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 When you talk to prospects, paint vivid word pictures to help them see how your products can benefit them.
There is a reason that people vote for presidential candidates as much because of how they look on television as because of what they say; that more teenagers line up outside the multiplex cinema at their shopping mall than crowd into their local Barnes & Noble; and that people fall in love at first sight rather than at first conversation.
In the quest for human attention, words matter — but pictures matter more.
Most life, health, and financial services producers who show up for a sales call take this truism into account. They shine their shoes, brush their teeth, dress neatly, comb their hair and otherwise prepare themselves to be visually appealing to their prospect. They realize that their image may count as much as their presentation’s content.
Science supports them. In his classic study of human communication, Dr. Albert Mehrabian of UCLA found that only 7% of the content is conveyed by what is said. Another 38% is conveyed by how it is said (tone and inflection), and 55% is conveyed by body language, including facial expression.
The problem for many sales people is that, when they talk, they don’t take advantage of the power of the visual in the words they use. Even if they have the body language and the tone right, they screw up the other 7%. They lapse into generalities and abstractions to make their points. They mention their excellent service, high quality products, impeccable reputation, competitive prices, and so on. But what does excellence look like? How does someone draw a picture of quality?
Financial services producers who wrestle with the best way to communicate their offering soon discover another challenge. As difficult as it sometimes is for sellers to explain intangible services, it is even more difficult for buyers to understand the explanation. Words that are second nature to a financial services producer are in a foreign language to many consumers.
Visual Selling
Why is the creation of mind pictures so important in selling? Chiefly, it is because people trust what they understand, and they best understand what they can “see” as a real picture in their minds. As marketing consultant John R. Graham once noted (“The Subtleties of Selling Services,” Banking Journal, American Bankers Association, September 1997), “The effective sales person makes the intangible tangible, while an inept sales person loses the deal because he (or she) fails to create the proper picture in the customer’s mind.”
Without such a mental picture, differentiation does not occur in the prospect’s mind; and until the prospect perceives differentiation, the producer has nothing to sell. The principle is the same whether the producer is selling against a competitor, or selling to a prospect who does not have an incumbent financial services provider. A buyer must perceive value, i.e., a positive benefit compared with the status quo.
Differentiation Versus Branding
It is important to distinguish between differentiation and branding. Mergers and acquisitions in the life insurance business have put renewed emphasis on the brand as giving clout to producers. The idea is that the “image” associated with the brand is a powerful visual.
In fact, however, brands do not differentiate. They merely get producers in the door. They shorten the list the buyer will consider. People may be familiar with the New York Life building and the good hands of Allstate, but, when they are buying intangible services, the sales process must go deeper. Most buyers are not ready to sign anything until they understand the benefits as real “things” rather than as concepts.
Author and executive educator Charles H. Green made the point well (“Differentiation through Selling, Not Branding,” The Chief Executive, August-September 2002) when he said, “... it’s a lot easier to differentiate human beings deployed against unique problems ... than it is to differentiate dozens of complex, abstract, intangible services firms.”
For example, if a producer is discussing financial planning services with a prospect, a promise to provide “regular account reviews” does not help the prospect visualize the offer. “Regular” could mean annual or quarterly. More important, however, even if reviews are quarterly, no picture has been created.
With a visual sentence, the producer could drive the point home ... More >>
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