CHAPTER 14
TESTED SENTENCES THAT MAKE THE OTHER PERSON SAY “YES”
Make it easy for the buyer to agree and say yes. How a porter does. How to do it on
“callbacks.”
I WAS RUNNING down to
Philadelphia the other day with my grip in my hand. When I was halfway across a large foyer
of Pennsylvania Station, a smiling porter pointed to my bag. At the same time he said, “which train
are you catching?”
Thinking schedules might
have been changed, I quickly informed him I was catching the ten o’clock
express. Reaching for my bag, the
porter said, “I’ll get you direct to the right platform
quickly.”
“Fine!” Was my reply.
But suppose that the porter had approached me with the usual, “carry your bag?” I would’ve said, “no”, because it is light, and there is no need for a man to run after me with such a small bag. He was more subtle, however. Years of using words and techniques on people had taught this porter the best language used to make it easy for people to say yes.
Down at our corner grocery
store in Forest Hills, Long Island, the other day, a woman entered the store and
asked for Lux soap, which comes in two sizes, large and small. The grocer knows that if he asked the
woman, “large or small size?” She
would usually say, “oh, small is all right. I can always come back for
more.”
Unfortunately, after she
runs out of soap the next time, she may be going to some other store, and then
that store gets the sale. It is
always good to get the business while it is in your hand. Therefore, the grocery clerk made it
easy for the woman to say yes, by the simple sentence, “the family economical
size, madam?”
The
woman said, “oh, yes, the economical size. I always buy
economically.”
The
woman asked for a pound and a half of steak. Now as skillful as grocery and meat men
are, at times they overcut. When
this occurs, I have found there are two ways to handle the situation to make it
easy for the woman to buy the overcut.
In
this instance, the meat men overcut the steak so that it weighed 2 pounds
instead of a pound and a half. If
he had said to the woman, in an apologetic manner, “is that too much?” The woman would probably have said it
was. The butcher must then slice
off a half a pound of the meat.
This is hard to do, and it is wasteful, because to sell a thin half pound
slice of steak is not easy.
But
the experienced butcher, when he overcuts, or overweighs, or over judges, will
always say, “$.46 -- will that be enough?”
He
seldom mentions the weight -- but the price, and adds that potent “selling
sentence question” “will that be enough?”
And in this case the woman replied, as most will, “oh, yes, that's quite
enough.”
While I was looking for a
new office the other day, I went into 521 5th Ave. I approached the rental man and told him
my wants. He showed me several
offices, and all the time he was making it easy for me to say yes. For instance, he asked me, “do you like
this view of the Hudson River?”
“Who wouldn't?” I told him I did. He then took me to the other side of the
building to another office and again asked me if I like the view, this time of
the East River and Long Island. I
did. Suddenly he said, “which view
do you like better?”
I
thought for a moment. I weighed
both views, and then told him that I preferred the view of Long Island. My home was there, and besides, the sun
came into the office in the morning when it was least hot.
“Suppose you place your
application for this office, then”, said he, tactfully, upon which I suddenly
realized that I was headed for a dotted line. (I rented the office facing
Long Island).
You
can always twist your questions and sales language or social conversations
around in such a manner as to make it easy for the other person to say
“YES”.
Even in friendly arguments
you can get positive responses from the other person. You repeat his objections, and asking,
“is that you're only reason for not joining our golf
club?”
He
tells you it is. He agrees with
you. You have made it easy for him
to say yes. If you'd said to him,
“that's a foolish reason for not joining,” he would perhaps come back with, “no,
sir -- it is a good reason -- at least to me.”
Twist your words in such a
manner that they bring out yes answers.
“I'd like to help you build
your butter and egg business, and you want to do that, don't you?” Says our Bickley salesman to his tough
prospect, who must say yes to this approach.
“Have you changed your mind
about carrying our butter and eggs?”
It's a ready no. No man
changes his mind -- or wants you to feel he does.
Few
hotel proprietors want to hear no from their guests, yet often they realize that
the only way they can improve their services is to find out the things that
upset a guest. While developing
selling language for Hotels Statler to help improve their service and further
refine their contacts with guests, we hit upon this question to get a yes
response: “I am sure everything is satisfactory with your
stay?”
This positive attitude
caused many guests to say yes, because it was a leading question; and it was
much better, we thought, than, “is everything satisfactory?” Which would open the way for some people
to complain. But we quickly
learned that the sentence high pressured many guests into saying that everything
was satisfactory; they would carry their grievances in their minds and on
another trip would stay in a competitor's hotel.
It
was important to find the annoyances that creep into any hotel, no matter how
carefully it is run. A dripping
water faucet, a noisy electric clock, a rattling window -- all can be corrected
so that they stop annoying the guest and preserve his
patronage.
Therefore we constructed the
following sentence and tested it.
The sentence permitted the guest to offer a complaint if there was one or
to say that everything was fine.
The sentence was:
“Do
you like this room, sir?” (Do you
like the dinner, sir? And so
on.)
It
is a simple sentence. Perhaps that
is why it is working so successfully.
We
tried the sentence, “is the room satisfactory, sir?” But the word satisfactory proved
difficult for the Bellman to say, believe it or not!
This incident, of course,
indicates there are exceptions to the rule of getting people to say yes, for
often you really appreciate a sincere no.
On
the whole, however, if you want to get along better with people, especially
those you are selling or those you have friendly social arguments with, always
bear in mind:
Make it easy for the other
person to say “yes.”
Whenever the other person
says no, you have a mountain to overcome.
You have his pride as a hidden objection. You have to unfold his “crossed
arms.”
In
making a call-back on a prospect, it is often easy to begin by saying, "have you
changed your mind about my proposition?”
No
man wants to have anybody, especially a salesman, change his mind. He likes to stick by his guns. Oh, yes, some men will change their
minds, but they like to think they change them of their own free
will.
If
you start an interview with a question the prospect can say no to, you are
unnecessarily handicapping yourself.
It is better to say, “last time I talked with you, your problem was one
of price, isn't that so, Mr. Jones?”
He
must say yes, because you put his own major objection to him. You reworded his objection and fed
it back to him.
Then you can say, “I've been
thinking about the price, and I wonder if we shouldn't look at it from this
angle...” You tell them your new sales story. His interest is up. You haven't a no to
surmount.
The
well-trained Bickley butter and egg salesman, as you have read, never greets a
Philadelphia grocery prospect with a question like this:
“Need any butter or eggs
today?”
He
does not give the prospect a chance to say no. He keeps his man in a “yessing” mood by
such statements as this one:
“How'd you like to sell more
butter and eggs this week, Jim?”
Of
course Jim must say yes.
Men
like to say no. It is easier to
say no than yes -- because the word yes, according to many people, seems to
weaken their will, and they like to pride themselves on having a strong
will.
Marshall Field would always
start his trading with salesmen by asking questions, and they were usually
questions that got a“Yes”, not “No” answers. He thus learned what was on the other
man's mind first, and soon had plenty of knowledge on which to trade
afterwards.
Emil Ludwig says of
Napoleon: half of what he achieved was achieved by the power of
words.
While at the pyramids,
Napoleon said to his army, "Soldiers, 40 centuries are looking down on you!”
(He was selling the
“sizzle.”)
He
would say, “I will lead you into the most fertile plains of the world. There you'll find flourishing cities,
teeming provinces.”
Another of Napoleon’s
sayings is, “you will return your homes, and your neighbors will point you out
to one another saying, he was with the Army in Italy.”
Napoleon knew the simple Art
of saying the right thing. He
talked about the other person, and would never give his men a chance to say no
by asking them, “Do you soldiers get enough to eat? Are you satisfied with
war?”
According to Elbert Gary,
“the average man talks too much, especially if he has a good command of
language.”
Do
your share of the talking only.
Let the other fellow talk once in awhile. Use questions on him -- leading
questions that get them talking.
Not questions that invite a negative response.
Remember the rule: don't let
the other person say “No”.
Very often in the course of
persuading the other person you're forced to close the matter for the time
being, leaving the situation open for further discussion, or a callback, as it
is known in salesmanship circles.
The
careful interviewer is alert not to close the incident for all times. To avoid this possibility usually he
ends his initial call on his prospect voluntarily with some such statement is
this:
“Is
not necessary for you to make up your mind today. I don't want to rush you. Suppose we drop the matter now, and take
it up at another meeting?”
This is often good
technique. Few people like to be
rushed into a deal, regardless of how small it is. They want time to think it over, and if
you are the first to suggest they think it over, you won a point in your favor.
Therefore, be the first to suggest
postponement of an interview, if postponement is
inevitable.
Don't hang on and on, until
the other person is forced to manufacture schemes and methods to get rid of you.
If he does, you will never be able
to get into his presence again for a callback.
I
know a man with an office on Fifth Avenue, who, through his political
connections, is forced to meet many people every day. He allows each just about five minutes,
and then his secretary appears at his door and says, “don't forget your
appointment, sir!”
This usually causes the
visitor to make a quick exit.
Remember the old adage of
the theater: Stop while they still want more!
If
you are trying to convince someone to buy a car take him for a nice ride. Sell him the ride -- not the
car. But be the first to
say, if you see he must take time to think it over, “now think it over, Mr.
Smith. I don't want you to buy my
car if you are really not convinced it is the type you want. Suppose you and your wife discuss the
matter, and I'll call you up tomorrow?”
This attitude will work
magic for you. It will not only
win the other person's confidence in you, but will often cause him to make up
his mind at once.
How
effective these three simple phrases are:
“There's no hurry. Take your time. Think it over.”
You
may be squeezing for the sale very hard, but once you show anxiety, the other
person puts you on the defensive -- which is a difficult side to be
on.
The
real science of making the callback is quite simple. You must open your callback at the exact
place you left off, which is usually at the one key objection offered by the
other person.
If
price is the thing that is holding them back, you start right off with the
objection by saying, “last time we talked this matter over, you stated that
price was the only thing holding you back. Is that right?”
He
starts “yessing” you right away but you'll always get a negative reply by
starting out with, “have you changed your mind?” Or “have you been thinking about my
proposition since the last time we met?”
Experience analyzing 105,000
selling phrases and having them tested on close to 19 million people to date has
indicated to me that successful callbacks are those made when you begin with the
key issue.
For
instance, say, “the last time we discussed that home on Beaver St. you told me
you didn't like people who lived in the neighborhood, and that was your ONLY
REASON for not moving. Is that
right?”
They’re his own words. He starts by agreeing with you. Now, you have been making some
investigation since he saw fit to stand behind this argument, and you begin
knocking the props from under his objection by these new
facts:
“Did you know that the
Vandersplices, the people who own the gold mines in Mexico, are moving into the
neighborhood? Did you know that
the Browns, who own the department store, have a daughter who lives directly
across the street from the house we looked at? And did you know that your golf partner
Jim, was out looking at this development himself last
week?”
Gracious -- he didn't
realize all this. He is forced to
admit that this changes the complexion of things. You use the famous key issue close, and
close on the main objection with this simple formula that applies to the close
of any sale or debate or business argument or social discussion you may be
in:
“You told me your ONLY
REASON for not moving was the fact you felt the people in the neighborhood were
not your type. Isn't that true?
And now, you agree the people are
just the ones you like. That's
true isn't it? So inasmuch as
this was your only reason for hesitating, and since this reason is no
more, when will you move, the first or the 15th of next
month?”
Always use words to get the answers you want -- and you will always retain command of the situation!