1. You control them constantly with questions.
We’ve discussed these techniques in detail in chapter 3.
Giving a powerful presentation or a deft demonstration should never be your purpose in and of itself—you’re not there to win an award, you’re there to close the sale. The only purpose for presenting or demonstrating is to get the prospect ready to approve the purchase. Except for its value as a training exercise, there’s absolutely no point in giving a splendid presentation unless it results in a sale.
There’s no essential difference between a presentation and a demonstration. Both are processes by which you prove the reality of the benefits that the prospects are seeking. In the presentation, you do it with graphs, numbers, and words; in the demonstration, you do it with tests, samples, and performances. The result should be the same: the implanting in their minds of the conviction that you are their best source for the benefits they want.
Let’s go through the tactics or methodology of presentation and demonstration:
2. You don’t lose to objections, you win by handling objections.
On almost every product or service, any active salesperson will discover most of the built-in objections within the first month. A built-in objection is one that the prospect will give you nearly every time. After a few months in the business, the salespeople will say, “I always get hit with that objection.”
If you think that, why not also say to yourself, “I’m lucky because I know in advance what objections I’m going to be hit with, so I can prepare to handle them before I go into my presentation.”
One of our Champions told me a story that’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about. Scott Sparks was a high flyer in real estate sales at the time this happened. A builder he knew was having no luck at all closing out Selling
the last few houses in a large subdivision. All the other homes had sold so quickly—some even before they were built—_that the developer hadn’t worried much about the eighteen houses that backed up on the railroad tracks until several weeks passed without action on any of them. Then the builder discovered that he couldn’t give those houses away. He ran ads. He lowered the total investment and cut the initial investment, and then he threw in some extra landscaping. Nothing worked. People walked in, looked at the tracks, and walked out, Of course it didn’t help that there were several other new subdivisions selling against him in the area.
Scott Sparks heard about these eighteen houses that wouldn’t sell and drove over to take a look at them. Then he went to see the builder and said, “If you’d like to market those houses in thirty days, give me an exclusive and I’ll do it for you.”
“I can’t drop the price any lower,” the builder said. “I’m already losing money on them.”
“Don’t lower the price,” Scotty said. “Raise it enough to include a color TV and I’ll move them right out for you.”
The builder didn’t really believe him. But Scott was the first agent in weeks who’d been willing to say he could sell the houses, so he decided very quickly to give him the go-ahead. The next day, up went a sign in front of the models that read, “Shown only at 2, 4, and 6 P.M.” Why?
Because that’s when the trains came by.
Before each showing, Scott Sparks would get all the prospects together and tell them, “These homes have an advantage that few homes have, and I’d like to show it to you right now.” He’d lead them into the living room, turn the TV on, and say, “All eighteen of these homes come with this beautiful color TV set. You know why? Because we want this TV set to overcome something that might be a problem for you. I’d like you all to take a look out that back window.”
The people would look and see the railroad tracks. Then Scotty would go on, “Your children will get the opportunity to see the famous iron horse up close. Aren’t they going to love it? But some of you may be irritated by the sound, so I’d like you all to do me a small favor. Let’s be real quiet and listen, because a train’s coming through in a few minutes.”
Scott Sparks would time this so that there’d be four or five minutes before the train would come. The TV, of course, would be playing—not too loud, but loud enough to be heard. Pretty soon the people would be watching it, not saying much, and the train could be heard coming.
So it would come and go, and most of the people would glance at it and keep on watching the TV. Then Scotty would say, “You see? Thirty-eight seconds of sound, and that’s it, We wanted you to hear it so you’d know what you’d have to put up with for the color TV. What do you think-_is it worth It?”
Scott Sparks sold those homes in thirty days. Do you see why? He didn’t hide the objection and hope they wouldn’t see the railroad tracks-_he bragged about the problem.
Another of our Champions is always on the lookout for problem things that no one else can market, I won’t use his name because some of his clients might not be happy to realize that they bought something from him that practically no one else could sell. This man finds items that inspire objects, and then he figures out ways to brag about those objections.
I don’t know about you, but that’s too rough for me. Yet it’s just a question of degree, because there isn’t a product or a service on the market that doesn’t have some built-in objections and at least a few minor problem You believe in your product or service. Then believe in its minor problemi and built-in objections too. Brag about them. If you do that, you’ll find that it’s never as bad as your prospects will think it’ll be if they discover the difficulties themselves. In many cases, you’ll be able to turn problems and objections into advantages if you’ll just take the trouble to find crisp ways to accent them.
I’m not suggesting that you should set your potential clients down and, in an undertaker’s voice, tell them, “This is why you’re going to have big trouble with our product.” Scotty Sparks didn’t do that. He pointed out the problem, demonstrated that it wasn’t all that much of a problem — and then went on to show that the advantage offered outweighed the disadvantage involved. Usually, if you plan how to bring up the major objection before your prospect hits you with it, you’ll be able to settle that objection quickly.
3. You say it in words they want to hear.
All of us come equipped with a filtering device — we all have the ability to filter out unwanted sound. This device is indispensable; it allows us to mull over our inner thoughts in peace whenever people are pounding our ears with anything less interesting than our own brain waves.
Everyone you’ll ever try to sell has an effective filter of this kind that can be switched on instantaneously because we all develop it in childhood. This means that you have to learn how to prevent the filter from being switched on. Otherwise, you’ll make most of your terrific sales arguments to switched off, unhearing minds behind deaf ears. Let’s face it — you can’t make any money talking to yourself.
The basic problem here is that most salespeople sound exactly alike. Same ideas. Even the same words. And they’re all tired, overused, and boring words.
In this, as in all things relating to sales, the Champion is different. The Champion has a view of the world that’s new with every dawn, and he expresses his newly born ideas with phrases that have verve. He understands and respects the value of words, and is keenly aware of and interested in them. He constantly develops his ear for the beauty, power, and endless variety of the English language. He is forever trying new phrases, allusions, and words to expand the effective range of his vocabulary. He takes delight in spoken wit and sensitive expression.