"If There Were a Way You You Could...?"

"If There Were a Way You You Could...?"

November 13, 2004

There is a standard "closing phrase" in conventional
selling that goes like this: "If I could show you a way to
. . ."-and you fill in the rest. If you've ever used this,
you've probably discovered it will cause most people to
shut down on you.

Why? Because it puts the focus on you and makes most people
uncomfortable. It puts them on the spot, especially if it's
used early in a conversation. (Why oh why is it that so
many sales techniques are geared toward qualifying and
closing so early?!)

However, it's a great phrase if you rephrase it as a
qualifying question. This takes the focus off of you, and
makes this a Natural Selling Phrase. In the correct
context, it will produce outstanding results.

The rephrasing goes something like this:

"If there were a way you could . . . [for example, get the
money you're looking for so that you can feel good about
spending more time with your community) . . . do you ever
look for opportunities to do that?"

"If you were able to . . . [reduce or eliminate your debt
so that you didn't have to be dependent on credit cards
anymore] . . . by doing something else, is that what you're
looking for?"

See if you can feel the difference in energy or vibration
of the conventional phrase and the Natural Selling phrase.
If the new phrase feels better for, have you considered
that perhaps the person you're talking with will also feel
the same way?

Create some phrases of your own and say them a few times
until you get the tone and feeling you want.

The success of the rephrasing has a lot to do with the
context, which is your intent. If you are using it in order
to "close" someone or to achieve a certain objective, they
are still likely to back away.

If instead you come from a place of service, of interest-a
place of concerned detachment-people will feel you have
their best interests at heart. You'll find many will be
curious about your question and respond with answers like,
"Yes, I would . . ." or "Why? Do you know of something?"

If you're not already using this phrase, try it out-and see
how many more positive responses you get.