WEEK 10 RAPPORT

The TACTIC: Hear the prospect’s music.

The STORY:“In conclusion,” said Nick, “I believe the picture I’ve painted, how my company’s products fit inperfectly with where you are now, will show us the path to a long and mutually beneficial rela-tionship.”

Lucy didn’t respond at first. As the newly appointed CEO, she was used to being able to aska million questions. Nick’s presentation format didn’t lend itself to that, especially when rightat the beginning, he said that all questions and concerns would be dealt with at the end.

“No questions?” asked Nick, seeing that Lucy was not responding.

“Well,” said Lucy, responding at last to a nagging question that finally surfaced in the back ofher mind, “somewhere at the beginning of your presentation I heard you say, or I think I heardyou say, that pricing guarantees were possible?”

“I see I have to clarify that. Pricing guarantees are only available if you have opted to purchasea range of our products from at least three different categories.”

“I have to say it; you’ve completely lost me.”

“Perhaps this will help,” said Nick, digging through his briefcase, finally coming up with theproduct comparison chart. As he unfolded it on Lucy’s desk, he noticed that she seemed evenmore perplexed than before. If she can’t see how this makes sense, thought Nick, maybe I’mjust wasting my time with her. Best break this off and go see someone who gets the picture.

As Nick was explaining the chart, Lucy’s phone rang. She picked it up and spoke for a minutefrowning.

“Nick, I’m sorry. This is a really important call. Tell you what, why don’t I call you tomorrow?We’ll talk.”

“No problem for me to stop in.”

“I don’t have time to see you tomorrow. I’ll call. Thanks for coming by.” As Nick left her office,she was relieved to finally be able to talk with someone.

As Nick was driving away, he was annoyed at how she had just whisked him away, but atleast he was out of there and on to someplace where they could see what he had.

The RESULT:Nick didn’t make the sale, and as he tried harder and harder to get his picture painted, Lucyheard less and less. The final note for Lucy was being presented with the comparison chart.Nick, despite being crystal clear in his presentation, had no idea why his straight-forwardapproach failed.

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DISCUSSION:Not everyone processes their world visually; somewhere around 40% of the population reliesprimarily on auditory information to make decisions. What does this have to do with makingsales?

In the story, Nick was communicating in visual terms such as “big picture,” “bringing intofocus,” and even using a chart at one point to compare models. Unfortunately, Nick wasattempting to communicate visually with his prospect who was an auditory perceiver of theworld.

Lucy was not getting the picture. Nick, and correctly so, sensed that he was losing her inter-est. So, doing what he has done in the past in such situations, he intensified his visual pres-entation with a chart, figuring that this would help.

With each escalation of visual information, Lucy was losing more and more interest in the pic-ture Nick was painting. Why?

She makes her buying decisions by hearing herself talk. If it sounds good then she’s inclinedto buy. Nick gave her little chance to communicate with herself.

APPROACH:To find out if you are dealing with an auditory prospect—one who makes buying decisionsbased on what she hears—ask her a simple question.

“The last time you made a purchase like this, what did you base your decision on?”

“Price.”

“I appreciate that . . . nothing else mattered?”

Your goal is to get her talking. Listen to the type of words she is using. Auditory processorsuse words and phrases like sound, talk, informed, heard, “music to my ears,” “I hear you loudand clear,” and so on.

Perhaps the best indication of an auditory person is that she likes to talk. This has nothing todo with gender. Male auditories are just as much involved with listening to themselves. Infact, you may have had the experience of selling to an auditory if you have ever said, “Gee,that prospect sold himself, and I didn’t even have to say anything.” Do you hear what I’m say-ing?

Don’t ever interrupt an auditory . . . wait until she is finished talking, then ask her anotherquestion.

THOUGHT:Some prospects hear their world, and if you don’t make music to their ears, not only will theyturn the volume down, they’ll even shut you off.