Raising Dirty Laundry Up a Flag Pole
Picture this. You’re talking to a prospect, trying to sell him or her a product when deep inside you know that the product has a flaw in it. Let’s say it is the worst-looking product you could possibly offer. Furthermore, it has a stupid name. Even worse, you normally sell the most advanced-looking products—ones that win awards for their beauty, design and technology—and this one is plain ugly.
That’s exactly the challenge I faced when I offered a thermostat made by a small company in the Detroit area. The Magic Stat name was not very memorable, the plastic case looked cheap and the entire unit looked like it was a throwback to Thomas Edison.
Instead of burying the disadvantages of the product, I presented them first, and I presented them as disadvantages. I wrote about how I was turned off at first by the ugliness of the product and the stupid name. In short, I presented the dirty laundry right up front and then dismissed it later in the copy by virtue of the really great features that the product also had.
Whenever I sold a product that contained some obvious blemish or fault, I brought the blemish or fault up first in my copy. In short, I shared my dirty laundry openly and honestly right up front.
This is one of the keys in selling. In the past, when I showed a piece of real estate and I knew that there might be an objection in the mind of my customer, I would bring it up first. It was amazing how bringing it up first was not only disarming but also reduced the importance or negative impact of the problem feature.
I had a beautiful home in Northbrook, Illinois, where I lived for many years. When I put the home on the market, the real estate agent warned me that I would not realize the full value of my home because of its location. The back yard faced a busy street. It was the only problem with the house as far as the real estate agent was concerned.
Instead of trying to underplay the only negative feature, I prepared a written description of the entire house and addressed the busy-street issue right up front. I stated, “The only negative feature of this house may appear to be the busy street facing the back yard.” I then explained how numerous trees were planted between the street and the house and that the trees blocked any noise from the street.
I pointed out that more costly homes were being built in our community right on top of busy streets and that they were selling for considerably more than my home. I even pointed out the safety factors of having a house back up to a major road for fire access and security purposes.
The house sold within 10 days, for the price I wanted, and the real estate saleslady personally saw how effective bringing out a negative right up front was in the sale of the home. By presenting the negatives up front, I reduced and often eliminated a major objection to a sale.
Why does this work? First, realize that you can’t fool your prospect. If indeed something isn’t right with what you are selling, the prospect will either know, sense, or feel it. You might think you can pull the wool over the eyes of your prospect, but in reality your prospect is a lot sharper than you think.
So if you feel that there is something negative in what you are selling that the prospect might notice or respond to, bring up that negative feature first. Don’t wait until later in the sales presentation—bring it up right away. By presenting a negative feature up front, you melt that initial resistance and come across as honest rather than deceptive. The trust and respect you get from prospects will lower their defense mechanisms, and so they’ll be prepared to receive the real advantages of your product or service.
Resolving an objection is the next step. Once you’ve raised the objection and brought the disadvantage to the customer, the next step is to resolve it. But as important as it is to resolve the problem, it is even more important to bring it up in the first place and bring it up early in the sales presentation.
Triggers by Joe Sugarman
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
