Example
Olivia: Your service costs $25,000 more than we budgeted!
Steven: (on automatic pilot): I assumed your $50,000 budget was just an estimate, not a firm number.
A better way to respond is with the following tactic:
Steven: How will that affect your purchasing decision? (If she says it does not, leave it alone. If she states that it does, handle it by using the next tactic.)
The Lose the Battle, Win the War Tactic
Use this tactic to build credibility by acknowledging that customers’ hinges, if accurate, have merit. However, demonstrate that in the grand scheme of things, the hinge—even with merit—is not a deterrent to continuing the sale. You can resolve a hinge with merit. Just transform hinges into benefits.
Customers appreciate it when you tackle their valid concerns head on and turn them into benefits. Heck, you usually impress yourself when you do it. You convert a liability into an asset by showing customers how their hinges help them to achieve their goals.
Example
Olivia: Your ProdoGain service costs $25,000 more than we budgeted. I will not be able to get more money without getting corporate involved.
Steven: It does. Yet, the $25,000 is for the single operator control feature (see Steven’s Market Profile Sheet in Chapter 3) that only FutureTech provides, which lowers your payback from two years to one. We can also extend payment terms so you pay the additional $25,000 in your next fiscal year. It will not affect this year’s budget. Can you see where the $25,000 pays for itself within a year—and won’t require corporate approval?
The You Can’t Do Both Tactic
Sometimes your products achieve customers’ goals, but not all their prerequisites. This hinge usually involves difficulty meeting funding requirements or delivery dates. Unless you arbitrarily lower your price or miraculously speed up deliveries, use this tactic. Explain that your products cannot do both. Let customers choose which one is more important, the prerequisite or the goal. If the value of their goals is measurable, chances are high that the customer will choose the goal.
Example
Olivia: We can only go with your proposal if you meet your competitor’s bid price, which is $18,000 less.
Steven (on automatic pilot): There’s no way I can meet that price! (Unless, Steven arbitrarily lowers his price and watches the bidding wars begin! Steven might also say, “OK, let me talk to my sales manager. I’ll see if I can get her to lower the price.” Both responses hurt his ability to sell value and protect profit levels.)
A better reply would be to use the following tactic:
Steven: I understand the need to cost-justify any difference in price. Using your figures, you justified our price. I would like to work with you; however, the only way to lower my price by $18,000 is to change our product selections. If we do that, we cannot help you achieve your goals. Olivia, do you understand why I cannot just lower my price and still achieve your goal of improving productivity by 15 percent or $240,000 (converting percentages to dollars make them powerful allies)?
The Basic Steps in Handling Hinges
You know the hinge categories, types, strategies, and tactics. The following four steps in Exhibit 8-1 show how to combine them so that you can effectively handle hinges. The case studies at the end of this section also highlight the logistics and strategies of each step. The steps are as follows:
Exhibit 8-1: Basic steps for handling hinges.
Step 1. Damage Report
In the damage report step, the salesperson evaluates the impact of the hinge.
Pause and implement Silence Is Golden. If you say to yourself, “Uhoh, I wonder how I am going to get out of this one?” you waited the recommended five seconds.
Use the Safety Zone strategy and the Pat from Saturday Night Live tactic and evaluate the impact or potential damage of the hinge. Ask yourself, “Do I understand how the hinge impacts their goals, my sales strategy, product, or call for action? Is it just a request for more information?” Formulate your clarifying question on what you need to know to answer these questions.
Example
Olivia: I really do not want to exceed our $50,000 budget.
Steven asks himself: What is determining the $50,000 budget limit; how will that affect their goals or product selections; what does “really” mean?
Those answers hold the key to understanding and handling the hinge.
Step 2. How’s Zat?
This step clarifies the impact of the hinge.
Ask a clarifying question concerning the hinge’s impact without confirming a negative. This sometimes requires two or three open-ended questions before you can verify that you have a measurable reply.
Example
Steven: Why is that? (Clarifying question)
Olivia: Exceeding the $50,000 figure means getting corporate approval, which could delay the project a year.
Step 3. Target Confirmed
In this step, the salesperson verifies the impact of the hinge.
Verify your understanding of how they feel the hinge affects their goals or your product selections without agreeing with them.
Verifying requires yes-or-no questions. If necessary, phrase your clarifying question so that it relates to their goals (safety zone).
The customers’ responses should be a challenge that states, “Here’s my concern. If you make it go away, we can move forward.”
Example
Steven: So, your concern is that you might have to wait a year if you need to get corporate approval and delay receiving the projected cost savings.
Olivia: Exactly, I do not want to wait a year to get the savings. (She verifies hinge and issues her challenge.)
Step 4. Downplay
In this step, the salesperson minimizes the impact of the hinge.
Use the following three tactics to apply for the now-defined hinge by:
Explaining. Provide additional information or clarification to “explain away” a customer’s misconception or misinterpretation. Use this tactic during any of the four MPs.
Example
Olivia: Exactly, I do not want to wait a year to get the savings.
Steven explains: We can use progressive billing to spread the price over a two-year budget period. You wouldn’t exceed the $50,000 level in a single year and you wouldn’t require corporate approval.
Outweighing. You remedy an actual liability by showing how the overall benefits in achieving their goals “outweigh” their concerns. Depending on whether you mentioned specific products, you use this tactic during MP 2: Cement Solution or MP 3: Implement Agreement phases. This strategy requires measurable benefits. Outweighing is like an accounting ledger with credits and debits—with the total sum carrying the most weight.
Example
Olivia: Exactly, I do not want to wait a year to get the savings.
Steven outweighs: The project exceeds your $50,000 budget. (It is a fact, and he hits it head on). However, if I can help you demonstrate to corporate how waiting a year delays saving $180,000 (lost opportunity costs or the costs of doing nothing) in operating expenses, will that bring about an approval this year?
Revising. You offer a new call for action in MP 3: Cement Solution because the filters in MP 2: Measure Potential were not fully qualified. Your original proposed solution does not address all the customers’ goals and filters. Use this tactic as a means of last resort. First, return to MP 2 and try to establish new goals or new attainment measurement filters before changing product selections.
Example
Olivia: Exactly, I do not want to wait a year to realize the savings.
Steven revises: I suggest breaking this one major project into smaller projects implemented over a multiyear period.
Ask a yes/no question to verify that customers agree that you have remedied the hinge to their satisfaction. Once you verified that you removed the hinge, reenter the Measurable Phases at the immediate step beyond which the hinge stopped you.
Example
Verifying to customer: Do you think corporate would approve a project that saves $180,000 this budget year although it exceeds the $50,000 budget limit?
Customer: Yes, I do. (Reenter sale at MP 4: Implement Agreement.)
Let the Customer Go First
Handling hinges comes down to understanding how they affect the ability of customers or your products or services to achieve their goals. Discipline yourself to keep from automatically trying to explain away the hinge as your first response. Instead, save that step until after you ask the customer to explain its details away with some version of Safety Zone and How’s Zat? The impact of these powerful tools is immediate and significant.
Overview of the General Steps for Handling Hinges
An overview of the four steps for handling hinges is show in Exhibit 8-2.
Exhibit 8-2: Overview of the four steps.
Case Study
John Peters’s sales call with Brian Walters now encounters unexpected twists and hinges. These examples demonstrate how to apply the strategies and tactics for handling hinges inside the Measurable Phases.
Review the following steps for active questioning to see how they are applied in the case study.
Follow the Customers’ Lead. Relate all clarifying questions to customers’ last responses on how their hinges affect their goals and filters.