Letting Your Prospect Tailor Your Presentation For More Sales (Maybe Many More)

Wonderboy

Think about it. Niche marketing is all about making certain products and services for certain prospects. How about letting your prospect help your presentation to suit him or her?

A trivial example can be when you're talking so fast that your prospect would ask you to slow down so he can follow you. Another closely related example is testing different ads and commercials to see what works.

A good question would be how much exploring has been done in the area of oral presenting as far as getting the consumer involved in the process of selling?

Calvin

What effect would this have on rapport?

Testing response rates is a key topic in marketing. Are you writing about something different?

Getting the consumer involved is a common tip or topic in sales training. Are you asking about something different?

Wonderboy

1) Rapport would increase.
2 and 3) The answer is yes to both questions.

Calvin

Unless the prospect asks you to slow down wouldn't your talking faster have a negative impact on rapport and wouldn't that reduce the chance of the prospect asking you to slow down?

Please explain.

Wonderboy

For the first one normally it would (one of the reasons why my method is so valuable as it automatically builds that rapport).

For the second and third questions, I feel that not enough has been done in the area of researching consumer involvement in a presentation as too much reliance is placed upon opinion and subjectivity (focus groups e.g.) and not enough objectivity where things can be measured precisely and consistently as I've experienced.

I may be one of the few who feel that oral selling can benefit tremendously from science (the only one I'm aware of who has scientific training is John Caples who wrote the book Tested Advertising Methods which I regard as one of the finest to learn selling in general along with mail-order advertising).

Calvin

Doesn't mismatching break down rapport, even rapport that you believe your method automatically builds?

What research into consumer involvement have you reviewed and why do you feel it is lacking?

Wonderboy

I've seen little research on consumer involvement (due to secrecy or companies just plain not doing it). The lack of research is notorious - I frequently bring up the disaster in B2C telemarketing which will be felt for years to come due to increasing phone calls along with the rebuttals and in non-telemarketing environments, the same basic mistakes are being made (reliance upon rebuttals which I pointed out in another thread has been a big turnoff to the public).

As I explained before elsewhere, there are two types of rebuttals:
those that work and those that don't. The ones that do should be built into a presentation and used as part of a consumer's decision-making process and not used to change minds (respect consumer choice - the first no is final). The ones that don't work, just drop them (the argument has been made that using rebuttals in a presentation can make the presentation too long - I say there are ways to keep the consumer interested regardless of the length of the presentation which requires testing).

Good advice is to always check your assumptions. Take nothing for granted (the reason why I feel my system is basic is a brain-related matter).

Calvin

Have you reviewed the research by Huthwaite?

How do you account for skill in the handling of rebuttals?

What sales training have you found that doesn't recommend building common questions and concerns into a presentation?

Liberty

What scientific training have you had?

Where have you looked?

Wonderboy

Internet, bookstores, talking with people. Constantly checking.

Not to be irritating, but rebuttals are not the way to go (some repliers seem to misunderstand what I mean by rebutting which is simply anything said by a rep to change a prospect's mind after the offer is declined - some prospects get irritated enough to hang up the phone in your face if you attempt to say anything else under these circumstances).

My system is the most flexible one around letting prospects controll the conversation to help in their decision making (aside from my system it helps to sound sincere - I spoke with a rep today who said "Wow..." when I cancelled a service which I didn't need - she tried everything to retain my account).