The Best Way to Insult a Prospect

Try and frame the conversation so they admit the mistakes and holes in their web sites/online marketing.

You have learned a valuable lesson, my little Padiwan.

If you insult anything the buyer has done before, you are attacking his reasoning. Nobody responds well to that.

I always compliment him on the fact that he did something, which puts him in the upper 20%. I always also tell prospects that all my clients already have a website.

I'm really trying to make any work they have had done irrelevant.

Never criticize a prospects previous buying decision. I wouldn't even agree with them if they criticize it.

Because any criticism will be considered an attack. And any insulting of a previous buying decision will cause them to get even... by not buying from you.


I can tell you with absolute certainty, that complimenting the prospect on something they have already done, paves the road to the next buying decision...which is buying from you.

There are enough speed bumps on the road to a sale. There is no need to create your own.

Another way to address this is, early on in the conversation, ask who did the ad or promotion? Ask whether they like it? You'd be surprised, many don't like what the other guy did and will tell you. I still wouldn't chime in, but it does bring up the whole issue of ineffective advertising without you saying it directly.

That is a hard line to walk because a consultant is viewed as
someone who is going to use my watch to tell me what time it is.

Until you know more, treat all their work as if their spouse or brother
or niece did it, because that is often true.

Get your underlying attitude and approach to be how your experience and hours
of research/expertise is going to help them get their future - in areas they
bring up - how they want it to be. Sort of: "I've done this and have this expertise and
can offer these services. How can we work together to get what you want?"

Dan

Misleading title, I was ready to type up a whole page full of ways to insult biz owners...

Even well intentioned suggestions will come across as insulting to many biz owners.
Its just a natural reaction. Think about it, they are busting their ass trying to run a business , putting all the pieces together(sales, accounting, inventory, employees,etc) and then someone who is not even part of it has the nerve to tell them
how they arent doing something right.

Plainly stated, you can't tell people that they're wrong.

You've never been married, eh?

If you're telling people that they're wrong, they'll take it personally. You don't want to hit their ego. The thing to point out as the flaw is the marketing tactic itself as a separate entity.

"Honey you're peeling the potato all wrong" is a way different message than "that potato was peeled incorrectly" is a way different message than "let me show you another way to peel that potato. See what you think."

If you build them up with compliments first, which some people do, keep in mind we've all had people do that to us. Except for maybe three people in Bulgaria. And when they're laying on the compliments, we go "uh oh" and wait for the other shoe to drop. Especially when we hear the word "but." That throws everything before it out the window.

What about using the "its not your fault that your sales process sucks" strategy to help them justify their faults? Using something like "Its amazing how much you've accomplished but since there's only 24 hours in a day, there's no way you can do all of that plus implement an optimized sales process". Which obviously is another selling point for them to hire you.

"Can I say something without offending you.....?"

or

"Can I say something without you getting upset.....?"

ASK PERMISSION TO SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY

e.g. "Can I say something without you getting upset.....?"

"You don't know your current cost per lead, your current cost per sale.
You're unsure what the life time value of a customer is, but you're happy
with the way you're managing your marketing.....Have I missed something?"

They cant get upset at you at having given you permission to point out their faults.

I avoid criticizing any part of their business at all costs. Yes, there are ways listed above that might not offend them so much, but I look at this like telling someone their baby is ugly!

We take our businesses very seriously, and every aspect of it is personal. Even if I KNEW my baby was ugly, if my sister whom I dearly love told me that, I would be offended. Much less some stranger off the street walks up to me and says it.

If you really earn trust first, as a professional, you can start asking about different parts of their business in a complimentary way. The more you talk about their different strategies, they will begin to uncover some things that they aren't happy with. THOSE are the things you question further.

Don't just ask random questions either, ask questions about the situation and then ask them questions that lead them to tell you what solving those problems would do for them.

Now, you know the pain points, you know the problems they cause, and you know what it would mean to them to fix it. When you pitch your product, you weave all these things into your presentation. Don't tell them what YOU like about your product. Tell them what it will mean to them when they have it.

This is deeper than many sales people go and it isn't a style that works for all. It also takes a LOT of practice to do it on the fly. Learning this is where I came up with my legal pad tactic that I mentioned in another thread. There are other tricks to this method, but that is the framework I use. It works great.

It doesn't have to be framed as an issue of right vs wrong.

Instead of "here is what you are doing wrong and here is what you should be doing instead", you can frame it as "here is what you are doing, which is a great place to start from, and here is what works even better".

I guess it depends on the words you use. I'd be inclined to start with talking about what is good (there must be something), and then talk about opportunities for improvement rather than their faults.

Yes a compliment first can build them up so they feel better. Or you could try the insult first and then the compliment.

Howzabout "So... what do you think would work better than what you're doing now?"

Now you're not saying it at all, but inferring that their marketing wasn't so hot. And getting them to start talking about possible changes, which if they start talking, suggests that they agree their marketing can be improved. And gets them involved. And to which you can then add your "thoughts" to.

Early on you want to be positive about anything they can.

Then instead of pointing out their marketing mistakes introduce
any suggestions you have as new strategies they can add on
to what they've already started.

That is usually the least offensive way of doing things.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh