By Victor Antonio, BSEE, MBA
As a kid growing up in the inner city of Chicago (picture; childhood home), it wasn’t unusual to see vagrants and drug dealers loiter about the streets. I’d often see them go up to a stranger and ‘bum’ a cigarette, “Hey man, you gotta smoke?”
The stranger would nod yes, give the vagrant a cigarette and a lighter. After lighting the cigarette, taking a few puffs and returning the stranger’s lighter the vagrant would thank the stranger and then ask, “Hey, do have any spare change in your pocket so I can get something to eat?” More often than not the stranger would dig into his pocket and pull out a few coins, fork them over and continue on his way.
If they didn’t know the stranger was a smoker, a much safer approach was to ask them for the time of day, “Hey mister, can you tell me what time it is?” And then they’d follow-up with the ‘spare change’ request.
This was life in the neighborhood (a.k.a., The ‘Hood) and I didn’t think much of this technique until I began studying influence and persuasion theories. One in particular called the Foot-In-The-Door (FITD) technique brought these innercity memories back.
The FITD technique involves making a small, negligible request first and then following up with a much larger request. The first small request (i.e., Initial Request) is a setup for the real request (i.e., Target Request). Studies have shown that if someone agrees to your first request, they are likely to agree to your second request.
In selling, what if we could use the FITD technique to increase our chances of getting a prospect to say yes to buying our product, would that be useful?
Let’s setup a scenario where you might be able to use this technique to your advantage. For example, you’re in your first meeting with a prospect. The initial goal is to reduce the prospect’s sales resistance by asking him a simple question, one that you know he will say yes to:
You: “Mr. Prospect. Would you consider buying product that can do X,Y and Z and save you money?” (Initial Request)
Prospect: “Yeah, I might if it really did what you said it could and was priced right.”
You: “Fair enough. I’ll let you take our new Gizmo 3000 for a week and let you see for yourself that it does work and will save you money in the long run.” (Target Request)
Notice that the initial request had the non-binding and seemingly harmless phrase ‘would you consider'. This three-word phrase is powerful because it reduces sales resistance by ‘priming the prospect’ with a small request; to simply ‘consider’ buying the product. After the prospect responds positively you then reveal your true intention (i.e., your target request) by asking the prospect to take the product and use it. The goal is NEVER to sell the prospect on the spot, but to get the prospect to agree to use the product in the first place with the hope of selling it later (i.e., try it, like it, buy it).
The key to the FITD technique is to get a small commitment upfront (i.e., consider using) and then ask for a bigger commitment (i.e., use the product). Getting the prospect to use the product puts you at the half-way mark of closing any deal.
Victor Antonio, Sales Influence
p.s., The FITD technique can backfire. Here’s an example of a poorly structured Initial Request: “Mr. Prospect, have you ever considered using a product that does X, Y and Z?” If the prospect has never really given it much thought, his immediate response would probably be “No.” It’s hard to move the sale forward when the prospect is in a ‘no-state’.
