By Victor Antonio, BSEE, MBA

In Part 1, I discussed how the ‘Redefining Tactic’ can be used to redefine the client’s purchasing priorities in your favor and to the detriment of your competitors.   In that example Bob wanted to buy a computer and ‘weight’ was a deciding factor but not a key factor. 

By using the redefining tactic we convinced Bob that it should be in at least the top three for making a buying decision.  Let’s assume for our purposes that Bob moved his ‘weight’ requirement to the top and the rest of the requirements shifted down accordingly.

At this stage of the sales process we have the client telling us that his top two requirements are weight and screen size.  These top two requirements now match up with our top two products strengths.  Up to this point we’ve done our job in redefining the client’s needs in our favor.  But what’s to hold Bob there?  What to stop him from changing his mind if a competitor came along and use the same ‘redefining tactic’ we used?

Using the Rule of Commitment, what we want to do is reinforce Bob’s requirements so he doesn’t change his mind later.  Here’s where the ‘highlighting’ tactic can come in handy.  The goal of highlighting is to get the client to agree on, let’s say in this case, the top two requirements which favor our product; weight and screen size.  If we can get Bob to agree to two key decision-making factors that are in our favor, our chances of closing the deal increase.   Let’s walk through another fictionalized sales scenario:

Salesperson: Bob, based on what we’ve talked about you’re telling now that these are our top five criteria: Weight, Screen Size, Brand, Memory and Price, is that right?

 

Bob: Yep.

 

Salesperson:  Assuming a reasonable price, a brand name computer with good memory capacity, your top two requirements, the must haves as we say, is a light computer with a good screen size?

 

Bob: You got it.

 

Salesperson: Well then, that makes my job in helping your easy.  Let me show you a couple of brand name models we have here that are the best of the best when it comes to light weight and large screen sizes.

At this point you have ‘framed the context’ of your discussing (i.e., about weight and screen sizes) making it that much easier for you to close the deal and making it that much harder for Bob to back out of the deal.  Every time you get Bob to define what really matters to him, you increase your chances of making the sales assuming your have a product fit of course.

Now you may be thinking, “Well, in and ideal world with an ideal client this may work, but not in the real world.  What if he doesn’t want to buy; then what?”  Well, let’s go through a close scenario that is real world.

Salesperson: Well Bob, these are the best two models we have to offer.  Which one shall we say is yours?

 

Bob: Well, I need to think about it a little more before I decide.

 

Salesperson: That’s fair.  But can I ask if it’s the price that’s bothering you? 

 

Bob: No, it’s not that.

 

Salesperson: These are top brands so it can’t be that; what’s holding you back?

 

Bob: Well, I think I’m going to need more memory capacity?

 

Salesperson: Did you know you can always add memory later on if you need it.

 

Bob: Okay. (pause)

 

Salesperson: Bob, you told me earlier that the two key decision making factors were weight and screen size.  Is that right?

 

Bob: Yes.

 

Salesperson: So here you have the best of both worlds.  With both of these models you get the lightest and the biggest.  You can go out and look for a lighter computer, but you won’t find one that has this large a screen size.  You can go out and look for a larger screen, but you won’t find one as light as ours.   No one comes close to our products with this combination.   And if it’s that important to you, which you told me it was, then let’s go ahead and get the process started, just tell me which one is going home with you?

The purpose of highlighting as you can see is threefold: get the client to agree on key features, frame the conversation around those key features, and if necessary in the closing stage, remind the client of the two features.

The pull or influence of the Rule of Commitment is very powerful here.  People don’t like to contradict themselves in order to avoid any appearance of deception or being seen as disingenuous.  Once Bob committed to the two key factors, his internal consistency belief system guides his behavior to act accordingly based on what he stated.

The more you can get a client to commit to what’s important and then highlight what was stated, the less wiggle room a client has for backing out of a sale.  This approach is not 100% fail safe, but it will dramatically increase your close rate if applied correctly.

A question often asked is, “What if after using the highlighting technique, they still won’t make a buying decision; what then?”   That’s a great question.  There are two ways of looking at this outcome.  First, maybe the client lied from the outset.  In that case, shame on Bob since there’s nothing you can do but move on to the next opportunity and hope it doesn’t happen again.  Second, even if Bob doesn’t buy right there and then, maybe your approach, at a minimum, has a lingering effect.  If Bob decides to check out a competitor of yours he is now armed with your information and will use it as a reference point.  If he can’t find what he wants elsewhere, he may be back.  All is not lost.

Lastly, it would be negligence on my part not to mention that as a sale gets bigger in terms of dollars or complexity, closing the deal on the spot gets harder since the commitment (e.g., financially and in terms of time) is greater.  If you’re selling high-end products or services, the best you can do is to help the client, Bob, determine what’s important when making a buying decision.  Obviously you’re going to slant the odds in your favor.  But in the end, if the deal doesn’t get done, as a salesperson and a representative of your company, you did all you could do to close the deal.  No one can ask for more than that!