One of my partners, Joe Southworth, and I were talking recently about real-life examples of using UnSelling tactics and he made a great observation. His contention was that ‘trust’ is our ultimate goal in relating to our clients and one way to develop trust is to provide the client with multiple alternatives. He offered a simple example using a doctor/patient relationship.
Let’s say a patient walks into the orthopedist’s office and declares, “My knee is killing me after I hurt it playing tennis yesterday!” The doctor could easily take an X-Ray or MRI and say, “You need surgery on that knee.” Even if the diagnosis is absolutely correct, the ailing patient is likely to be skeptical. He may wonder, “How does he know that already?” “What are my other treatment options?” “Maybe I should get a second opinion.” Regardless, the patient is hesitant at best and more likely skeptical – in large part because the Doctor has provided exactly one option – surgery!
On the other hand, a Doctor (or salesperson for that matter) that offers multiple alternatives to the patient by saying, “You actually have a few alternative approaches and let me share with you the risk and benefits of each.” He then goes on to offer options including:
- Physical therapy without surgery
- A cast to immobilize the knee for a short period to see if it will heal by itself
- And the third option of arthroscopic ligament surgery
In this case the patient feels better educated, is provided reasonable alternatives, and now feels as though they have a choice in the matter. They are still likely to choose the surgery option (which is the Doctor’s best recommendation) but the big difference is that there tends to be far more trust between buyer (patient) and seller (Doctor) when the client is provided choices.
Try it yourself – instead of telling the prospect that you have the right solution, help them understand the reasonable options they should consider. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to see that they often reply, “That’s helpful – what do you think I should choose amongst these alternatives?” You’ve just changed the nature of the relationship to one of trust and collaboration!
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