Get your prospects to connect the dots so they sell themselves on your stuff

8 replies
It happened the other night. I was on a sales call and I guided the prospect to connect the dots so it being fresh on my mind I thought I'd share a simple way to do this.

(Maybe everyone on earth already knows how to accomplish this so if this is something you've been doing since 1979, please pardon me.)

You can intentionally engineer something like this to happen.

I was asking the prospective client some questions, basically these were the "what do you hope to get out of this?" type of questions. And his answer was something I usually hear as an answer... which was a benefit he was looking to derive as an outcome...

[that's the first thing about this. You already know what they're likely to answer as their desired outcomes ]

...and I repeated that benefit back to him, lowering my voice for emphasis.

Then some time later during the sales presentation itself, showing what I can do, I asked what would it be like if he had my service. And he answered stating a benefit related to the one mentioned earlier.

[and that's the second thing about this. You know you're going to show people how you can get those results for them, results which bring those same benefits they told you they wanted as an outcome earlier.]

And so I repeated that first benefit back to them again, tieing it in. Lowered my voice again for emphasis. I repeated back the benefit they originally stated about what they wanted to derive out of my service.

It made the point dramatically.

Here's an example just to illustrate so for this example let's say I was selling physical trainer services:

Me: "And why would that outcome be important to you?"

Prospect: "Because I want to be able to feel better about myself. Have more energy."

Me (spoken as if making a point): "Feel better... have more energy..."

And then later after presenting my services and showing them a before and after of my clients I ask, "what would it be like if you had these results?"

Prospect: "I'd be more physically fit, have more self confidence."

Me (making a point): "Because you'd feel better... and have more energy."

Prospect (as it dawns on him): "yeah..."
#connect #dots #prospects #sell #stuff
  • Profile picture of the author SVCGUY
    sales 101 bro
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    People like it when it's their idea - even when you're the one who gave it to them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by misterme View Post

    It happened the other night. I was on a sales call and I guided the prospect to connect the dots so it being fresh on my mind I thought I'd share a simple way to do this.

    (Maybe everyone on earth already knows how to accomplish this so if this is something you've been doing since 1979, please pardon me.)

    You can intentionally engineer something like this to happen.

    I was asking the prospective client some questions, basically these were the "what do you hope to get out of this?" type of questions. And his answer was something I usually hear as an answer... which was a benefit he was looking to derive as an outcome...

    [that's the first thing about this. You already know what they're likely to answer as their desired outcomes ]

    ...and I repeated that benefit back to him, lowering my voice for emphasis.

    Then some time later during the sales presentation itself, showing what I can do, I asked what would it be like if he had my service. And he answered stating a benefit related to the one mentioned earlier.

    [and that's the second thing about this. You know you're going to show people how you can get those results for them, results which bring those same benefits they told you they wanted as an outcome earlier.]

    And so I repeated that first benefit back to them again, tieing it in. Lowered my voice again for emphasis. I repeated back the benefit they originally stated about what they wanted to derive out of my service.

    It made the point dramatically.

    Here's an example just to illustrate so for this example let's say I was selling physical trainer services:

    Me: "And why would that outcome be important to you?"

    Prospect: "Because I want to be able to feel better about myself. Have more energy."

    Me (spoken as if making a point): "Feel better... have more energy..."

    And then later after presenting my services and showing them a before and after of my clients I ask, "what would it be like if you had these results?"

    Prospect: "I'd be more physically fit, have more self confidence."

    Me (making a point): "Because you'd feel better... and have more energy."

    Prospect (as it dawns on him): "yeah..."
    Not sales 101. A thesis on selling.

    I've never heard it explained like this. The part that's fresh to me is the repeating of the anchor benefit they gave earlier. The prospect didn't tie anything together, you did. The prospect just remembered what you each said earlier, and it sounded right to him.

    It's probably in an NLP sales course somewhere...at least a version of it, but this is going in my vault of powerful selling ideas.

    If a prospect tells you an outcome that they told you they want, they can't argue with it later, when you just repeat it back to them. Strong technique.

    Thanks.

    "Selling 101", right.
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  • Profile picture of the author phil.wheatley
    Originally Posted by misterme View Post

    Prospect: "I'd be more physically fit, have more self confidence."

    Me (making a point): "Because you'd feel better... and have more energy."

    Prospect (as it dawns on him): "yeah..."
    Wow, this is on the verge of Jedi mind tricks!! We should call you Obi Wan ;-) Great post and one I will be saving. Note that Claude said he learnt something from this, and that guy could sell snow to Eskimos!

    Cheers
    Phil
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    • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
      Originally Posted by phil.wheatley View Post

      Wow, this is on the verge of Jedi mind tricks!! We should call you Obi Wan ;-) Great post and one I will be saving. Note that Claude said he learnt something from this, and that guy could sell snow to Eskimos!

      Cheers
      Phil
      But he wouldn't sell snow to Eskimos because they don't need it. lol
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      • Profile picture of the author phil.wheatley
        Originally Posted by bizgrower View Post

        But he wouldn't sell snow to Eskimos because they don't need it. lol
        LOL!! Good point. We could start a whole thread of sales jokes in Claude's honour, in the same vein as Chuck Norris jokes. Something along the lines of "Claude doesn't sell to people, they beg to buy from him". :-)

        p.s Chuck Norris doesn't do push ups, instead he pushes the world down!
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    • Profile picture of the author misterme
      Originally Posted by SVCGUY View Post

      sales 101 bro
      It ought to be, shouldn't it? Engineering aha! moments to go on like light bulbs in people's heads? Like I wrote, I thought there would be some to whom this is nothing new. But most basic sales stuff is... basic.

      Originally Posted by Darrin Bentley View Post

      Nicely done. While this is a VERY smart strategy (in print), I would LOVE to hear an example! Like tone, inflection, etc. Not discounting the method in any way, would love to "hear" it in action.

      Again, nicely done!
      Thanks. Yep, tone is part of this. Which is why I mention stage directions such as lowering my voice (to anchor the statement for later) and repeating the benefit speaking as if to make a point. There's also a pause for dramatic effect letting it sink in. HOW something's said certainly connotates a specific message in itself.

      Originally Posted by phil.wheatley View Post

      Wow, this is on the verge of Jedi mind tricks!! We should call you Obi Wan ;-) Great post and one I will be saving. Note that Claude said he learnt something from this, and that guy could sell snow to Eskimos!
      Thanks. I was born about a month or two before Claude. So I have the advantage of figuring out some stuff a few mere weeks before he does.
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  • Profile picture of the author Darrin Bentley
    Originally Posted by misterme View Post

    It happened the other night. I was on a sales call and I guided the prospect to connect the dots so it being fresh on my mind I thought I'd share a simple way to do this.

    (Maybe everyone on earth already knows how to accomplish this so if this is something you've been doing since 1979, please pardon me.)

    You can intentionally engineer something like this to happen.

    I was asking the prospective client some questions, basically these were the "what do you hope to get out of this?" type of questions. And his answer was something I usually hear as an answer... which was a benefit he was looking to derive as an outcome...

    [that's the first thing about this. You already know what they're likely to answer as their desired outcomes ]

    ...and I repeated that benefit back to him, lowering my voice for emphasis.

    Then some time later during the sales presentation itself, showing what I can do, I asked what would it be like if he had my service. And he answered stating a benefit related to the one mentioned earlier.

    [and that's the second thing about this. You know you're going to show people how you can get those results for them, results which bring those same benefits they told you they wanted as an outcome earlier.]

    And so I repeated that first benefit back to them again, tieing it in. Lowered my voice again for emphasis. I repeated back the benefit they originally stated about what they wanted to derive out of my service.

    It made the point dramatically.

    Here's an example just to illustrate so for this example let's say I was selling physical trainer services:

    Me: "And why would that outcome be important to you?"

    Prospect: "Because I want to be able to feel better about myself. Have more energy."

    Me (spoken as if making a point): "Feel better... have more energy..."

    And then later after presenting my services and showing them a before and after of my clients I ask, "what would it be like if you had these results?"

    Prospect: "I'd be more physically fit, have more self confidence."

    Me (making a point): "Because you'd feel better... and have more energy."

    Prospect (as it dawns on him): "yeah..."
    Nicely done. While this is a VERY smart strategy (in print), I would LOVE to hear an example! Like tone, inflection, etc. Not discounting the method in any way, would love to "hear" it in action.

    Again, nicely done!
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