Diminished, but Amplified
Humans, especially people you’re trying to influence, are skeptical of things that appear to good to be true. Today we’ll discuss a positioning tool that can help your stakeholder be more open-minded. Let’s dive in.
Imagine you’re in a client pitch meeting. You know your customer will need to jump through a few hoops to effectively implement your product. You’re sensing an objection about to happen. You can either say:
You’re going to drive at least 20-25% more monthly revenue by implementing XYZ technology. Sure, it’s going to require us to do the work to integrate the tech. But it really shouldn’t be too heavy of a lift on your end.
There aren’t any shortcuts to driving ideal outcomes. You’re going to have to put in about an hour or two of work a week for the rest of the quarter to integrate XYZ technology. We’ll have to collaborate with your developers. But if you do this, you can expect a 20-25% increase in revenue and are setting yourself up to have your best quarter ever.
With option A, you try to diminish the negative outcome (added workload) to your customer after painting the ideal picture for them (20% more revenue). But there are strings subtly attached. And that's a big hurdle your buyer will struggle to overcome.
With option B you confront the difficulties head on. Once the challenges have been plainly laid on the table, the ideal outcome seems more realistic. Sure, leading with the tough reality diminishes the positives. But it further amplifies the ideal outcomes. Does it work every time? No. But it works more of the time than ending with, and thus amplifying, the negative.
It’s normal to fear a competitor would “outbid you” by glossing over product fit negatives or implementation challenges. Meanwhile, you’re confronting them head-on. But you’re not giving your buyer enough credit. Addressing the elephant in the room builds trust. Unfortunately many salespeople try to downplay the negatives or challenges of moving forward with a deal. Whichever phrases follow a qualifier word (like “but”)— especially after highlighting benefits— will send off alarm bells to your audience and raise their awareness. You can choose what you want to amplify.
Listen to Chris Voss, a FBI hostage negotiator, who said "diffuse a negative by stating the negative."
Flip the script. Try addressing inevitable challenges with clients or stakeholders directly on a call this week before immediately diving into the benefits.
Only 3% of people think salespeople are trustworthy (source). There are multiple of reasons why, but I can guarantee one of the reasons is withholding of information during the buying process. Transparency lowers a client’s fear you’re a self-orientated seller.