Distinctive Impressions Change The Subject

It's one thing to say people know the YES or NO of what they want today. That's a fact. Tomorrow it may not be a fact. How we arrive as finding the immediate YES from the immediate NO is debated on this forum.

BUT distinctive impressions change the subject requiring a YES or NO as well as the conversational close that follows a YES and sometimes a NO. OR they come ahead of any well or partially defined YES or NO. Sharon Drew Morgan addresses this in facilitating the decision making process.

Simply put, whatever anyone hears or sees is quickly defined by past impressions which change the subject - it's highly subjective and personal, uniquely evasive, and mostly unobserved by the decison maker.

While one approach to making a sale is to work into and through that decision making process, another is to get a simple YES or NO immediately then run with it, explore it and see if mutual conditions of satisfaction can be met. Those who know me know I favor the latter approach.

Regardless. the YES or NO is still colored by impressions not always known and often in contradiction to what one says he or she wants. That's why the trust and respect inquiry along with a discussion of mutual conditions of satisfaction are critical.

If you haven't lately examined your biases and those mental reflexes which produce fleeting impressions that color your decisions - what you see and hear and the conclusions you make - spend some time doing so. A simple exercise is to recognize the next conclusion you make or the next decision you contemplate, hold it for a few moments, and take a second look at why and how you think it came about and if it fits exactly what you think it fits.

Pay attention to people who appear to jump to conclusions and have immediate responses - a quality both praised and not praised but one that seems to give authority to the one who quickly makes decisons. We've all watched this happen at home when children and spouses emotinally spout out something immediate and direct with little connection or negative connection to the subject at hand.

We say people know what they want or we say we have to help them decide. We say people buy on emotions then justify with some kind of reasons. BUT what we miss are the impressions that are rarely uncovered and the biases that change the subject causing a NO when it's a NO to something other than what you propose.

Looking into our own internal mental and emotional movements can give us insight into the buying and selling process. Everyone reading this knows to some degree what I'm saying - at least impressions from the past give it color, texture, and definition.

Deleting impressions and consequent conclusions not required to be immediate allow clarity to focus our thoughts, emotions and the objects of our contemplation.

Understanding impressions that change the subject frequently is an important study not only for sales success but for a more well defined and fulfilling life.

MitchM

Originally Posted by MitchM We say people know what they want or we say we have to help them decide. We say people buy on emotions then justify with some kind of reasons. BUT what we miss are the impressions that are rarely uncovered and the biases that change the subject causing a NO when it's a NO to something other than what you propose.

I don't know if it's true that people know what they want at least not consciously.

How would you uncover the biases or could you, should you?

We knew what we wanted, Thomas, so when a straight offer was made we said YES. Many people know exactly what they want or don't want immediately. Many people have a vague idea.

Also, by listening and asking questions people will reveal what they want or don't want today - at least to some degree. By listening more and asking more questions that can be clarified.

Most people are eager to unload a world of problems and concerns on you if they trust you and feel you are not going to try and get them to do anything - if you just listen and don't try to take them down a road of buy until they exhaust themselves. When that happens many will ask you to sell to them.

Thomas, every week complete strangers tell me their life stories because I've learned how to listen with complete disregard for making a sale - with total attention given to the other person with the intention of understanding what I hear and don't hear.

I'm not perfect in this - no one is - and every conversation like this doesn't end in a sale. BUT most of my business has been build this way and by asking people if they want what I have to offer just like that - direct and to the point.

Today I sat with a woman who a week ago made a commitment. In our conversation she uncovered things about herself I didn't know because she felt free to talk. In the end she didn't buy but next week we reconnect.

MitchM

I'm probably in my own little world but I seem to get a lot of people who are at the beginning of their home search and when I ask them what they want in a home their answer is they don't know. It's like they want to keep their options open and just want to see what I have available.

Originally Posted by MitchM It's one thing to say people know the YES or NO of what they want today. That's a fact. Tomorrow it may not be a fact.

That is nonsensical. There is not fact there anywhere.

Originally Posted by MitchM BUT distinctive impressions change the subject requiring a YES or NO as well as the conversational close that follows a YES and sometimes a NO. OR they come ahead of any well or partially defined YES or NO.

I've heard there are drugs that make one talk or write that way. Perhaps if I took those drugs I could understand what you're saying, but otherwise, it appears that this paragraph was generated by a random word generator.

Originally Posted by MitchM Simply put, whatever anyone hears or sees is quickly defined by past impressions which change the subject - it's highly subjective and personal, uniquely evasive, and mostly unobserved by the decison maker.

"Simply put?" Are you nuts?

Originally Posted by MitchM If you haven't lately examined your biases and those mental reflexes which produce fleeting impressions that color your decisions - what you see and hear and the conclusions you make - spend some time doing so. A simple exercise is to recognize the next conclusion you make or the next decision you contemplate, hold it for a few moments, and take a second look at why and how you think it came about and if it fits exactly what you think it fits.

Cat play weather fish believable drown white silly willow froth toot hang blast stink bloom hugs into lathery snail-like hoop bumped slurry. Billows of gloomy pilferage stem onto linked partner germs. Roasted frank lead purple grown filbert plastic quickly nice raised effervescent hoot knob.

Originally Posted by MitchM Pay attention to people who appear to jump to conclusions and have immediate responses - a quality both praised and not praised but one that seems to give authority to the one who quickly makes decisons. We've all watched this happen at home when children and spouses emotinally spout out something immediate and direct with little connection or negative connection to the subject at hand.

I think you need help.

Originally Posted by MitchM We say people know what they want or we say we have to help them decide. We say people buy on emotions then justify with some kind of reasons. BUT what we miss are the impressions that are rarely uncovered and the biases that change the subject causing a NO when it's a NO to something other than what you propose. Everyone reading this knows to some degree what I'm saying - at least impressions from the past give it color, texture, and definition. Deleting impressions and consequent conclusions not required to be immediate allow clarity to focus our thoughts, emotions and the objects of our contemplation. Understanding impressions that change the subject frequently is an important study not only for sales success but for a more well defined and fulfilling life. MitchM

I am going to go into my basement, find a large hammer, and hit my big toe on my left foot 17 times. This will be less painful than the pain I felt reading your post.

Readers here, Skip will take your posts, mine, all of them into account and make their judgments also. We're all watching one another so to speak.

Today at a career expositon at a local community college I talked with people asking about my business. I haven't set up a table at one of these for a few years, the box lunch was excellent, and I had some enjoyable conversations.

When I described our business many said NO and some gave their reasons. Like my friend Dick who has sold insurance for over thirty years said - he was there too - "sales isn't for everyone and we want to weed them out fast." Neither are our products everyone I speak with will want - at least not today. Keeping the door open is everything important to future contacts!

BUT what was really interesting was how many times answers to my questions had little to do with my question and conclusions drawn and stated had little or nothing to do with what I had just described. Hence, impressions often unknown to us change the subject.

Most people don't pay attention enough to understand this but I do. I pay attention and that's one reason I am successful.

The more one understands decision making, Skip - Sharon Drew Morgan has some interesting insights and perspectives on facilitating decison making - the more one comes to appreciate the function of a prospecting call looking for an immediate YES or NO.

Likewise, one comes to appreciate the selling process that evolves following a YES which is deeply rooted in uncovering mutually agreed upon conditions of satisfaction with a trust and honesty relationship at it's core.

MitchM

Originally Posted by Thomas I'm probably in my own little world but I seem to get a lot of people who are at the beginning of their home search and when I ask them what they want in a home their answer is they don't know. It's like they want to keep their options open and just want to see what I have available.

Thomas, you aren't in your own little world. Selling is more than a "yes and no" question up front as some would lead you to believe. The better one can engage those prospects, get information from them, and build one's relationship with them, the more that salesperson will sell.

"Thomas, you aren't in your own little world. Selling is more than a "yes and no" question up front as some would lead you to believe. The better one can engage those prospects, get information from them, and build one's relationship with them, the more that salesperson will sell." Skip

"The more one understands decision making, Skip - Sharon Drew Morgan has some interesting insights and perspectives on facilitating decison making - the more one comes to appreciate the function of a prospecting call looking for an immediate YES or NO.

Likewise, one comes to appreciate the selling process that evolves following a YES which is deeply rooted in uncovering mutually agreed upon conditions of satisfaction with a trust and honesty relationship at it's core." --MitchM

To move ahead in a relationship of mutual agreement requires a YES, an affirmation. That is a first principle, Thomas. Also, people don't always have a complete picture of what they want BUT they do have some idea - a couple pieces of the picture. That's where you start.

From there you work with them - from that YES - to see if you can fill in the details of the picture. That's what my friends in real estate sales do - a couple I know well and speak with every week at our BNI meeting.

There are always enough people today who know what they want either wholly or in some aspect that you can begin a selling process on that YES Thomas.

Likewise, a NO today isn't forever as the cliche goes AND a NO may indicate not this but (as you ask for clarity) that.

Do you see what I'm getting at here, Thomas, which is my consistent theme: the depth of inquiry, the trust and respect, the detailing of mutual conditions of satisfaction always begin with an initial YES or NO of some kind.

My distinction is that while some here attempt to turn a NO into a YES I don't - I move on.

MitchM

Mitch, for the record, everybody I've ever sold in my entire career has given me a "yes." I'm a firm believer in "yes".

But I would never suggest to any salesperson to ask their prospect up front if they were going to buy, because if someone does that, they'll sell about 10% of the volume that a professional salesperson would who didn't do that.

That's a different question - are you going to buy - than mine.

Look Skip, if you say to me you've got joint pain and I say I've got a product that has helped people with joint pain and it might help you. Is that something you want? That question causes you to think about what you just said and answer YES or NO.

You might answer conditionally: maybe. I'll ask why maybe and see what you expect and if I can deliver. I also in that conversation do my best to know if you're trustworthy to keep a commitment, create and environment of respect and trust that's mutual, and see if our conditions of satisfaction can be agreed upon.

Likewise, say you're a small business owner, I prospect call you and ask if you want to look at another business opportunity that you might be able to work around your current business you say YES or NO.

Your YES might be languaged: Maybe I would. I need to know more about it. That's not a YES I WANT but it is a YES LET"S KEEP TALKING so I say a little more and then ask: is that something you want?

The YES is usually conditional - that's where the sales skills come in - after the YES that indicates we move ahead with the conversation.

Is that more clear than what I may have posted in the past and what do you say to it, Skip?

MitchM