Salesman to Salesman Decisions,Decisions... by Fred Martel

It seems that a very high percentage of consumers have trouble making decisions. I know people who are decision makers at their jobs but cannot shop. The people you propose HVAC systems to are faced with decisions clouded by a lack of knowledge, and closing the sale can be difficult. It is particularly difficult to draw out objections in this situation, but there are a few tools you can use.  One sales technique I learned long ago has its place when confronted with an indecisive prospect. It is called the Ben Franklin Test (or Close) and here’s how it works. You explain that when Ben Franklin had trouble making a decision he would take out a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle of the page. He would list the pros in one column, and the cons in the other. The longer list would win. Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here

In the sales situation, you help the customer list all of the good things about a particular product/system by writing them down for them. Then you turn the page around and let them list the negatives (don’t try to help – you have no negatives). This method can be used to decide whether or not to buy, or to compare two options.  Either way, the best part is that the negative(s) represent the objection(s) you need to overcome to make the sale. Quite often true objections are hard to bring out for discussion. Have Ben Franklin’s test help you to purge them out. It really works.                                                            ###