PROVE IT!

By Hank Trisler

Back when the earth was still cooling and the great beasts roamed, I owned a company called Raintree Realtors, in San Jose. Our people performed well above the average in our area and I was justifiably proud of them.

During a listing presentation one evening, I made a statement that I had made on many prior occasions. I said, "The average listing on the San Jose Real Estate Board takes some 68 days to sell, while my company’s average listing sells in less than 40 days." This was powerhouse selling and sure to impress my prospective client.

The homeowner responded with, "Those are interesting numbers. How did you come up with them?"

I was thereby presented with a whole new set of problems. Those were good numbers, I was sure. I had used them often with no problems. I think I even calculated them out once, but I did not have them in writing. I found myself saying, "Err, Ahh, well now those figures are well known, errr, ahhh."

My prospect, a vice president of sales for a large semiconductor company, was not particularly impressed with my veracity. Oh, I got the listing, but I had to dance like Fred Astaire to do so, and would probably have been better off had he listed with someone else. My client now had me branded as a BSer and used this information to make me suffer each time we talked. He made me prove everything I said for the balance of our relationship. No matter how I tried, I could never re-establish a trust relationship with this man.

I decided then and there to never again say anything I couldn’t prove. I’d love to tell you I’ve been successful in that effort, but it’s just too hard. I have, however, found ways to prove more statements that I had ever believed possible.

A Proof Source Book is a wonderful tool to add credibility when it is needed most. Make a list of those statements you are inclined to say in the course of a sales presentation, then think of a way to offer proof on each statement. Get your proof in writing and put it in your Proof Source Book. The next time you’re challenged, you’ll be able to prove you are indeed a teller of truth.

In the example I offered earlier, I got a printout of a report from our local real estate board showing the average number of days from submission to sale. I then ran the numbers for our company and put a letter in the file verifying the number of days our average listing took to sell.

"You mean you wrote the letter yourself? What kind of proof is that?" you might well ask.

"Good enough," I answer. Clearly, get the best proof you can and verify it by a neutral third party if at all possible. If it isn’t possible, however, write it yourself, or have someone you know write it. As long as it’s true, you can’t be proven wrong and people believe the printed word more readily than the spoken word. 

It is not enough to tell the truth. We must tell the truth in a manner that will be believed, which is credibility. A Proof Source Book is a great aid to credibility.

"Wait just a darned minute," you might continue, "I've heard you blathering on about facts don’t matter. Now you want me to compile a whole book full of facts to prove everything I say. ‘Splain this inconsistency."

There is no inconsistency. We do not offer facts to actually prove product/service benefits, but to prove that we are telling the truth. Facts still don’t matter. What matters is the emotional response that offering proof engenders. If the customer feels we can prove what we say, he is more likely to believe us. It’s still an emotional reaction.

Never prove what the customer already believes. I have so often seen this in the real estate bidness. The client says, "What are homes in this area selling for?" 

The Realtor replies, "About $800,000." 

The client says, "That’s what I thought." 

Then the Realtor whips out a Competitive Market Analysis (a form of proof) and proceeds to bore the socks off the client proving that which he already believed.

If the customer believes what you say, don’t waste time proving it, just go on to something else. Offering proof when you are already believed not only wastes time, it actually undermines your credibility.

Weasel Words. There will still always remain things that you believe to be true, but simply cannot be proven. In those instances, cultivate the use of "weasel words," so called because they suck all the meaning out of the words around them like a weasel sucks the yolk out of an egg. Phrases like "could be," "should be," "might be," "about," "around," "approximately," "if I could would you?" "If I would could you?" and "If the good Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise," keep you safe from locking yourself in. An old boss of mine told me "If you don’t lock, you can’t lie," and that has always served me well. Liars have short careers in the selling profession. Be prepared to prove whatever you say and if you can’t prove it, don’t let yourself get locked into saying it.