Sharon Drew Morgen - Buying Facilitation

Sharon,
Chuck,
Jacques,
Thanks for the response in this regardthmbp2; -Snowboy

Sharon,
Just a quick note to say really love the buying facilitation.

Good work thmbp2; -Jabber

Sharon,

Thanks for the reply. Reading the thread as we speak. Some superb information you're sharing.

Chuck -Sales Pro 1000

Excellent marketing Sharon. Your system sounds very unique, innovative, and valuable and I hope the people on this forum take advantage of this new approach and add it to their 'toolbox.'

Great work... -Dougd55

Hi Jabber, Snowboy, Chuck, and Doug.

1. some of you obviously don't know this, but my first name is Sharon Drew - like Mary Ann. so when you call me only 'sharon', that's not my name... so in future, please remember both names. thanks.

2. thanks, all, for your kind words. but i have a huge, huge curiousity. 1. i'm giving you pieces of information about WHAT needs to be done in re helping folks making their best decisions, but it's impossible to offer the HOW on this format.

so i'm curious: 1. i don't notice any of you purchasing any of my material that would actually go further in helping you learn the stuff, rather than chat about it. the material is based on a very specific sequence of how folks make decisions (i actually have a whole company that teaches decision making and the Buying Facilitation is only one of the models that employ the Decision Facilitation model), so it's virtually impossible to 'do' without learning the sequence and learning how to formulate the questions. knowing that buyers need to decide, and leading them through their unique decision making criteria are two different things. and you can't learn it without tools.
2. that leads me to this question: i seem to notice a large number of people on the forum that have interest in Buying Facilitation. do you folks want me to put on a Public Training for the Forum? i can run a training program here in austin - once summer is over austin is wonderful - and you can all come learn the HOW.

thoughts?? -Sharon Drew Morgen

Sharon Drew,

Haven't as yet seen any of your material available for sale.

Does participation in this forum obligate us to purchase materials referenced here?

Chuck -Sales Pro 1000

Hi Chuck: of course there is no obligation. and i don't sell anything on this site. but sometimes i get frustrated when folks ask me pieces of questions that demand pages to truly answer, when i have a whole ebook that teaches the whole thing appropriately. i feel like i'm cheating folks when i can't spend the hours that a real response would take.

that is why i suggest the ebook. plus, for folks with real interest i would have guessed they might have purchased it so they can learn the material enough to begin using it.

otherwise it becomes an intellectual exercise rather than a learning format.
sd -Sharon Drew Morgen

I bought "Selling with Integrity" last year. I didn't read the whole book but I will soon. :) -Thomas

it's a lovely book (she says modestly)... actually voted one of the top 9 (why 9??) sales books of the 20th century! it's a meditation book, a new age book, an autobiography (funny), and a hard hitting business book. it's got the beginnings of Buying Facilitation in it. if you wish to learn the entire model, it's in the newer ebook (written 10 years later).

it took me 20 years of working with the model before i was able to completely code the process of the decisioning sequence plus the facilitative questioning process. ok.. so i'm slow... but i've always done it naturally and have designed my training programs around that capability. when i finally sat down to write it, that was a whole 'nother level... but, it finally is 'out' and in the ebook Buying Facilitation: the new way to sell that expands and influences decisions.

so if the time comes when you want to learn the model more completely, the ebook will do that. in the meantime, enjoy SWI. i love the story about heaven and hell and the spoons in chapter 5.

and thanks for the vote of confidence!
sd -Sharon Drew Morgen

No it doesn't. Howver, if you think that you will learn anything that you can effectively apply with understanding and skill from any forum, think again. This forum does well to point out things that can improve sellng skills.

I have read Sharon Drew Morgen' books and I highly recommend them to everyone who is serious about the sales profession. You can learn new concepts, with clarity and depth, that you will not find anywhere else. -JacquesWerth

What's missing and how did it get that way?
I sell manufactured homes as personal property which makes financing very hard to come by. Very few prospects understand this until I tell them. This is one of my selling points when securing a listing. I tell them they've got a big problem that isn't going to go away and then I tell them how the company I work for has a solution to that problem in our finance department. If the customer doesn't understand what's missing without me telling them, in my example access to financing, how will questions alone help bring about understanding unless the question was something like "did you know financing one of these was very difficult?" and because of their current beliefs many won't believe it until they research it for themselves. How do you get around that? -Thomas

How can the prospect fix it himself?
I work with people who are selling their manufactured homes by themselves. Some of these people will list with a broker but only after they've tried it for awhile and couldn't sell it themself and some will sell their homes by themself especially in parks where there is a lot of traffic. One of my selling points is identifying the consequences of not selling or not selling within their time frame with questions like "what happens if the home does not sell this season, what are you going to do?". If the prospect believes he can fix it himself, in my example where the home is in a park where there is a lot of traffic, how will facilitative questions lead the prospect to change his beliefs? -Thomas

What are the systems elements that must be attended to?
Neighbors, family and other agents sometimes talk with the prospects before I do and get behind the prospects decision to sell their home without an agent. This isn't good because some prospects would rather save face than accept my help even if it means their home might not sell. How will facilitative questions help the prospect resolve this or save face? -Thomas

Sharon Drew how often do you get the response, "I don't know" to your facilitative questions and how often do those responses become a sticking point?

Example 1: Example 2: -SpeedRacer

Good questions + examples SR.

Do you find that most buyers don't initially recognize on their own the criteria a solution will have to include before they will make a change? -Houston

hi houston:
you're right:no one recognizes the criteria for change/decision making. they happen onto it eventually. that's one of the biggest problem in the 'sales' field - the assumptions that the buyer understands their process and that the decision is based on the immediate 'need' and Identified Problem. in fact, because the buyer's system has created the Identified Problem and holds it in place daily (by continually reinventing systems to do that ... so that the people they hired to do the 'work around' continue to do their jobs, the old vendors still are there and the prospects uses them, etc.).

Buying Facilitation actually codes the way brains make decisions and uses the Facilitative Questions to lead the prospect/buyer through all of their decision making criteria that they need to get to anyway - it just takes them quite some time to discover what it is. and of course, they can't make a final decision until everything is in place and they are convinced chaos won't occur because of any decisions.

i've moved sales from a product placement model to a decision facilitation model that folks the product into the solution design.

good question. thanks... sd sn; -Sharon Drew Morgen

Before anyone can make a decision to do something different, they need to recognize that something is missing that they hadn't considered. Telling them something is missing will make them react and defend, rather than teaching them how to happily open a space for something new THAT WILL MANAGE ALL OF THE ARTERIES AND VEINS THAT KEEP THE STATUS QUO IN PLACE.

until or unless they are able to move forward WITH congruence and internal harmony for all apsects of their status quo (currently all set up to maintain their beliefs) they will do nothing.

difference between: why do you wear your hair like that? or i think if you cut your hair you'd get more jobs in the mainstream sector, and you'd look more sophisticated; and, (FQ): How would you know when it was time to reconsider your hairstyle?

The Facilitative Questions work wiht systems and brain function to help the decisions that have already been made make room for something new. information (right as it might be) doesn't help a new decision to be made unless there is an actual space made for the new idea/behavior. if you put info IN, and it's accepted, that means the buyer was seeking exactly that bit, in exactly that way. so if you put data IN, you will be successful with only a handful.

Using BF you will help many others easily learn how to open for new possibilities. sd -Sharon Drew Morgen

i'm not speaking of the data points. i'm speaking of the decisions they need to make before they can even hear or find your talking points relevant.

there are 2 aspects to a sale: the product sale and the buying decision. you are talking about the product sale and assume that if you promote, present your data well they'll know what to do with it. if that were true you'd close every sale.

buyers must decide in ways that support their own internal decision process, and you have no idea what this is like cuz you're not them.

THEY ARE THE ONES THAT NEED TO KNOW how they choose agents to work with, what's stopped them from finding the right resources, etc.

can you see the difference? truly, not to 'pitch' but you might want to buy my ebook 'Buying Facilitation: the new way to sell that influences and expands decisions.'

good luck..

-Sharon Drew Morgen

you don't need to know these. the buyer must recognize all of their internal systems - the spouse issues, the historic house issues - you don't need to know any of it. but unless/until they manage these historic issues, they will do nothing. sd


-Sharon Drew Morgen

Hi Sharon Drew and All,

Some years ago, in my early 20’s I thought about getting into sales. I discovered your book, Buying Facilitation and I feel in love… pretty dang hard, too. I found exactly what I was looking for... an intelligent method of selling that facilitates rather than manipulates. Since then, your model has been branded in my mind as the only way I’d like to sell. But I didn’t get into sales. I had other projects that needed my attention. Now, I’m done with all that and really want to get into sales.

My profile says I’m in marketing but I’m not. I had to put in something to make the system happy. I’m not in sales… I’m just a “nobody” who wants to be extraordinary at whatever I choose to do. Now, I want to learn your method, experientially, and not just read about it. Some time ago, I also purchased your ebook. My next step is to purchase Buying Facilitation in a Box.

But I have some problems. I have no sales experience… and I feel like I have nothing to bring to a sales position if I were to get one. So, I’d like to practice using your books and box to start teaching myself your method. Do you or anybody else on the forum have any suggestions about how I might practice to just give myself some experience?

Also, honestly, it doesn’t seem that it’s possible to REALLY learn buying facilitation on my own. It seems that people need training to do it right. I would love nothing more than to get training to learn to do this, but for a guy with a low-wage job, money is an issue. Yet, another problem to solve.

So, I have some problems. And I imagine it’s going to take time to work all this out. I just wanted to put this out there and see what Sharon Drew and/or others had to say.

Sharon Drew… I think what you’ve discovered/created is brilliant. No other sales perspective resonates with me like your model does. It is intelligent, perceptive, and makes me feel really good about pursuing a sales career. Thank you so much for birthing this perspective to the world.

~ John -johncannon

Hi John:
Thank you so much for your kind words.

Here are some hard realities about learning Buying Facilitation.
1. It's not possible to learn straight from my books. Although some people cherrypick some of the Facilitative Questions (FQs), they don't use them in proper order, or use them as part of their conventional sales approach. and there was no way I was able to teach the HOWS in my books.
2. Because the material includes new skills - systems listening, formulating the FQs, formulating the Presumptive Summaries - there is no referrant for them in your communications history. So we have to start a new skills, using old, old habits, with a clean slate that has to be developed out of a well-worn slate. Got the picture?
3. The good news is that I can easily teach Buying Facilitation when I am working alongside of someone. I actually use the Model itself to help you learn, create a new slate, re-work the habits to expand them, and actually make you the Buyer/Learner, with me the Seller/Trainer/Coach. Although I generally teach the material in small groups within corporations, I've figured out how to teach the material during phone coaching, so long as you do your homework (and i give gobs of homework between sessions).

If you want to study with me, here are the choices: 1. get a group of 18 or so people together and I'll do a public training for you (I don't put on public trainings any more unfortunately); 2. we can do 6-8 coaching sessions on the phone.

Maybe you can email me directly at sdm@austin.rr.com and we can see where we go from there. In the meantime, have a look around my site www.newsalesparadigm.com and look up the training syllabi, etc to see what we'd cover.

Together we can get you up and running. You just can't do it yourself. It's like reading a book on how Tiger Woods golfs: you need Tiger to help you learn and the book will only get you so far. Even the systems listening itself is a hard, complex, unique skill to learn and it's necessary to have it to formulate the FQs.

Talk soon. Looking forward to helping you learn. And thanks for the interest.
sd -Sharon Drew Morgen

Thank you, Sharon Drew. I've sent you an email and I'm thinking about what you've said. I appreciate your kindness.

~John -johncannon