Finally: a Sales Hot Button Detector!

For all you sales professionals or entrepreneurs on a fundraising hunt, it is finally available! And you've waited your whole sales life for it! 

Introducing the:

   "DETECTRON" SALES HOT BUTTON DETECTOR!

Deep in the hills of North Hollywood there is a new, venture-backed company staffed by the finest scientists that California universities can muster. 

In their secret laboratory, they reuse 1950, cold-war vintage Geiger counters purchased on eBay and retrofit them with the latest technologies, including proprietary, patent-pending, artificial-intelligence algorithms with some super-secret nano stuff thrown in for good measure.

After the comfortable headset -- with its hidden, embedded electroencephalogram sensors -- is placed firmly on your prospect’s head, iPod music is played mixed with subliminal audio questions. Using the convenient Probe-Master hand controller, you can secretly explore your prospect's subconscious looking for faint traces of sales hot buttons. When the top three sales hot buttons are found and prioritized -- usually in well under ten minutes -- they are displayed on the easy-to-read display located on the unit.

Now, for only three easy payments of $169.95 each (plus S+H) you can master the complexities of knowing exactly what to emphasize when you present to each and every sales prospect or venture capitalist.

But Wait! There’s More! . . . Did I mention the no-risk, money back guarantee? . . . or the set of never-dull, Ginsu knives that you are free to keep as a gift?

This might work, but there is actually a better way. And it's FREE!

I call my own sales technique “The School of Healthy Curiosity.” In my experience people will actually tell you how to sell to them -- and find their sales hot buttons -- if you only ask! Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat, it helps close the deal.

An example: You are about to start your fundraising presentation to a VC. You have your slides all set and you know the approximate time you’ll be spending on each topic to make everything fit, allowing adequate time for discussions and questions. 

At the start of the meeting, looking thoughtful, you ask, “To make our meeting today as effective as possible,” -- and who wouldn’t want that? -- “what are the three most important things that you would like to learn about my company in the next hour?”

Bingo: hot buttons!

Realizing that there is no wrong answer to your question, you'll be wiser with any answer you receive, as long as you listen carefully to the responses.

Pretend that the VC replies,  “ . . . team, intellectual property, and launch plans.” Do you think that the amount of time and emphasis you were planning on spending on these areas during your presentation just changed? Duh.

Now reflect on how your presentation would have gone if you hadn't asked that question. You would probably have short-changed those topics and missed an opportunity to better focus on what really mattered to your listener.

Now that you know this tip, can you ever imagine doing a future sales presentation without first asking this question?   

I am so fanatical about this that many of my VC prep clients have jokingly started to refer to this as The Question.

They know that one of the first things I’ll ask them following their VC meeting is, “When you asked The Question, what did you learn and how did you subsequently modify and refocus your presentation?”

Of course you can also ask The Question days before the meeting when you are confirming the schedule via email or phone.

So, in summary, forced rank questions ("three most important things") are very powerful. Properly and judiciously used, they yield valuable insights that can greatly improve the effectiveness of your sales or fundraising presentations. 

The Question beats the "DETECTRON" hands down; but then of course, you don't get the knives.

    P.S. Have you ever yearned to own -- or actually own? -- a Popeil Pocket Fisherman? Veg-O-Matic? Mr. Microphone? Then read Timothy Samuelson’s book on the famous TV pitch commercials of yore:  “But Wait! There's More! : The Irresistible Appeal And Spiel Of Ronco And Popeil.”

Comments

[PWT]

i just finished a major sales call about a week ago and i was dragged all over the place by my audience of 3

i couldn't pin them down for the longest time on what really mattered

i sure wished that i had known about "the question' then, i can see how this really would have made a difference

thx