability Selling process eliminates almost all objections with the technology of Total Disclosure.
If you want to learn the process and mindset of top producing salespeople, you want to learn more about High Probability Selling.
Until Next Time…Sell Well
Jacques Werth – High Probability Selling
Copyright 2007.
Tags: How+to+sell, The+secret+to+selling, Selling+and+Persuasion
Author
Hello,
This is kind of 3 questions in one. I work for the Employment Guide which is a online job board and we also have a publication that runs weekly. (1st question) Have you ever worked with a company like this before and If so, was it in this kind of economy and what were the results? (2nd question) When I have prospects tell me to call them back in 3 month or 6 months should I just say okay and let them off the phone or should I question more? For instance: Do you want to use us a resource at that time or not? and ect.(3rd question)I really want to take the training courses and/or be at the seminars, so that I can effectively learn HP selling, but I just cannot afford to do either one of these very important and almost necessary methods, what do you recommend that I do?
Karim –
My guess is that you are selling advertising. Is that correct? If so, then the answers to your questions are:
1. Yes, we have trained salespeople to sell many different types of advertising. However, none of them have been in the same business as yours.
2. You should say, “Okay, good bye.” But, call them back every 3 to 4 weeks with a new prospecting offer each time.
3. You should read our book, “High Probability Selling,” all the way through once every week. You will get a deeper understanding of it each time you read it. That should enable you to develop new and better direct applications to your work.
Hello,
This is kind of 3 questions in one. I work for the Employment Guide which is a online job board and we also have a publication that runs weekly. (1st question) Have you ever worked with a company like this before and If so, was it in this kind of economy and what were the results? (2nd question) When I have prospects tell me to call them back in 3 month or 6 months should I just say okay and let them off the phone or should I question more? For instance: Do you want to use us a resource at that time or not? and ect.(3rd question)I really want to take the training courses and/or be at the seminars, so that I can effectively learn HP selling, but I just cannot afford to do either one of these very important and almost necessary methods, what do you recommend that I do?
Ok, Thanks for your help on these matters.
Hello I am in Network Marketing and I am calling other networkers who are struggling with their current MLM Business selling non-essential products and maybe ready to switch to another company. I do everything over the phone and I have read your book HPS. How do I convert the methods in the book to strictly over the phone methods especially the relationship building.
Thank You
Kim Dion
Kim,
The selling and prospecting methods in the book High Probability Selling do not work well with multi-level marketing (MLM). We do not recommend that you attempt to “convert the methods in the book” for use in your business. We especially do not recommend that you use these methods for relationship building.
High Probability Selling is based upon mutual trust and respect and total disclosure between all parties to the transaction. We do not believe that this is possible with multi-level marketing.
Multi-level marketing (also called Network Marketing) is based upon getting people to believe that they can make a good living selling a product or service from or through the company. These people are at the bottom of a pyramid-like structure.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of the people at the bottom of the structure never regain their investments in the system. The people who are successful are the ones who are good at recruiting more networkers and selling them the MLM dream. If this were to be revealed in a direct and transparent way, as we teach in High Probability Selling, then no one would buy the dream, and there would be no MLM businesses.
High Probability Selling is efficient and effective for selling real products and services. We do not recommend it for selling dreams.
Jacques Werth and Carl Ingalls
Hello Jacques and Carl .. thank you so much for responding to my question and giving your honest opinion.
Kim Dion
Jacques, can you address the issue of using your strategies for us who sell over the phone. I am posting this here for the benefit of others but have already asked this question on the “Contact Us” form.
Thank you
Rob
Biccum
Rob,
Whether you sell over the phone or face to face, all of the High Probability Selling strategies are the same.
Jacques
I’m responding to Kim’s question. It could have been mine — calling on net workers genealogy targeted lists for interest in a new networking company.
I found another way to sell the product within my company — they have a sort of obscure, shall I say “hidden,” affiliate program that isn’t MLM, but rather a two level commission approach to getting customers to switch there electricity suppliers.
Now, THAT would work the High Prob way, yes?
Would you confirm?
Thanks,
Deb
High Probability Selling doesn’t work with Multi-Level Marketing (MLM). As more and more people get burned by MLM (and talk about it), it has to keep changing names and disguises in order to continue to recruit people at the bottom. The scheme you describe is too likely to be just another reincarnation of MLM.
If you cannot tell the complete truth about what you are selling, there is no advantage in using High Probability Selling.
Jacque, You say that HPS doesn’t work with MLM and pretty much slam the industry. However, on you website under Clients it states HPS has worked for over 70+ industries. Amway and Pre Paid Legal are both listed as HPS Clients and are also MLM companies. What gives?
Rob –
We trained about 600 MLM “distributors” before 2003. Then we stopped.
Once in a while, someone decides to get into “Network Marketing” after they participate in our training program. Though we try, we cannot always stop them.
Is there a way to use the HPS approach in an online marketing process using written sales materials?
Bruce,
We teach HPS as a prospecting and selling process. We believe it is both possible and beneficial to use the underlying ideas and principles of HPS to create a marketing process, but we don’t teach how to do that.
Carl Ingalls
Carl,
Thanks for your answer. I like the HPS principles, and I was hoping it would be possible. Do you know of anyone who has applied HPS to a marketing process? It seems like one of the main ideas would be to base it in integrity and truth, and to approach the process as a respectable equal to the market members. Is that going in the right direction?
Bruce
Bruce,
We worked with the sales manager and marketing manager at one firm to successfully integrate both functions.
One of the reasons it was successful is that the CEO of the firm knew it was necessary for profitability and growth.
Jacques,
Thank you for your time and answer. The marketing process is for my own business, and I understand the benefits of HPS and the philosophy behind it, and prefer it over other approaches.
I do remember reading one of your articles about integrating sales and marketing. I’ll look for it and re-read it. I am repeatedly studying the book and articles and applying them, until I can afford to take your online training. Have you written anything else about that particular experience that is available?
Bruce
Bruce,
You may find some of what you are looking for in another post on this blog, titled “What Should High Probability Marketing Look Like?” (dated 21 December 2009).
Make sure you read the comments, and especially the one by Michel Neray.
Carl Ingalls
Carl,
Thank you very much for your help. The article and comments give me some food for thought.
Bruce