A sales closer uses psychological reactance to flip prospects' answers. Instead of pushing them to raise their interest rating, he suggests a lower number based on body language, triggering them to argue for a higher one. The technique works because people resist being told what to think.
So I love behavioral psychology. That's my little hobby on the side, and I wanted to share a sales technique. I know all of us have to sell. We all have to market. We all have to sell also. I want to share a little behavioral technique you can use in sales, and it's a dramatically effective way for actually closing closing sales. There's a traditional method, perhaps you've used a variant of this. If we were in a sales negotiation or something and you're the prospect, I'm the vendor, I would say, so after I do my pitch, I'd say, so where do you think we stand on a 1 to 10 scale? And you come back and say, yeah, I'm feeling a 6, maybe a 7. And then I've been trained to say, what do I have to do to make this a 10 and wow you? You know, how do we get it up there together? Human tendency is when you're in a position, I'm in a different position, if I suggest you go somewhere, you're more likely to go the opposite way. That's really me like saying, you smoke? You shouldn't smoke, you're killing yourself. And you're like, screw you, and you like light one and blow it in my face. Right? That's the natural human response is to resist suggestion. It's a natural habit. Yet in the sales mode, so many of us say, well, you're only a 6 or 7, what do I need to do to make you feel feel great. It doesn't work. It actually moves people down on the scale. They're like, "Oh, here comes the big manipulation. Screw you. I'm a 4 now." Here's the method that does work. When a prospect goes to me, comes to me and says, and we negotiate, and I say, "So where do you think you stand on a 1 to 10?" They say, "I think I'm a 6 or 7." My response is, "That's kind of interesting. From your body language, The way you're looking at me, I was actually sensing you were at a 3 or 4. Why did you pick a number so high? I pick a number lower than the one they set, and now their natural tendency is to push up, to go the opposite way I go. So when I say to customers, I think, you know, from your body language and the way we were talking, I really thought you were lower, 3 or 4. Why did you pick a number so high? They say, well, you know, I was thinking 6 or 7 because of this and this and this, and they've primed themselves to go higher. Many times in those negotiations, they say, you know, now that I think about it, I think I'm more like an 8 or maybe even a 9 on proceeding with this project. It's this reverse technique. It's that simple. Thank you.
