|
In Chris Voss and Steve Shull's book The Full Fee Agent, I was enthralled by the chapter titled "Let them say no." In just a few pages the concept discussed had my mind spinning when thinking about our team and how we are engaging our prospects. I want to share a few blurbs from the book for context here and then what we worked on in Hit the Mitts this week as a result.
The concept is centered around how people more easily say NO than YES. When someone says "no" to what we are offering, in general they are preserving status quo, they are putting up a boundary, as compared to "yes" which is a point of vulnerability and trust that may not be earned yet. No comes out more easily than Yes.
Salespeople in general aim for YES's - asking questions that no person in their right mind wouldn't say yes to, but feel sleazy and leave the client now feeling somewhat suspicious and coerced.
An example of a typical YES question we may use is "Don't you want to make 8-12% more on your property?"
All of this being said, we want to ask questions that drop a prospect's guard, so we can make a real connection, and that give them a real choice... not a ridiculous one. That's where Let Them Say No, comes in. An intentional "no" question allows the "no" to get out of the way up front, shakes out that reflex and opens their mind. This allows for a more genuine discussion without the coercion or the "sales-yness" most of us find deeply repugnant.
Some examples the book gave of "yes" questions reoriented as "no" questions to help make this more solid:
"Is now a good time to talk?" > "Is now a bad time to talk?"
"Can I share a story?" > "Would you be opposed if I shared a story?"
"Don't you want a strong negotiator representing you?" > "Would I be wrong to assume that strong negotiation skills are important to you?"
As you can see, slight changes in language impact the way a person initially feels and responds to you - being able to do this well prevents the shutdown that so many of us have encountered. The emotional door slam that's so difficult to successfully overcome. Once you have an open door, you can use open ended questions to dig in with the prospect. The book calls these "calibrated questions" - they are HOW and WHAT questions that allow you to really know what your prospect is thinking, feeling so you're able to connect and show you understand them.
Calibrated questions could be:
What is most important to you in this process?
How do you see this playing out?
What would it take for you to move forward with me?
What else do we need to discuss?
How will you know you've made the right choice?
In Thursday's Hit the Mitts we dug in and practiced these new skills; I highly recommend you tune into that rewatch if you missed it - real time skill building. As a result of some deep thinking on this and the importance of the elevator speech to our success, have a look at this...
The Elevator Speech with a "No" Question
72 SOLD is the only no cost way for you to see, in real time, what the top offers are for your home from local and national buyers while making no commitment to sell. The homes that qualify for our Top of the Market protocol are getting on average 8-12% higher prices in just 8 days. It's quick, convenient and we've got the independent studies to verify our success.
Would you be opposed to find out if your home qualifies?
Boom. Delicious right?
Let's continue to broaden our understanding of how to best help people reach their goals by sharpening our skills!
Love you guys!
Monie
| 
