4 Effective Strategies to Present Negative Information





There comes a time where you have to tell your clients negative information. It happens to the best of us. The interaction is great and you may be close to getting a deal closed but then your client asks a question. The answer might take all the air out of your sails and kill the whole deal. If that happens you know you’ll be as helpless as George W. Bush trying to remember the “fool me once” saying. You start to think in your head “oh no I forgot to go over this, now they are going to freak out… how could I do this?! Stupid.” At this point you have a concerned look on your face like you forgot the oven on at home that day. You give them the answer and your worst nightmare becomes reality and it kills the whole deal, making them walk. Prevent yourself from going through this because no one needs to go through such anguish.

Instead, focus on what you can control. I there are a few ways to handle such situations. First, you can use humor to get your client laughing and smiling. Next, you can present the negative and follow up with a positive. Also, there is a strategy to present a blown up number or figure and then add humor to dial it back to a more reasonable figure. Your verbiage is important to remember during these situations. Using words like only, just, and merely will psychologically make things not seem so bad. Our brains start to create reason to this information by hearing these words. Give it a try sometime.

Also, being positive and smiling throughout this whole process will aid in your success. People buy from people they like. Having a sour look on your face (RBF as we call in the biz) and a frown will not make you a likeable person. Force yourself to be upbeat and to smile! You will see more success and find yourself having less customer issues that kill deals. Sales is a tough game so you will want to assist yourself any way you can. Make your life easier.

4 Easy Strategies to Present Negative Information

Now, if presented in a correct way you can make the news seem either positive or at least not so bad. There are a few ways that I have found to be very effective. Here are the 4 different techniques to help you overcome these potential issues:
  1. Beat your client to the punchline. The easiest way to overcome an objection is to beat your client to the punch. Diffuse the bomb while it’s still gunpowder and a pipe. Make sure you cover your basis and inform your clients on information that may kill a deal. Do this early and often and you’ll become more successful with it.
  2. Use humor to lighten the mood. I use this concept when I get hit with price complaints. An example of this would look something like “alright the total today comes to $24,599. Will you be financing or paying out of pocket today?” Client responds with “Wow! That’s a lot more than I was expecting!” You can add humor to your rebuttal and say “you are right but we do take payments of arms and legs, so which one would you rather give me?” By now, your client is smiling and thinking about the experience you have provided them. You can follow up on a more serious note and try to sell the financing. Adding humor will lighten the mood and get your client smiling. It is a downhill battle if you get people laughing and having a good time.
  3. Present the negative and follow up with a positive. This is a masking technique to take the attention off the potential issue by focusing back on all the positives. An example of this would look like “Your bedroom set and mattress comes to a total of only $5749.99. Which means we are one step closer to getting you a beautiful bedroom set with a great night of sleep that will help fix that back pain you’re experiencing. Would you like to go ahead and get it?” This example we skip right over the high price and focus on the benefits from the bedroom set and mattress.
  4. Jokingly, present a blown up number then dial it back to the reasonable number. This concept simultaneously uses humor. I’ll use this example for a scenario where your client asks about an order time frame and you are not sure how they will take it. Client asks “how long will this take to get in?” You can answer with “The order is going to take anywhere from 6-9 months to get in and delivered to you (try to keep a straight face).” Client responds with “what that’s insane!?” Finally, you answer with “No, I’m just kidding it will only take about 8 weeks to get in! (with a positive inflection)” The key to this is to start with a somewhat inflated number. You don’t want to be too exaggerated because then it is not believed at all. Also, notice my verbiage in that scenario by using ‘only’ and ‘weeks’ instead of months. Psychologically, these help put the brain at ease.
Use these strategies next time you feel yourself getting into a bind. Implement them early and often. You can never add too many jokes into your sales cycle and especially in the close. Humor and the feeling of happiness is extremely effective. The greats use this to their advantage. You will perform more and have a better time while doing it. Give it a shot!

Please comment what you thought of this post! Which one of the tactics is your favorite and why? Also, can you please share this article if you found it valuable and subscribe to my blog?! I appreciate all the support!

Go now and be the sales assassins that I know you are!

-Cody

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