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" The Reverse Ben Franklin Close" by Jack Spirko
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The Reverse Ben Franklin Close
During my years in professional sales I have come across and developed a technique that I now have adopted into my network marketing business. I call this technique The Reverse Ben Franklin. While I seriously doubt I am the person who invented this technique I have not seen much written about how to use it. I am not even really sure when it became a true part of my sales approach but I now use it daily with excellent results.
On the Network Marketing front I am in Telecom. So what I do is take my last phone bill from before I became my own customer and my first phone bill as a member of my MLM company. I then hand both to my prospect (could be a friend, someone I met and asked to look at my business, an associate, etc.) and simply say hey take a look at this what do you think. They are always shocked as my MCI bill was $135 and the new bill is less then $50. Then they ask questions and I answer them. If I started by saying I can save you money on your phone bill most would simply tune me out. The products and services of Network Marketing companies can be the easiest thing in the world to sell or the hardest the choice is yours.
You can do the same type of thing with any Network Marketing product or service. Take nutritional products for instance. Get some type of comparison for example the lack of fillers and the amount of absorbable nutrients (something easy to understand) and simply ask the question what do you think. You can use the same approach with discount programs for dental and medical services or online malls. Just present the comparison and ask what do you think. By doing this people are much more open because you are not selling only asking for their opinion. Never try to close this person on first contact just let them ask questions and talk to you. Answer their questions and help them get involved if that ask you to. Above all really listen to them and absorb what they are saying and asking. If you are doing things correctly they should be doing 80% or more of the talking.
This is what I call the Reverse Ben Franklin Close. For those who don't know what the Ben Franklin close is I will explain. Whenever Benjamin Franklin was trying to make a decision he wrote down all the good and all the bad things about the decision on a piece of paper. With the good on one side and the bad on the other divided by a line down the middle. Then he could decide the best choice based on logic rather then emotion.
Since the time of Benjamin Franklin sales people have been using this technique to close after a presentation. If the prospect is on the fence they pull out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle and while asking their prospect if he agrees they write down the good and bad points of moving forward. Of course the sales person is in complete control the entire time and can minimize concerns and maximize benefits. This is a great technique. All sales people should know how to do it both with actual paper and verbally as well but it has a weakness.
The weakness of the traditional Ben Franklin Close is that even the best sales person is just guessing what the prospect finds important from his presentation and is trying to control what the prospect focuses on. It also makes it very difficult to focus on "putting your customer first" (my #1 rule before anything else) because at that point you are just trying to close and your prospect can feel this. In short basic human nature takes over and the sales person at this point is trying to make the prospect change his mind. In network marketing we don't do things to people we do things for people and that statement should be burned into the brain of all would be networkers.
When you begin with a Ben Franklin you change the entire dynamic of the meeting. You are only asking for an opinion and people love to give opinions. They may make many negative statements and that is perfectly fine just answer their questions and truly listen to them. Learn from them even if they don't become partners or customers, value above all the relationship you have with them (be it new or old) and always put their feelings and concerns before your own. Doing so is a skill that is far more difficult to do than to understand how to do but like any skill you get better at it the more times you practice it. By honing the skills of listening and putting the concerns or others before you own you will not just become a better sales person you will also learn how to develop better relationships with people in all walks of life.
The power of this technique is that anyone open to you will let you know by the questions they ask. They always have a way out because you are asking not telling. In this way you are educating the person as to a new thought, a new way of doing things and answering questions about the things they care about. In other words you are custom designing the presentation for them and placing them in complete control. This makes it very simple to put them first because people are conditioned to put themselves first and you give them that option. Remember we do things for people not to people in network marketing.
Another great part of this technique when used in Network Marketing is that it answers a question most network marketers ask themselves. Do I lead with the product or the opportunity? With this technique you put your customer in control and that answers the question for you. I learned early in my sales career that the more questions a person asks the more likely they are to buy or join. Why more sales people don't spend more time asking prospects questions and asking their opinions is a question I don't know the answer to. Ask any sales professional if his chance of getting the sale goes up when his prospect ask questions and he will say yes in a heartbeat. Then ask him what he does in order to encourage the same prospect to ask questions and offer opinions and most of the time he won't have much of an answer.
The key to selling in any industry is to get the prospect asking questions and giving you feedback. This is a powerful technique I have used to sign up both $20 a month long distance customers as well as close contracts for thousands of dollars in traditional business sales. It works with any product or service so long as you have a great product or service. The true beauty lies in the fact that the person who is a good prospect will sell himself or herself on the idea. You are just a consultant as your prospect learns for himself. It is also great because those closed minded to your product or opportunity can choose not to discuss it and you preserve the relationship, which should always be your primary goal.
Jack Spirko
Jack Spirko has lived for years by the motto "the customer comes first". Having reached the top in Corporate America he is currently building an incredibly successful group with Cognigen Networks. You can email him at jack@carefreecom.com or visit his web site at www.carefreecom.com.