Selling; It’s Really a Pain (Thank goodness!)

By Robert C. Bell

In a “needs” driven industry, concentrate on fulfilling all of the patient’s needs. Seems simple; it only requires three things:

1. Make patients aware of those needs and do that effectively
2. Have them agree and “own” those needs and then
3. Share with them the best and appropriate eyewear product benefits that can best meet and satisfy those needs.

Oops, forgot to tell you that it involves selling, for some, an uncomfortable activity, for others, a non-professional event that happens every day in optical offices across the country.

WHY SELLING GETS A BAD RAP

Most of us have had first hand experiences with some one trying to push us into buying something we don’t want or need. Most people, when asked to give their gut reaction to the word “salesman,” would commonly respond with the following: “Pushy, aggressive, insincere, greedy, liar, con artist, telemarketer, shark, snake-oil salesman, used cars, etc.”

We have been conditioned, by our experiences, to be wary of and perceive most sales-people as lacking in moral responsibility. But, experiences aside, dictionaries also define “selling” in unfavorable terms.

For example, selling definitions are: “persuade someone of the merits of, cause (someone) to become enthusiastic about, archaic trick or deceive (someone), betray someone for one’s own financial or material benefit.”

Also from the dictionary, “selling” phrases that have become an integral part of our vernacular: selling out, sell someone out, sell a bill of goods, sell someone down the river, sell one’s soul, etc.

But let’s look at the prevalent definition of “selling” that seems to cause most of the problems for both the salesperson and the customer: The ability to persuade others to buy one’s products, services or ideas.

PERSUASION

The goal of persuasion is “to convince someone to internalize your persuasive argument and to adopt this new idea as part of their core belief system.”

This might be an impractical goal. Have you ever tried to change anyone’s core belief system? Has anyone ever tried to change yours? Nothing seems to get accomplished except for making both parties very frustrated.

In an effort to justify this persuasive selling technique, some might say that persuasion is only an attempt to educate. “I’m just educating my customer” is a favorite phrase that ineffective salespeople like to say. It is an attempt to show the customer/patient how knowledgeable you are in your area of expertise. It may be more about the salesperson’s ego than it is in meeting the patient’s needs. However, educating your patient is important if it is done at the right time, as you will see.

So, if selling is not based on persuasion or educating, what is it?

Selling is the process in which you help your patient/customer acquire the goods and/or services they need, for compensation.

The significant word is “need.” Selling should be based on satisfying the needs of your customer/patient not persuading them.

In a field that is primarily based on a patients needs, it should be relatively easy for an optician to sell patients what they need (helping them to acquire what they need). However, most of us don’t find it easy at all. The reason? Because most of us are applying some version of persuasive selling techniques in a “needs” based selling situation. It’s the “attempting to put a round peg in a square hole” syndrome.

Is there a solution? Sure, just know the law.

SELLING AND THE LAW

Let’s look at two types of Laws: God’s Law and the Laws of Man. I believe we’re all familiar with these types of law. So, here’s a question: Can either of these two types of laws be physically broken?

Unfortunately, yes. For example, someone can walk into your office, take a frame, put it in their pocket and walk out without paying. In one fell swoop; both God’s Law and Man’s Law have been broken. It’s important to note that, even though there will be consequences, those consequences are not always immediate.

There’s a third type of law. These laws cannot be physically broken. If this type of law isn’t recognized or respected, the consequences ARE immediate. These laws are the Laws of Nature.

An example of a natural law would be gravity. If you step off a tall building and do not respect this law, the consequences will not only be immediate but pretty dire. Fight this law and the law wins… always.

SELLING IS BASED ON A NATURAL LAW: THE LAW OF MOTION

Sir Isaac Newton, who had discovered gravity, also discovered the Law of Motion.

To understand the true nature of selling we have to understand the three rules of the Law of Motion. Here are the first two: An object in motion tends to stay in motion, travel in the same direction and move with the same velocity unless met with an unbalanced force. The opposite is also true; an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless met with an unbalance force.

A pendulum (Figure 1) best illustrates the first two rules of the Law of Motion. A pendulum will swing back and forth from negative to positive and back again (an object in motion tends to stay in motion). The pendulum in the neutral position has no motion whatsoever (an object at rest tends to stay at rest).

Patients enter the office in one of these categories. Some patients are very positive. “Hi, I couldn’t wait to come in. My friend just got the coolest pair of glasses here and I heard about this new kind of lenses that would be just perfect for me.”

Don’t you just love your positive patients? Yet, they make up a very small percentage of patients walking through the door.

The other small percentage is the negative patients. They may walk into your office already angry or very unhappy about something.

The majority of patients walking through the door are neutral. Typically, they might say: “Oh, that sounds good but let me think about it” or “It’s a little out of my price range” or “I don’t think I really need this now.”

The average neutral patient is not angry or happy, they’re just content. They’re smack-dab in the middle. They like the middle and are vigilant about staying right where they are. They will not allow you to persuade them otherwise. They like the middle so much because they’ve had a lifetime of conditioning and are very wary of being “sold.”

The biggest percentage of patients would prefer to just sit on the fence and not move and have absolutely no motivation to move.

APPLYING THE LAWS OF PHYSICS

Of the three types of patients, positive, neutral and negative, which type is easiest to move/sell? Yes, of course, the positive patient. They’re excited about being there and their listening is turned on. They want and seek your help.

Of the two remaining types, negative or neutral, who is next easiest to sell? Before you answer, remember the Law of Motion. Most people will say the neutral or average patient is easiest to sell. However, the neutral/average patient is not moving at all. The negative patient, however, is in motion, has only one direction to go—positive—and will get there with uniform velocity.

So, between the negative patient and the neutral/average patient, the negative patient, ironically, is easier to sell.

IT’S THE NEUTRAL PATIENT

I am saying the majority of your patients, the neutral/average patient, are hardest to sell. Since these average patients are in the middle with no movement whatsoever, in which direction should you move them?

Moving your average patient in a positive direction is, without a doubt, a colossal mistake and the most frustrating trap a salesperson can set for themselves and their custom-ers/patients. Yet, this happens all the time in almost every industry.

The method most salespeople use to move their average customer in a positive direction is by making a presentation of features and benefits in an effort to educate the customer.

The salesperson will start presenting wonderful features and benefits only to be met with a little resistance and/or a little objection from the customer. So, they’ll be persistent and try again only to be met with more resistance from the customer. The more the customer resists, the harder the salesperson tries (to persuade). The harder the salesperson tries to persuade, the more the customer resists. And so on.

It is a frustrating cycle. But why is moving a neutral customer/patient in a positive direction such a bad thing to do? Look at the third and final rule of the Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That’s why.

To illustrate, let’s look at the pendulum again (Figure 2): Any time you try to push an average patient in a positive direction they will resist and be vigilant about staying right in the middle. Try again and they will resist again, with the same effort in which you tried to persuade them.

THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION

Are you starting to wonder what would happen if you went in the opposite direction? I hope so. Am I actually implying that the key to selling the majority of your patients, your average patients, is to move them negatively? The answer is: Yes.

Start moving your motionless, average patients in the negative direction and your sales and the satisfaction of your patients will soar.

Right now, most of us are trying to move that average patient in the positive direction by making two very big assumptions: 1) We assume, because we’ve told them of their needs, that they actually heard us and understood those needs, and 2) We then assume that they want to hear all about the products that will save the day, so... we tell them. This is how most of us have been trained to “sell” and yet, it doesn’t seem to work to anyone’s advantage.

The remedy? Do the opposite. The opposite of telling is asking. But, there is a secret to asking questions. Only ask specific questions for which your patients can answer AND make sure those questions cause movement. To create such questions, we have to discover what motivates them. Here’s what I mean:

PLEASURE AND PAIN

Two of the strongest human motivators are seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. Of the two, which would you think would be a stronger motivator?

As much as we enjoy pleasure in our lives, avoiding pain is the overwhelming human motivator. And guess what, it doesn’t matter if your young or old, male or female, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat. One of the common denominators we all share as human beings is that we do not want pain and will try to avoid it at all costs.

So, plot “pleasure” and “pain” on the Law of Motion pendulum (Figure 3):

We’ll probably agree that pain is a negative and pleasure is a positive.

Then, develop questions that start to move the average patient in the negative direction; those are questions that uncover pain. Questions that cause movement in a negative direction uncover someone’s pain. Do you think your patients/customers would want to avoid that?

Here’s the best part: Once patients become aware of their own pain, they’ll hang on every word that helps them make that pain go away. Use the following questions to uncover pain.

How do you use/feel (your eyes, your glasses, etc.) when ______________ (insert a particular situation)?

Be specific and gentle in your questions. For example, you may want to ask a first time presbyope, “Mrs. Jones, do you ever find yourself taking your glasses on and off when you are trying to read something?” Or to bring up the issue of sunglasses, “Mrs. Jones, do you find yourself squinting when you’re outside or driving during the day?” Or, for a high myope, “Mrs. Jones, are you comfortable with the heavy weight and/or thickness of your current lenses?” Or for computer lenses, “Mrs. Jones, do you ever struggle with finding the right distance and/or head position to try to read your computer screen at work?

Does that ever give you neck strain or a headache?”

After the first pain question has been asked, make the “pain” hurt a little more. Remember, they are just becoming aware of their “pain.” They aren’t aware yet as to how much their pain bothers them. This is where you come in.

After every initial “pain” question you ask, follow it up with four very simple questions:

1. How often does that happen?
2. When it does happen, does that annoy you?
3. How much does it bother you?
4. Would you like me to help you with that?

The first “pain” question initially uncovers some pain and brings that neutral/average patient (the one with no movement whatsoever) just a little negative. Each of the next three questions moves that patient further and further negative.

First you uncovered their pain and they are now self-aware. The next question has them focus on the occurrence, how prevalent this problem is in their own mind. The next two questions have them focusing on how much and to what degree this problem bothers them.

If this is really bothersome for them, you will have moved them further into the negative on the pendulum scale. Chart the movement of each question in the diagram below (Figure 4).

The only direction for them to now go, after asking the third question, is positive. If you ask that last question, “Would you like me to help you with that?” they will move to the positive side of that pendulum in one big whoosh. Remember, an object in motion tends to stay in motion, in the same direction and with the same velocity. In other words: Whoosh!

GETTING THE PATIENT’S PERMISSION

When they say “yes” to that last question, the hard part is over. They just told you they want your help. They have just given you their permission to give them the solution to make their pain go away. Their ears just came on. You just turned up the volume of their listening. They are waiting for you to solve their problem. You can do this by educating them.

This is where the product presentation goes that will solve their particular problem. This is the only time you make your presentation—after they have given you their permission. Making a presentation without first getting permission leads to frustration for you and the patient more times than not.

So, putting it altogether may sound something like this: “Mrs. Jones, do you ever find yourself taking your glasses on and off just to read?” (pain question)

“Come to think of it, I do.”

“Do you do that a lot?” (occurrence)

“Yes, all the time.”

“Do you find that annoying?” (patient starts to focus on and “own” their pain)

“To be honest, it’s a pain.”

“So, it really bothers you then?” (how much does it really hurt?)

“It does!”

“Would you like me to help you with that?”

“Could you? That would be great!” (whoosh!)

The other major benefit of this method is that it rarely gives the patient an opportunity to come up with any objections. Either they have pain or they don’t. If they do, they’ll most likely want your assistance to make the pain go away.

CONCLUSION

By helping the patient become self-aware of their needs or their “pain,” they are more likely to acquire all the products and/or services to meet those needs and make their pain go away.