a client brought me a deal he lost recently.
The prospect told him: “We want our advisor to be more proactive.”
Most salespeople would hear that and immediately start thinking of ways they and/or their company is proactive. then provide compelling evidence and justifications to prove it.
This is a mistake.
The real question is: More proactive relative to what?
Those two words “more proactive” tell you there’s a comparison being made. And people need contrast in order to make decisions.
Maybe their current advisor contacts them once a year and they want someone who checks in quarterly.
Maybe they expect you to identify tax opportunities before they ask.
Maybe “proactive” means calling them every time the market drops 5%.
or maybe they expect you to walk their dog and take little Timmy to baseball practice every Tuesday at 3pm.
Each of these points represents a “conversation portal” you can enter that will steer the conversation in a particular direction, potentially leading you to sell to something you’ve assumed is important, or taking you completely off track.
Which portal should you enter?
Is it the one you assume they mean based on your domain expertise and pattern recognition?
Helpful, but No.
The portal you take is the one the prospect “tells” YOU to take, of course. But until you ask, you’re just guessing.
Instead of trying to prove you satisfy some undefined standard called PROACTIVE, first clarify what they mean.
If someone says:
“We want a proactive advisor.”
🐲: What does “proactive” mean to you? Define that.
But if they say:
“We want a more proactive advisor.”
🐲: More proactive than what?
One question defines the term. The other reveals their reference point. Both still need to be further clarified:
🐲: What are they not doing that you want or expect them to be doing?
Prospect: explains
🐲: What else?
🐲: Be more specific.
🐲: Why do you want them doing those things for you?
Invite them to air out their concerns, likes and dislikes. Then you double down:
🐲: But why is any of that a reason to change, assuming they’re still delivering satisfactory results?
By taking ‘lack of results’ off the table, you focus their attention on what else is actually driving their desire to change. This helps flush out the emotional reasons, if there are any.
Their answers reveal which portal to enter.
Specificity is the Lifeblood of Persuasion
Salespeople constantly waste time & energy trying to sell to relative or absolute terms without first understanding what those terms mean to the person.
pro tip: as a general rule, the answer to a question lies in the description of a question. As you press for details and think critically about what’s stumping you, the answer becomes clearer. Maybe not to you yet, but to someone who can help. Like a coach or mentor.
No deal suffers because the details were too specific. Deals die because you’re missing relevant details or, less commonly, because you don’t know how to navigate the details the buyer is giving you.
That’s why you need to internalize a selling structure (a map to navigate a sea of information). I provide an effective one in Low Effort Selling.
—
“The implementation takes too long.”
🐲: Too long relative to what?
and/or
🐲: Why is that too long in your world?
—
“We need better support.”
Better than what they’re getting now? What they’ve had in the past? What they expect to need as they grow?
Better than another vendor? Better than some imagined ideal?
Which is it, and why?
—
“This feels risky.”
What specifically feels risky? Risky compared to doing nothing? Risky relative to another option they’re considering?
Each of these portals leads to a different conversation.
But salespeople hear these vague, relative & absolute terms and immediately start clowning themselves:
🤡: We’re actually very competitively priced..
🤡: Our implementation only takes 90 days which is faster than average!
🤡: We have an award winning customer success team..
These statements mean very little relative to the vague term you are trying to sell to. They are what I call Low % Choices.
The trap gets worse
Later in this same deal, the prospect started asking my client questions like:
“Why are there 30 funds instead of 5?”
“How much exactly will I save in taxes?”
etc
notice what’s happening..
The prospect is asking for certainty about things the salesperson can’t possibly know with certainty.
He doesn’t know why there are 30 funds instead of 5. He doesn’t know exactly how much the prospect will save on taxes.
So I asked my client:
🐲: Why are you trying to answer questions you know you can’t answer?
»I don’t know
Great. What I just did to you now do to the prospect.
“I don’t know” is sometimes the most effective answer..
»Why are there 30 funds instead of 5?
🐲: I don’t know why. silence
If they don’t fill in the silence after a few seconds.. “Seems inefficient doesn’t it?”
»Exactly how much will I save in taxes?
🐲: I don’t know yet. silence
If they don’t fill in the silence after a few seconds.. you can continue “I can give you my best guess, but the only way to know exactly is to start working together. do you trust me enough to start that process?”
Stop accepting the underlying premise that a perfect answer should exist.
Absolute terms are never binary:
“Control” isn’t binary.
“Proactive” isn’t binary.
“Expensive” isn’t binary.
There are degrees to which each is satisfactory or unsatisfactory based on what the term is being compared/contrasted to.
an important nuance
“Relative to what?” is a way of thinking, not just a potential rebuttal.
I’ve actually softened my position on the classic “this is expensive” objection:
“Prospect: It’s too expensive.
Seller: Compared to what?”
I used to hate this rebuttal. most of the time, I still do.
Because it often invites the prospect to double down on their reasoning of why it’s too expensive (putting you at a disadvantage)
It’s one of those few instances where specificity can actually screw you over.
many times, the seller isn’t even interested in understanding the buyer’s reference point. They’re just trying to undermine the buyer’s perception that the price is too high so they can hit their number.
But that doesn’t make the question “Compared to what?” inherently bad.
It makes the mechanical use of it bad.
If a prospect says:
“This is too expensive.”
There may be a very real comparison underneath that statement.
Maybe it’s expensive relative to a competitor, their budget, the value they currently believe they’ll get, etc
These are 3 completely different conversations.
So “relative to what?” can be a useful question if you actually want to know the answer.
Leading with Curiosity is the key to making it work in this context.
If you are seeking to convince, then forget it. It won’t work.
you also don’t necessarily have to ask “compared to what?” using those exact words.
some alternatives:
🐲: What makes it seem/feel expensive?
🐲: Oh was it more than you were expecting? Where did you hear/read/see that?
🐲: How are you comparing the price?
^ the last one reads awkward but it works.
The thinking (and intention) behind the techniques make it work better or worse.
So notice when you start explaining and justifying yourself against a vague standard you haven’t even defined yet.
Try to catch yourself doing it in the moment and pivot ASAP. It’ll save you a lot of time and energy!
-BTSG
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