Tag: persuasion

High Probability Selling Versus Human Nature

High Probability Selling demands that we stop trying to control others, and this goes against some parts of our human nature. 

We begin life as babies who manipulate people in order to get the care that we need.  It’s a natural survival tactic that works. 

As we mature, we gradually learn alternative ways of interacting, ways that are less manipulative and more cooperative, but we never completely let go of trying to control other people. 

And this can get in the way of being successful with High Probability Selling.  Even the most proficient practitioners occasionally find themselves drifting into old habits. 

The trick is to learn to recognize when we are drifting, and to have a way of getting back into the High Probability way of being.

Different people have different ways of doing that.

How do you manage it?

2 Marketing Guiding Principles that make no sense

Here are 2 guiding principles that make NO SENSE to most but are absolutely fundamental to really doing work that matters.

The marketing “tough” guys and gals out there will flick it off like a used-up virtue-signaling bandaid.

But, for those who want to know, here they are.

1.) Instead of obsessing over the money your customers or clients may give you…why not “obsess over” the service you bring to the table?

Bring back the humanity to what you offer.

Get in their world by calling a cease-fire on using your over-the-moon “results” that may or may not be relevant to their market, list, offerings, etc.
&
2.) Our best prospects need to be discovered (period). Your main gig is to find them. And for your truest top prospects, they won’t be “molded”, “gotten”, or “pushed” into buying.

They’re already educated about their needs, wants, and budget.

They know their business…well.

They’re even aware of the problem(s) they see hence their desire to buy from the right person if their conditions of satisfaction are met. (this one very few know to do or do it consciously)

Maybe that’s you and maybe it ain’t.

That’s ok.

If you start with service on the mind over dollars, you gain both.

And how you get there friends – is by being a market listener, leading with empathy, & determining IF what you have is the answer or not.

Want more?

Actionable Tip: Think about how YOU buy something…is it at first sight?

Or does it take some time to mull things over after watching a video, listening to an expert opinion, looking up reviews, having a few website ganders, and all that?

Until next time, keep learning, keep growing!

Convince Me

What do you do when a prospect asks you to explain to them why they should buy from you?

If you follow a non-persuasive sales method like High Probability Selling, you would avoid getting drawn into that kind of a conversation.

Jacques Werth taught his students to say, “I’m not here to convince you,” and then get right back to the question of whether the prospect wants what is being offered, or not.  He might also say something like, “That’s not the way I work.“

However, if the prospect has already said that they want the sort of thing you are offering, then it might be better to respond with the question, “What matters to you?”  And then, only address the things that matter to the prospect.  Keep it short and simple.  You either provide those things, or you don’t.

And then you ask, “What do you want to do?“

Conversation with a Long-Time Student of High Probability Selling

Jon Williams reached out to me (Carl Ingalls) on Facebook Messenger recently, with some questions about the application of High Probability Selling.

I am posting our conversation here with some minor editing, and with permission.

Jon: I wanted to ask you, have you ever been asked about how to sell things that aren’t as straight forward as a product per se. Like artwork, finery items like collectors stuff?

I heard this marketers take on it and she said you’ve got to look at what people want and “need” (manufacturing the need because they want it) and focus on that rather than the literal item.

I was thinking more about this and thought that’s definitely a decent start and to think about what the collectors want, the history of the piece or collection (as a feature), etc.

Carl: I have had several people inquire about selling something that is not very tangible. HPS is one example of that. I have also been asked about selling art. Collector’s items are fairly straightforward, at least on the selling side.

Jon: Gotcha. Ya I’ve always wondered about strictly non-tangibles.

Carl: If you see your job as one of influencing someone to buy, then HPS methods do not apply at all. The marketer person you mentioned recommends methods that are consistent with that. You really have to pick one or the other. If you flip back and forth [between influencing and not influencing], people won’t trust you.

Jon: Influencing or making offers based on what they want?

That’s what I took away from it as far as what they were saying. She walked us through her thinking and then applied that back to her style which I agree can certainly come off more “getting this or that” vs discovery.

Carl: If the people you reach out to do not have a clear picture of what you are offering, you need to have a good marketing system in place that educates them. Don’t try to do it during one-on-one selling. Extremely inefficient and unrewarding.

Jon: From what I’ve learned in marketing, it applies to everything, which is, truly know your audience and get real feedback from their perspective, the good the bad and the ugly.

If we have this and don’t add to it, then it becomes easier to “make offers”. 🙂

Carl: Making an offer based on what the other person wants is perfectly consistent with HPS, and is not an attempt to influence their decision.

Jon: Ya that’s what I focus on too 🙂

We’ve all had about enough of the internet hype and all this pressure to sell based on their need.

What about empathy?

Do we actually care about the human on the other side? Or are they just another dollar with a pulse?

That’s been made clear via high prob and very verrry few sales training does this well or at all. (Marketing training seems even worse because it’s so removed from the one-on-one)

Carl: In classical HPS outbound prospecting (one-on-one), we normally do not know what the individual wants. We may know something about the probabilities, based on the demographics used when purchasing a list. And the most efficient way of finding out if they want what we are offering is simply to ask them directly. The more specific [the offer], the better.

With the newer HPS Inbound prospecting (where a prospect reaches out to the salesperson), we listen to find out what they want, and we decide if we want to offer something based on that.

Jon: I do hear the better ones saying this method where they do interviews with their existing customers or clients, not to sell them anything new but to gain understanding from their perspective.

I do love this method of listening to them and going from there.

I think you shared this once, that when we start listening we may find they have a completely different want than what we thought at the beginning.

Carl: Some people call that marketing research [doing interviews with existing customers].

Most of the time, I’m a one-man operation. This means that I fill all of the roles. Market research, marketing, prospecting, selling, fulfillment, office manager, etc.

Jon: How have you found that to work for you?

I’m the same way. I only want about 2-3 really solid clients when I get there.

Carl: I like the variety of roles, a lot. However, going solo is a very lonely job, and I do have trouble with that.

Jon: Ya, I’ve heard that too, about the lonely part. For now I don’t mind but it may change later, lol

Carl: I’m looking forward to doing a 3-session workshop on the TRI, starting this Tuesday 11 Jan. That’s real connection with real people, and teaching them how to do it too. Of course, you already know about that.

By the way, I’d like to put our conversation on the HPS Blog. May I have your permission to do that? I’ll probably use just our first names. Any thoughts?

Probably some minor editing. I’ll send you a copy to review first.

This is an example of one-to-many marketing that educates.

Jon: Ya that’s perfectly acceptable with me. Thanks for asking ☺️

Carl: You are very welcome. And I really appreciate the thoughtful conversation.

Jon: Yes it’s helped me understand the differences too and to get clear myself.

Questions and comments on this blog are very welcome.

Giving and Selling Advice, a New Mini-Course on the Basics of High Probability Consulting

The next HPS Mini-Course will be a short webinar session, on Giving and Selling Advice (an Intro to High Probability Consulting), on Thu 27 February 2020 at 10am USA Eastern Time.  39 minutes for $39

This mini-course covers the basics on how to apply the ideas of High Probability Selling when giving or selling advice.  The focus is on the delivery of the advice, after any agreements of sale have already been made.

Whenever someone resists being persuaded to follow your advice, the methods of High Probability Consulting may work better.

The webinar will be led by Carl Ingalls in real-time (live).  Content is mostly audio (speaking), with some video (text, graphics).  The session will be recorded (audio and video), and the recording will be made available to everyone who signs up (and pays for) the mini-course.  The recording of this session may also be offered for sale later.

The webinar platform is GoToMeeting.  If you have not already downloaded and installed the GoToMeeting app on your computer or mobile phone, I strongly recommend that you do so at least 30 minutes before the webinar begins.  And even if you have the app and are already familiar with GoToMeeting, please note that they have changed their user interface quite significantly recently, so I recommend joining the meeting 5 or 10 minutes early.

The price is $39 USD per person.  However, I have 10 introductory discount coupons to give away, each $5 off.  If you want one, please contact me (Carl Ingalls) by phone at +1 610-627-9030 or by email at info@HighProbSell.com (before you click on the purchase link below).

If you want to purchase this HPS Mini-Course on Giving and Selling Advice now, you may use this link:  https://high-probability-selling.myshopify.com/cart/31226966409276:1?channel=buy_button

Future HPS Mini-Courses will appear on the HPS Training Calendar at least a week before they are scheduled.

More info can be found at www.HighProbSell.com/workshops/index.html#minicourses

Frequent Repetition of the Same Sales and Marketing Messages

Salespeople and marketers use a lot of repetition when their intention is to persuade.  They push the same message over and over again, and very frequently.  It makes sense for them.

This does not fit with High Probability Selling.  When prospecting by phone, we use different offers, and we space them apart by 3 to 6 weeks.  This is one way that we demonstrate that we listen, and that we accept no for an answer.  Repeated and frequent messages would not demonstrate that.

So, what about prospecting by email?

The way a prospect says “no” to an offer can vary, depending on how the offer is delivered.  With a live, real-time conversation, we usually get an immediate answer.  With a delayed message (like email or voicemail), a prospect usually says no just by ignoring it and deleting it.  The salesperson often gets no feedback at all, and doesn’t know whether the prospect even saw the message.

When I apply the HPS mindset to leaving a prospecting offer as a message, I treat a No Response the same as an intentional No.  I wait a minimum of 3 weeks (usually longer) before reaching out to the same person again, and I make sure that future offers to that person are memorably different from past ones.  And, while continuing to follow HPS guidelines, I never mention the fact that I had sent any previous messages.

Comments and questions are very welcome.

“Convince Me” – What If a Prospect Wants to be Persuaded?

If someone asks you to tell them why they should buy what you are offering, you have a decision to make.  It’s time to decide if you want to do some persuasive selling, or not.

There are a number of reasons you might want to do this:

  • You might want to go back and try that other way of selling, just to remind yourself of what it tastes like.
  • You might be someone who loves persuading people, and you don’t get enough of that when doing High Probability Selling.  You just need to get it out of your system.
  • You really aren’t sure yet whether you want to do HPS or not, so you do what has worked well enough for you in the past.

If you decide that you do not want to get involved in convincing someone to buy, here is an example of what I would do, based on what I learned from Jacques Werth.

  • Prospect:  Convince me.
  • Me:  I’m not willing to do that.
  • Prospect:  Why not?
  • Me:  That’s not the way I work.
  • Me:  What do you want to do.

This article was prompted by a conversation I overheard recently in the HPS Private Discussion Group on Facebook.

Comments and questions on this post are very welcome.

Beyond the Sale – A Consultant’s Story

For some people, closing the sale is the only thing that matters.  But for many of us, what happens after the sale is even more important in the long run.

A consultant’s success goes beyond getting paid to give advice.  If the client does not take the consultant’s advice, the client won’t get any value from it.  And if they don’t get any value, they are not likely to hire the consultant again.

Before I started learning about High Probability Selling, I always thought that I needed to work harder to convince my clients to accept my advice.  Stronger arguments, presented more enthusiastically.  But it didn’t always work, and that concerned me.

And then, as I learned more about the principles behind HPS, I asked myself, “What if I delivered my ideas with less push instead of more?  What if I presented them more objectively, more balanced, with both the negatives and the positives?  What if I didn’t try to tell my client what to do, but rather make it completely their decision?”

Ultimately, I am selling my ideas, and I need my clients to buy into them.  It’s a sale beyond the sale.  It’s not about money, because they’ve already agreed to pay me to tell them what to do.

So how do I use High Probability Selling to do this sale beyond the sale?  How do I deliver my advice?

I studied the process that Jacques Werth calls the Conditions of Satisfaction (in the book, High Probability Selling) and I adapted the principles behind it to deliver the details of consulting advice.  In place of the list of Features, I used a very complete list of choices that the client could take.  For each choice, I gave my opinions about the benefits and detriments (based only on my experience and judgment), and I also asked others to contribute their own opinions about outcomes.  I usually wrote this all down on a whiteboard or flip-chart.  And then, at the end, I asked the HPS Closing Question:  “What do you want to do?”

No matter what they choose, I win (and so do they).

 

Charisma vs Passion in Selling

Charisma is about charming people.  It is a way of influencing how someone feels about you.  It may be natural, or it may be a technique for getting approval.

Passion (in this context) is how we feel about something we do.  Feeling passion and expressing passion are two very different things.  The first is real, and the second may be an act.  If we are not careful, our expression of passion may be interpreted as an attempt to influence how a prospect feels about what we are selling.

Influencing how a prospect feels is one way to sell.  However, influencing a prospect is not compatible with High Probability Selling.

We teach our students to maintain an objective, neutral, and businesslike manner when selling.  We put our passion and our energy into finding people who want what we are selling and into determining how likely the outcome will turn out the way we want it to.

Upcoming HPS Workshops:
Getting Personal (17 Jan 2017, $245);  Chapter 12 Explained (26 Jan 2017, $45);  Prospecting (21 Feb 2017, $1050)

How Can I Convince You That Convincing Doesn’t Work?

This is a question that I heard Jacques Werth ask many times, “How can I convince you that convincing doesn’t work?”

In a selling situation, Jacques knew that attempting to convince someone was not a good use of a salesperson’s time.  However, he was usually in a marketing situation when he asked that question, and he passionately wanted salespeople to become more successful.

Now that Jacques is retired, it’s my turn to ask, “How can I convince you that convincing doesn’t work?”

Here are some answers to think about:

  1. I could try to convince you by giving you logical arguments and reasons why you can’t convince someone.
    • Pros:  I’m very comfortable with creating and presenting logical arguments, and I’m good at it.  It works just often enough for me to keep trying.
    • Cons:  It hasn’t worked as well as I think it should.  Too many people resist being argued into a new belief.
  2. I could give you evidence of how other people have become more successful when they stopped trying to convince people.
    • Pros:  Some people can be influenced by evidence.  In this case, the evidence is available and doing this seems logical.
    • Cons:  Many people don’t trust evidence, because it is too often twisted and used to manipulate people’s beliefs.
  3. I could give up the idea of trying to convince you, and focus instead on finding someone who already believes that convincing doesn’t work.
    • Pros:  This is less stressful than trying to change someone’s mind, and can be a lot more effective (when done right).
    • Cons:  Working with people who already believe is tricky.  It is too easy to fall back to old habits, and turn them off by saying something persuasive.  Also, sometimes you don’t have the option of choosing who you are going to work with, and can’t just go find someone else.
  4. I could list some options for you to consider, providing my understanding of the pros and cons for each option, and without trying to steer you in any direction.  I could then ask you what you want to do.
    • Pros:  More people follow my advice when I present it objectively and don’t tell them what to do.
    • Cons:  Presenting advice this way is a lot more work.  It is frustrating to know that it would be so much quicker and easier if I just told you what to think.

What do you think?

%d bloggers like this: