Transcription
[Music] [Music] Well, welcome back. Here we are in the last session. You've turned the corner. Remember, now you're in your F-16, and it's time to kick in the afterburners. So today, we're going to complete step number eight of the selling process: Make it real and assume the sale. It's cool because, wink wink, when you make it real for somebody, you make it real in their gut. Said differently, you make them feel it. Logic doesn't have a whole lot to do with this. You want to make it real by showing them that buying means pleasure or heaven, and that not buying means pain. Now, if you get people into this state of mind, they will buy. So let's listen as Tony shows us how to make it real for [Music] people.
So, we've come a long way. We've gone through two phases of the sales process, which, of course, is a three-phase process with 10 steps. What have we done? Phase one: One, we've engaged the customer. How? Number one, if you remember, we got ourselves prepared. Number two, we turned ourselves on. Number three, we put ourselves in a place where we immediately went out and made contact. We didn't just get excited; we did something about it. We then connected. We made them our best friend, heart to heart. Then we created some interest. At the point they were interested to hear us, and if we had a picture of the person, at that point, they should have big ears on, wanting to hear what we have to say. Now, we began to enroll them. How do we do that? We got permission to probe, to find out what this person is about, what are their real needs, what are their real wants, what are some of their buying patterns? And so, sure enough, we did that process. We really found out the qualifying process. We probed for problems and magnified the hurt. And lastly, step seven, as we just went through, we went along and we didn't just assume we knew what was going on; we created conviction and we test-closed to see where we were. And so, we now have a person who's not only engaged, but they really are enrolled in the idea. What do we now need to do to compel them? Well, the answer is, is we need to make it real. It's one thing to be able to tell someone what a rose is like; it's another thing to have them actually come along and smell it. And what we really want them to do is see, hear, feel, smell, experience that your product or service is going to give them what they want most. And that's not always easy when maybe the product you have is not quite as tangible as a rose. Maybe you're selling an intangible. Maybe it's a business product. Maybe it's something you think has no emotion whatsoever. Again, you're marketing a computer system, you're marketing a certain type of Xerox copier. So, think about that. Anything people buy, they still buy for emotional reasons. But again, it's got to be made real to them. They've got to make it feel like it's really, really true. And so, right now, you've got somebody with some conviction. They're logically convinced that they're justified in purchasing the product. We want to get them now where they're not just logic-driven, but they have momentum. They're compelled. How do we go about compelling someone so they really feel like this is the most important thing for them to do? Well, the way we do it is we want to make it real. What do we want to make real? Real number one: We want to make the experience of buying very real, in that we want to make it real for them that if they buy, it's going to be heaven, and if they don't buy, it's going to be hell. We need to actually have them have those associations in their mind. If someone doesn't buy your product, there's only one or two reasons they didn't buy your product: because they linked in their mind that buying would be more painful than not buying, that the consequences of buying would lead to pain, embarrassment, frustration, loss of capital, inconvenience, whatever, and they were going to get more of that than they were going to get pleasure. Does that make sense? In addition, if somebody does buy it, because they link buying will mean more pleasure than pain, either the pleasure of getting something they really want, or the pleasure of no longer having to worry, or the pleasure of knowing they don't have to have that hurt happen in their life anymore. And they also would link that if they didn't buy, they would be missing out on something. So, we have to make that real for people. And so, we have to make their wants real, so it's very real their wants are very strong. We've got to make their justification very real. We've got to make their pain of not buying very real. And I guess if I was going to say one thing to you, I'd say, if the prospect cannot mentally experience visually in their mind, emotionally enjoying the benefits of your product, if that's not very real in their experience, then they're probably not going to go over the edge. It'll be more of a logical buying. You're going to have to close real hard and go through all that stuff because they're going to be in one of those indecisive states. If you get them where it feels really real, then you'll be able to just assume the sale. And that's what the step is about: Make it real and just assume the sale.
The most powerful distinction that I learned that helped me in making things real for people was to understand that the human imagination, our imagination, is 10 times more powerful than our will. In other words, if I try and sell you logically, that's one thing. But if I can get you to really think about something and make up possibilities in your mind, those possibilities drive people nuts. I mean, think about it. Fear is the number one emotion that stops most human behavior. And are most fears justified? Are most fears logical? Are most of the things that you've been afraid of that kept you from doing all that you want to do, were they based on pure logic? Not usually. What it was is you got a little bug in your mind, and your imagination went crazy with it. And so, what you need to do is learn how to manage your imagination and also how to utilize the imagination of the customer so they really want your product. And there's a three-step process we'll teach you that can really help you to do that.
The first step of the three-step process is: You, you've got to learn to make it real for people by really making sure that you're able to point out exactly what they want, where they feel like it's there. What do I mean by that? What I mean is, when we're going to persuade someone, if we want to influence them, what our job is at this point is we've got somebody who really wants to do this, but we want to have them compelled. So, what our master persuader is doing here is he's painting pictures through strong languaging. He's painting pictures that, God, if you buy, it's going to mean success, love, money, respect, whatever it is that person really wants most in the world. In other words, it's going to mean buying is heaven, and if they don't, it's going to be hell. Now, they can't be quite that direct. They have to be elegant in their description, but they can do it in the ways we've already talked about. You wouldn't say, "Listen, if you don't buy this, you're going to miss out." If you talk to a moving-away-from person, if you recall our meta-programs discussion or discussion about buying patterns, that'll work. What if you go to somebody who's motivated by possibility or moving towards, and you say that you're going to lose rapport, and they're not going to buy. So, again, a more elegant way of doing this would be to say, "You know, I talked to Mary, and she was kind of on the fence like you were, and she wasn't really sure, and she didn't buy. You know what happened? Two weeks later, they had a fire, and she didn't buy our fire alarm. And sure enough, in the house, two-thirds of the house burned down. Unfortunately, she got out alive. She didn't, there wasn't any damage to her family physically, but she lost all those things when all she had to do is make a small investment. It was there." And I felt bad because I tried to convince her, and she didn't do it. Now, again, make sure your story is true. Make sure it's accurate. Make sure it's a story. If it's not one you've had, it's somebody else, you can say, "One of my friends in our organization has had this experience." But that's a way of making it more real. And sure enough, that person will go inside their head, and they'll make up all these pictures, won't they? Their imagination will go crazy. They'll start to think about, "Well, God, what would it be like for us?" Also, you can say, "I also did with this other family, and here's what happened. You know, the alarm went off. Sure enough, not only did everybody get out, but sure enough, they were able to stop the fire before it got too big. Most of the house is fine, etc., etc." The hell if you don't, the heaven if you do. You've got to be able to paint it vividly. And hopefully, not just paint it, but paint it by asking questions of the prospect. If there's any way you can get people to experience things, it's through questions. Again, remember, questions do three things. When I ask you a question, it immediately changes what you focus on. Have you ever had somebody ask you a question? You're in the middle of a conversation, they ask you a question, and all of a sudden, you're over here, and you completely forgot what you were talking about. Has that ever happened to you? That's what happened. Is by you can take somebody who's giving you an objection and destroy the objection just by asking a question that's out of the blue. And all of a sudden, they're over here, and they can't remember what their objection was. You go, "Okay, well, great. Let's just move on." So, questions immediately change what we focus on. And therefore, whatever we pay attention to or focus on affects our state, our emotional state. So, if you ask somebody a question, you change what they focus on. You also change how they feel. The other thing a question does is, remember, it changes what you delete. Right now, while you're listening to me, you may not be noticing the blood pulsating through your left ear. Now, when I mention it, you might begin to notice it or remember it or feel it. You probably weren't paying attention to the pace at which your heart was beating. Other words, you delete most of those things. When I ask you a question, I change what you delete. I cause you to focus on something else. And when you focus on something new, you forget about other things around you. Third thing I do with questions is I access resources. If I ask you a question like, "Well, what's the most important thing you've learned in your life so far in business?" It's a pretty big question. You might say, "Well, I don't know." And I'd say, "Well, I know you don't know, but if you did know, what would you say?" You might say, "Well, I learned this and this and this." What I've done, I've gotten you to go into this incredible file cabinet called your brain and pull out something very valuable and important. I've gotten access to some resources. The same thing happens when I'm talking to someone and I'm trying to convince them to buy. Rather than convince them, I'll ask them. I'll say, "Listen, if you were to actually invest in this product right now, tell me something. What would be the best benefit you would get out of that?" Now, what have I made them do? I've made them go on their head and focus on, let their imagination go crazy and focus on, "Well, what would be the best benefit?" And ask, and you shall receive. If you keep asking, and again, if they feel like you're not just trying to manipulate them, but you're being honest and sincere and say, "Really think about it. What could be one of the greatest benefits of this?" All of a sudden, their imagination will come up with better benefits than you could ever verbalize. Plus, if you verbalize it, they probably will doubt it. If they tell you, then it's the truth, isn't it? And it's an experience in their head. It's not just a bunch of words you've thrown at them. So, questions are a way to make it real. They're a way to get people access resources. They said, "Well, I can't handle this because my budget just doesn't work." So, I understand that. If there was a way, and you had turned it around and you had actually made the budget or worked a way to get around the budget, tell me, what would be the most important thing that made that work out? Somebody says, "I don't want to buy." Okay, let me ask you a question. If you had bought already, what changed your mind? If something changed your mind, what would it be that would have changed your mind? And they'll tell you. Ask questions, and they will give you a real answer. They'll get a real experience inside of themselves as well. Questions are your great friend. You've got to make use of them and ask excellent questions, questions that empower you and empower the buyer by putting them in a state that makes things more congruent. That's critical.
Now, in asking questions, that's one way of doing it. Painting pictures. Another way of getting someone to feel like it's real is to do something very real. That is, I think all the best salespeople that I know of are people that sell with all five senses. They don't just tell you that the product is worthwhile; they want to come over and give you the experience. Now, if there's no way to do that, again, because you've got an intangible. I mean, it's simple. If you've got a car, you know, I tell you the story about my buying my BMW, and the guy not only did he go through and prepare and know who I was, not only did he turn himself on to sell me, not only did he make contact with me, not only did he create some rapport with me and get my interest about the car by telling me there were only 400 of them in the United States and it was the fastest production car in the world, that grabbed my attention, being somewhat of an achiever. But also, after all those steps, he also found out what my wounds were, what I want. I want to have something that I think is is the best in the world. I want to be the best. I want the things around me to be the best. He also came in and created more conviction. He gave me more benefits. He told me everything about the car. He said, "Look, check this out. You know, it's a hot day like this. You just punch in the computer here. You're going to be here at 3:45." Punch in 3:45 p.m., and when you come in at 4:00, the air conditioner had been turned on for 15 minutes, and your car is cool. That was called a benefit. Think about it. I thought, "Wow." And he says, "You know what that means to you?" He said, "It means that you're going to be cool, no matter what the temperature's like outside. And when you pick up clients, they're going to be impressed because they don't have to worry about, you know, hitting some hot leather seats." He said, "Not only that, but the real benefit to you is knowing you have something nobody else in the world has." And he really got me. And he did one after another. He said, "You know what? Watch what happens when we do this. Put this thing in reverse." So, watch what happens when we get out of the car. We get out of the car. And he said, "I said, 'Well, I should close the windows and I should close the moon roof.'" He said, "No, no. Just get out of the car, turn the key, and hold it." I turn the key and hold it, and all the windows and the whole car go up, and the moon roof closes just by turning the key. And so, he sold me one after another. You go, "That's not logical, Tony." I know it's not logical, but people buy for emotional reasons. Now, I justified it was logic. I said, "Look, think of all the time that I waste probably pushing those buttons to close all those windows and stuff, and all I have to do is turn the key, right?" The point is, he definitely got, and he kept test-closing me. He kept saying, "So, if we were able to do this and this and this, would it make sense for you to have it? Where would we deliver it? You know, I know we're here in Houston, you live in San Diego, but are you coming back to do an event? Is there a time? Would you like to drive across country? What do you think might be a nice way to do it if you were going to do it?" And he kept using progressive test closes on me. But the place that he bested is he made it real for me. And he made it real for me very simply by making sure that after he told me all about it, when I walked out at lunchtime, there was the car. And even though I didn't have time to drive with him, he tossed me the keys and said, "Drive it. Have the experience." And then he guided me through the experience, and I came back and showed me how to do everything in this car. So, sure enough, it became very real. And he sent me back with a brochure with the smell of the car on it. Yes, BMW has managed to take their brochure for this car. It's worth the investment, and imprint the smell on it. And you have to know that what sells us is things that put us in state. Remember our initial conversation? Highest-paid people in this country are people that are state-inducers. Our best friends are state-changers. So, anything that'll change someone's state will make things more real for them. And they did that in the brochure. But he made it so real for me, it was so compelling for me at that point, I had to buy.
So, you might say, "But Tony, I can't do that. I'm selling accounting services. I'm selling my attorney services. I'm selling something that I can't just hand to them." Well, you still can. You just have to get a lot more creative. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying the difference between those who succeed at the highest level and those who just get by are those who get creative enough to make it real. So, we're going to ask you each night for the next 10 days to come up with three ideas on how you can get the customer to feel like they really already own your product right now, even before they bought. What are some creative and unique ways that you can really do that consistently? Now, I'll give you an example. A stockbroker might say, "Well, gosh, I'm trying to sell stock, and you know, how am I going to convince them to? I mean, there's not something real there. There's not something tangible." Well, I know a lot of stockbrokers that will go out and what they'll do is they'll create the amount of money that they and the person they're dealing with thinks that they're going to earn over a period of time, and they'll write them a check and say, "As long as the stock gets this point, boom, and they make this giant check." Now, you might say, "Tony, that is the most corny thing I've ever heard in my life." My initial reaction was the same. But when I saw the faces of people, business people, who thought it was corny, they grinned, they smiled. It was more real for them. Some of them stuck it on their desk, said, "Yeah, that's what I'm going to do here in the next 90 days. This stock cranks to the top." So, that may not be your style. And most of the ideas you write down, if you write down three a day for 10 days, you're going to have 30 ideas. Most of them will be lousy, in my humble opinion. But how many do you need to radically change the quality of your selling presentations? All you need are a couple unique ideas about how to make things more real to give yourself a lot more power.
What are some examples? Well, throughout the years, people have come up with all kinds of things. One that was really a great example, I thought, was a real estate gentleman. He brainstormed like this: each day went through 30, came up with only one idea he thought was worthwhile. He wrote them all down. That's key. Make sure you write down all your ideas, even if you think they're lousy, because they may spark something new later on. But his idea was, "What if, instead of telling people about the house or showing it to them, what if, once I've qualified them and I really know what they really, really want, and I know everything about them, what if I show them a house that I use some contrast? I show them a house that is out of their league, and then I show them a house that's not as good as they want, and then I take them to the perfect house." That's a basic strategy, isn't it? So now they've seen something that's beyond their reach, something that's below, they feel like they've shopped enough. Boom. He takes them to the home he knows they really will want. But here's what he does. He said, "What if I convince the owners, the sellers, to leave for an evening, and I prepare here, and I have it catered, an incredible meal in that home?" And that's what he does. He literally has these people spend an evening in the home. And when he does it, he not only has this incredible meal catered, but he moves things around appropriately by getting, for example, the favorite flowers of the person involved, the wife's favorite flowers. The man's got his favorite magazines there. If he's a particular kind of person, it's that kind of magazine. If he's socially conscious, he's got outdoor type of things, let's say, society conscious type of magazines. But he really works at knowing their colors, their smells, their feelings, their desires. And he has them spend an evening. Now, think about this. Number one, it induces tremendous reciprocation. But number two, and maybe even more powerfully, these people have actually had an experience of being in this home, surrounded by the environmental triggers that make a difference. His close ratio, and I don't know the exact figure because I've heard all kinds of things, but what he'll tell us anyway is about 80% or more. And it appears that that's true because he's number one in his office. What's fascinating again is if you go to other people in his office and you say, "Hey, you know, how come you guys aren't doing this? This guy's doing pretty well." They'll say, "Well, you know, that's just, you know, what he does. I couldn't do that." Again, whenever I find top producers, the first question in my mind is, "How come everybody else isn't doing this?" And the answer I always get is, "Well, that's his style," or "That's his approach," or "That's her way of doing things, but I could never do it." If I were you, I'd start modeling success. I'd start finding people in your office that are the best of what they do and see what is it they do that makes them so successful. And I'll guarantee one thing: they make sure customers feel like the benefits they're getting are real, so they feel compelled to move ahead right now. And as soon as it feels real, they assume the sale. They don't wait around and say, "So, would you like to go ahead?" They instantly assume the sale and make them go forward.
So, take a look then at how can you do this more consistently? You can do it by selling visually, auditorially, kinesthetically, olfactorily, and gustatorily. What does that mean? It means see if you can get all five senses involved when you're marketing to someone. Remember this: that if they're eating food, the food they're eating is affecting their state. The state that they're in will also get linked to the product you're talking about. If there's something that's disturbing them in terms of food, it will affect the way they feel about your product. There's no way to get around it. Whenever someone has a strong feeling, whatever is consistently around them while they're having this feeling gets linked. Remember Pavlov and the dogs and the bells? Dogs saw food that made them feel hungry. They're feeling hungry. Ring a bell. Ring a bell. Ring a bell. Feeling hungry. Ring a bell. Feeling hungry. Ring a bell. Saliva. Ring a bell. Saliva. Ring a bell. Pretty soon, you ring the bell, they've got saliva. It's not logical, but the nervous system responds instantaneously. So, it's real important you put people in an environment that creates the kind of state that you really want to create in the person and link to your product. Listen, why do new cars have that new car smell? Is it just part of the car? No, because it's part of the selling proposition. It's part of what puts you in state. Then say, "Well, I can't use smells." Yes, you can. Your smells sell or cause sales to fall out. And it's kind of a touchy subject, but every one of us, right, had bad breath. All of us have times like that. But we've got to be careful because bad breath will cost you 10% of your sales. Have you ever had somebody come up to you who you really liked, and they're talking to you, and you know they don't mean it, but their breath is bad, and it's like you're trying to be nice, you know, your eyes are watering? And sure enough, it affects your state. You have to realize that the way you smell, the way your breath smells, the way you come on in terms of smell, plays a huge role. Smell is the fastest thing to change somebody's state. Your nose developed before most of your brain developed, so it is the most powerful sense organ you have in terms of state change. Pay attention to smells and get people where they can experience all these elements.
I'll give you another good example. I've forgotten the gentleman's name, but there's a gentleman here in the United States that you probably remember. He's the guy who brought over that stuff you put on your nose to protect yourself from the sun, that zinc oxide that comes in various colors. He started that whole movement, if you will, or fad. And he was in Japan one time and found out about this ice cream maker that was made by a little Japanese company, a little plastic ice cream maker. And it ran on batteries, kind of cheap. And Kmart had bought the rights to it, tried to sell it, and it had fallen on its tail. Well, this man comes along and says, "I'm going to take this product and I am going to sell it to Lord & Taylor." Now, if you're not familiar with Lord & Taylor, we're talking pure achiever store. The last thing that Lord & Taylor is going to sell is some little gizmo or gadget. It's nothing like that at all. I mean, very, very respectable place. In their eyes, everyone told him he was insane, that he was throwing his money away, that he was wasting it. He came back and started to figure out how he was going to market to these people. And he realized that if he just told these people, "Listen, achievers will buy this," if he tried to convince them and state some facts and some figures, that he probably wouldn't convince them. So he thought, "I've got to give them the experience where they really feel that it's real, that achievers will use this product." So, five hours before his meeting where he's supposed to go meet the buyers for Lord & Taylor's, he comes up with an idea by brainstorming. And his idea is this: He sends out his top people and says, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go find the most intricate, beautiful, expensive goblets, crystal goblets you can possibly find. I mean, something that would drive you crazy just to look at it. And I want you to get some incredibly intricate silver spoons. I want you to get me a gentleman in a tuxedo with silver trays." And what I'm going to do is, on the way over there, I'm going to make the ice cream in this little thing by pushing this button in my limousine. So I can tell my limousine on the way over, "I just push this button." And I thought, "You might want to try the product before we talk about it." Sure enough, he walks in, steps, sets the product down and says, "Listen, rather than let me tell you all about this product, I'm sure you're interested to know what it's like. I know you'll know that people will use it. Just to give you an idea, I used it in my limousine. I pushed the button. Here's what happened. And so, why don't we try some?" And sure enough, all of a sudden, the guys in tuxedos come in with these goblets, hand them to all these people, and all these achievers are holding these goblets, tasting this ice cream, going in a state: gustatory, visual, auditory, the whole nine yards. They bought over 500,000 units. Think about it. All because he made it real. He didn't just tell them. And of course, he clearly assumed the sale. He assumed the sale from the minute he walked in, knowing that they were going to buy. But he did it because he gave them the experience first.
So, get creative. And I'm not saying it's always easy. You might say, "But I've got an intangible, Tony. I can't do it." Mine? Hey, listen, you can say, "I've tried everything." Remember, you've never tried everything. If you tried everything, you would have done it already. There is always a way. It's the most important belief I have found that within myself that's helped me to succeed. And similar beliefs I hear in people that achieve at the highest level. So, all you need to do is keep brainstorming with the expectation that one of these ideas will pop, and it'll give you a way to make things very real for people. Once it's real, they're compelled. They've got to have it. Now, so you want to figure out how to do that in an effective way. Now, besides asking questions, besides visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactorily, and gustatory, getting people to experience the value of buying in all five senses, the last thing I can share with you is the idea of the system of what we call Point, Tell, and Paint. That is, if somebody starts to kind of maybe not feel like this is something they should do, you know, they're like logically convinced, but they're not all the way over the edge. One of the ways to do it is real simple, three steps: Point. Point out what they want it for. In other words, all you've got to do is put their problem back in their mind. Put their desire back in their mind. And the way you do that is just simply come along and ask somebody a question. The kind of question you would ask that person is, first of all, to create the desire. You've got to first determine their urbans. And urbans, in other words, what are their values? We've already done that, right? What do they want most in life? They want freedom? Do they want adventure? They want security? What do they want? They want success. So, we know what they want most emotionally, and what they want most logically to justify buying. But then all we've got to do is say, "Okay, point. You want a blank that will blank. Is that correct? Is that correct?" And what's that called? A test close. You're immediately clarifying, "Are you on track?" And they're making a commitment. So, "I know you want to blank that'll blank. Is that correct? I know you want a computer system that will be absolutely efficient and do this. I know you want a car that, you know, will be the best in the world. I know that what you really want is to make an investment in a home that will bring you a return over the next five years, but also give you a cozy environment for your family. Isn't that what you want?" So, immediately point out. "All I know you want to come up with a system to stop losing all this money from employees stealing. You know, I know you want a way to have your accounting be consistent, don't you?" So, you immediately go back and hopefully point out a wound, point out the reason they're buying in the first place, make it real again by making them refocus. You can easily open somebody's wound and create a greater desire to buy just by talking about their problems. Just talk about them. Say, "You know, I know that you're not quite sure about this, and I also know that if you don't change from what you've told me, it's going to cost you this, this, and this, and this. Isn't that right? I hate to have you see the continue to go through that. That's not something you want, is it?" So, again, what you're doing is closing along the way. So, first of all, point. Point and remind them of what their desire is. And what you're doing is you're taking their problem and putting it back in their lap, which creates some motivation again. So, point right away. B. Tell. Our blank will do that for you. So, what you've got to do is, now that you've pointed out what it is, you need to just reassure them again. Make it more real. "This will do it for you." Be very specific. "Our product will do this for you." And then C. Paint. And this is the key where we want to unleash their imagination. And what you've got to do is paint that when you own this blank, this product, and blank happens. So, "When you own this computer system, and all of a sudden your efficiency in your accounting department jumps to 30%, and you walk in, and you set a time and place." This is critical. Hear me on this. "So, when you own this, and blank happens, and you put what you know they want to have happen or what you've stated, when blank happens, set the time and place. Is that what you really want?" So, for example, "When you are in a position where you own this computer system, and you've got 30% more efficiency in your office, and you walk in there at 1:00 in the afternoon, and people are not concerned and upset because they haven't got their check on time, everything's already done, and people feel happy and they feel good." Question I've got is, "Is that what you want?" They say, "Yeah, that's what this is about." And then you assume the sale. So, let me just ask you a question. "Um, what's your address?" You start to do, let's say, an order blank close. Or so, "Let me just ask you, do you want it on Thursday or Friday?" Or, "Let me ask a question, do you want them blue? Do you want the executive model or the junior model?" Or you ask them a minor close. Some like, "Well, would you like envelopes done with the brochures that are being done, so you have something to mail them with also?" They say yes to the envelopes, they've also said yes to the brochure. The point is, you want to assume the sale. But what you want to do is use this point, tell, and paint. And the most important part is the painting part. Make sure you unleash their imagination because they can come up with all kinds of things. Ask them. Say, "God, if all this worked out, what could really happen to your business? If all things we said were true, what could happen?" Standard closes again for us in our organizations. Walk in and say, "What would you want out of a seminar if you were going to have a seminar for your people? What would be most important? What would be the two or three things that would be most important for you to get?" And they'll tell us. I'll say, "Out of those three, what's the most important one of all?" They tell us their highest urban. So, we say, "In your company, what would be the three most important reasons for you to take a seminar like this? What if you're going to do a seminar and it really got results for you? If it really got results, what would be three results you'd have to get out of that seminar?" They'll tell us. And we say, "Which one of those is most important?" Now, they told us their number one urban. What's the biggest emotional reason to buy? Now, maybe their urban also logical reasons to buy. Now, then we say, "If you don't get that, what will it cost you? What potentially could it cost you in the next five years if that doesn't change?" What have we done? We've unleashed their imagination much more powerfully than if we say, "If you don't change this, you know what's going to cost you." No, no, no. We want to unleash them. And they start talking and thinking and all those kinds of things. And we say, "Listen, if you were to get this thing, if we could help you turn this around, and you really got this result, what would you gain over the next five years? How would your business be greater? How much more enjoyment would you get? How much more success? How much more profitable?" And now their brain starts to go crazy answering all these questions. They come up with all these different answers. Then you say, "Listen, if we could really show you a way to do that, you'd be really interested in doing it, wouldn't you?" Person will say, "Of course, I would." Now, you've done your test close. Now you're ready to go in for a final close. So, the point is, what you've done is you've asked questions that made buying heaven and not buying hell. You've not told them; you've elicited. The way to make it real is get them to tell you. Don't you tell them. Don't turn it that way.
Now, sometimes you get somebody that needs a little convincing. I'm going to tell you a funny story. I'm telling you some horror stories from my early days in selling when I was a pretty intense kind of guy. And I remember one time I went to a particular person's home selling those tape programs I told you about. And this man was the kind of person that would have you come to your home and let you do two and a half hours and agree with you, but be lying. And at the end, just do the whole thing just for some entertainment. Have you ever had somebody like that who wanted you to do your presentation just for entertainment? And he was vindictive. He treated me horribly. But then, just as I was about to, like, you know, think, "This guy's a jerk, and I'm going to leave," he'd treat me nicely again, only enough to keep me there so he could beat me up some more. So, after I've done, he keeps asking me questions too, to make me give him every answer. So, after about two and a half, maybe three hours of presentation in his home, he finally says, "I agree with everything you said." And his objection is, "Albums are more durable than cassettes." Now, I decided at this point that if he was going to continue to push this point in spite of the facts, I was going to give him a real experience that that was not true. And at the time, Saturday Night Fever was a brand new movie that just came out. And this man had the brand new album of Saturday Night Fever sitting there. And I said, "Is what you're saying to me then, sir, is that that album you've got there is more durable than this cassette?" I said, "Because look what I can do with this cassette." And I threw it on the ground, I ran over and stomped on it, picked it back up, and said, "You can play it." He said, "Yes, it's more durable." I said, "You're saying that if I picked up the album, put it there, ran and landed right on it, that it would still be fine?" He said, "Absolutely." I said, "Great." I reached over, I lifted it off. I sat on the ground. And before he couldn't even believe I was going to do it, I ran and splat, destroyed that thing into about a million pieces. Made it very real for him. He then called the police, and I moved on. The point is that what we have to do is obviously make elegant choices about when to make things real and how to make them real. But I do want you to know the more real you make things, the quicker you can convince them. In that case, I assumed the sale, and the sale was that I should leave.
So, tales of Anthony Robbins and his early days of selling at the age of 17. My last statement to you, I guess, in this section would be really simple. I'd say, "Listen, what have we done so far? We are now beginning to really compel people. In this stage of compelling, what we're really doing is making things real and assuming the sale. Next, if an objection comes up, we're going to turn it around. We're going to convert that into a commitment. And then we're just going to make it super easy for them to buy. The easier we make it, the better it'll be for them. And we're going to create a future because we don't want to just make a sale. What we want is a person who's going to be in our life for a long time. We want a friend, and potentially a friend who can really help us to build our business while we help enhance the quality of their life. So, that's where we're going. We're in the final stages now of compelling. What I want you to do first is I want you to start right now. Just take an extra couple minutes, and I want you to sit down and come up with what are some unique ways that you could absolutely get someone to experience owning your product already. What are some questions you could ask? You know, traditional ones that have been taught in the past that are good. Let's say in the real estate market is, don't walk in there and say, "So, how do you like the living room?" You walk in and ask a question where they feel like they own it. You walk in and say, "I'm curious, where would you put the couch? Whose bedroom would this be? You know, whose bedroom would this be? Where would you put this? Where would you do that?" Where, in order to answer it, they have to imagine owning the home, and now it becomes more real for them. So, I want you to do two things, I guess, really, in the exercise here. Number one: What are some ways you can get people visually, auditorially, kinesthetically, olfactorily, meaning smells, gustatory, meaning taste? How can you get all those involved in making your product's benefits real to a person, even if it's intangible? I want you to brainstorm some ideas out, even if they're not good. Brainstorm them out. And secondly, I'd like you to design at least five questions that, in answering these questions, what happens is the customer experiences the value of your product right now, and the experience that they've already bought it. Let's do that, and let's come back to the next stage. We're into the final stretch here, step number nine: How to convert objections into commitments. The thing that probably most of you have been waiting for, but by the way, one of the easiest things in the world to do, and something it'll be easy for you to remember, and actually, it'll be fun. I can promise you that when we're done showing you how to handle objections, you'll actually get excited when somebody gives you an objection. But first, let's make sure you can make it real. So, we have all these steps in [Music] order. Great. So, have you already started thinking of some ways to make it real for people? I hope you have. Okay, your assignment today is in two parts. Step number one: Brainstorm some ideas to utilize all five senses: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and taste, to associate people to your product's benefits. And step number two: Brainstorm at least five questions that get the customer to feel like they already own your product right now. Now, remember the motorcycle story that I told you earlier? It's a great example of what we're talking about here. Remember what the salesman did? He had me associate to what it was like when I used to ride. He had me associate to what it was going to be like in the future as well. He had me think about what the wind was going to be like in my face, and the smells of the exhaust and nature all around, the sound of the pipes blasting off in my ear as I blasted down the road. I mean, I was there, and there was no way I was going to walk out of there without that motorcycle, and I did. So, now it's your turn. Have fun with this, and I'll be back tomorrow for session nine, entitled "Convert Objections into [Music] Commitments." [Applause] [Music]