How do you say "I don't know"

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How do you say "I don't know." while keeping the momentum for a pitch?



Suppose you have a service X. The assessment takes as much as 3-4 weeks of full time work, may or may not involve interviewing key personnel of the target company, and may amount to nothing in the end. But on the flip side, the savings are more than worth the candle... if there are savings to be made.

Do you pitch the assessment, the same way that dentists sell cleaning/exams (and then upsell you on the fillings)? I feel that could be one way, but it's ingrained in our culture that we should go to the dentist every six months.


How about if it's a screening for something you might bet once every decade but not everyday?


(What I'm thinking about is not medical in nature, but it's the closest analogy I could think of. )
#i dont know
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Different offers are best pitched one way. But those ways are different depending on the nature of what you are selling..

    I would have to know what you are selling to be of any help.
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  • Profile picture of the author zenattica
    in pitches I usually say something like "I don't have that answer yet, but that's exactly what the assessment is for. It keeps momentum without pretending to know everything For rare or high-stakes assessments, positioning it as a diagnostic instead of a guarantee tends to make sense
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  • Troo.

    Sumtimes you jus' don't know.

    An' I believe sum chump from back in the day disconfugurated buttween degrees of naht knowin'.

    Kinda things you don't know, an' things you don't know you don't know.

    Which kinda means you know sumthin' ... most important bein' maintainin' momentum in a moment of challenge.

    We all been there.

    I get this when priapic teens try to lick my hair.

    Thing is tho, there is a second part to your query relatin' to people who don't know 'bout what you want 'em to know.

    Plus also, seems they need a warmup gaht nuthin' to do with your hmmm naht sure stance.

    So ima thinkin' you gaht 2 reflecshwaahn points here.

    1) Am I clear 'bout the basis of what I propose?

    Ansa here is to research deepah as you luxuriate 'pon yr favo cushions.

    2) Can I figure an 'easy pitch' for this, as if yr service was established, front of mind most evryplace.

    See, bcs mosta us here could venture X words 'bout the ambulance service. Evrywan knows what this is bcs we all gaht touchpoint on it.

    So what if your thing was BIG (scuse Moi), MASSIVE (uh huh), UNIVERSALLY HUGE (jus' gotta fan musself here) -- kinda what is gonna be said in the fyootyoore?

    When this is here, how people gonna speak 'bout it?

    Cain't figure where dentists fit in, but I hope you gaht sumthin' from this broad overview.

    Actschlly, I DO know where dentists fit in.

    Las' time I was summoned to the Palace undahbelly by Dr Flange an' her orthodontickyewl team (yeah, that is actschlly her name, though I believe she is also called Susan), natchrlly ima concerned bcs I mostly eat incinerated foodstuffs c/o zero tallint in the culinary areenah.

    As Anton Bruckner boomed from the surgery speakahs, Dr Flange laid me down on the zamminayschwaahn couch, jugglin' piercy utensils like an assassin.

    Thankfully, she dressed all in white, so I figured there gonna be no blud else'n her outfit gonna be ROOWINNED.

    Then she does that Dentist Chess shit.

    R1 B2 X7 9T ... gowin' through muh pertickulahs for the admin gal.

    Yanno in yr heart FIENDS would DRUG HER, hopin' for unconscious spurto of bank details -- or mebbe jus' an uninhibited rendishwaahn of Bat Out of Hell.

    (Uniform. Rebellion. Stokes sum people. Jus' sayin'.)

    Yeah so anyways next she says, "you have evident staining to the incisors, almost as if you had bitten into the flames bursting from Satan's posterior, but I'm happy to say you're looking exceptional in the wisdom region."

    So I'm like yeah I'm a Sagittarius, that is my jahb.

    Gaht the Boob Perk Noyce next week, 3am Toosday.

    Most fun a gal can have with matchin' porcelain spoons an' a qualified profeshnil who is prolly a lesbian ...
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    Lightin' fuses is for blowin' stuff togethah.

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