How To Sell Without Selling

(By Gil Gerretsen) It is 9:45am and you have been in the doctor’s waiting room for over 45 minutes. Your appointment for your annual physical was at 9:00am. 

You are feeling fine, and you are wondering whether you should just get up and leave. Do you really need a doctor just to verify that you are healthy? The longer you wait, the more idiotic the annual physical seems to be.

You are getting angrier by the minute. You are telling yourself that instead of paying the doctor for the physical, they should be paying you for the time you’ve wasted while waiting in their lobby.

Finally, the nurse calls your name and takes you to the examination room. Even though you are angry, you decide to bite your tongue while the doctor gives you the checkup. You decide you just want to get this over with quickly and get back to work.

After the examination, the doctor leaves to check another patient while the nurse processes some results. The doctor says they’ll be back in a few minutes.

Finally, they return. The doctor tells you that your heart pattern and blood tests show a dangerous abnormality and that you need some more tests immediately. The doctor is clearly concerned!

All of the sudden, the cost of the annual physical and the long wait in the lobby are forgotten, aren’t they? You want the doctor to find out what is wrong, no matter what it takes! You will do whatever the doctor tells you to do. After all, they are the professional.

The doctor was not trying to sell you anything you didn’t need. But when they found a problem, you quickly turned to them for help in solving the problem. Price was no longer an issue. 

You can fulfill the same role with your customers. Your job is like that of the doctor — to ask potential customers the right questions so you can make and intelligent and informed diagnosis.

You are not looking for something that is not there. You don’t want to create pain where none exists. But if your poking and prodding finds an unhealthy situation, you want to encourage your “patient” to take immediate action now – for their own sake.

Think about how the doctor uncovered the potentially dangerous illness. They asked key questions that led them to develop an informed diagnosis. They performed certain tests that gave them an indication of things which could not be seen at the surface.

Likewise, when you first meet a new prospect, start your relationship by asking questions. This shows your genuine interest in the “patient” while helping you find if and where they are having “health-related” problems that you can solve.

Once you have identified a specific problem, you can either refer them to another specialist, or show them how you have the answer which will resolve their problem. Then you can review the cost with them and determine the best way to move forward.

Budgets are no longer a problem. If the cost of NOT dealing with the illness can be shown to be greater than the consequences of leaving it unattended, budgets are no longer a factor. The “patient” will find a way. Budgets only become relevant when you have identified the illness or pain, but the customer only sees it as a minor inconvenience. For example, there’s not much you can do about the common cold. You just have to live through the inconvenience.

Of course, there are some people who will not pay the cost to improve their situation, just as there are some people who never go to a doctor when they are sick. In those situations, there Is little you can do. Don’t waste hours of time trying to get people to do something they don’t want to do. Move on to other people who want your help.

Your worst prospect is not the “no’” but rather the one who says, “I will think it over.” That leaves you both in limbo. People who recognize their illness rarely have to think it over. If there’s a cure, they want it.

Think of this doctor story (or tell it) and ask more questions to find out why the prospect doesn’t have a sense of urgency. In the end, if you discern that they choose not to be cured, move on. At some point the illness will become serious enough that they will be forced to seek medical treatment. Of course, by then it may also be too late. Be courteous, stay in touch, and let them know you are available when that time comes.

Your patient must go through three steps before you prescribe any medicine. First, you must both agree on the nature of the problem. Second, they must have the resources (time and money) to buy the cure. Third, they must have the authority to do so. If they need to “check with their spouse” before making any decisions, get “the spouse” in the room early in the process. Don’t let the patient try to explain what they think they heard.

In conclusion, never begin making your presentation until you have determined the answers to these questions. Then set the stage for your diagnosis. Like the doctor’s patient, your customer will be ecstatic if you return them to good health.

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