A non-manipulative framework for selling – C.A.R.E.

Having gone through professional sales training, I can attest to the greasy sensation that customers get. It’s true, sales reps are often taught to guide a conversation through certain checkpoints in order to methodologically escalate the interaction into a conversion.

More and more companies are starting to realize that these short-term gains come with massive long-term drawbacks and are adopting more relationship oriented approaches. Here’s a framework that I find works well for myself and those who are like me.

Before jumping ahead, remember, use the framework more like guideposts to understand where to go depending on where you are. NOT as checkpoints to usher a prospect to – less you end up doing exactly what I mentioned above.

Stockpiling is a survival mechanism that also manifests in our social interactions. We often think ahead in a conversation about what we should say next, latch onto points that we think are interesting and might make us look good/smart if we acknowledge, or plan for a funny story that’s related to what’s currently being spoken.

Let it go.

It prevents you from being present in the moment, emphasizing, and really understanding.

C.A.R.E.

Is the acronym I use for my framework, it stands for:

• Connect
• Assess
• Recommend
• Engage

CARE could be manifested in it’s entirety within a single interaction, but is often drawn out over multiple interactions. I also use the word interaction because it doesn’t only apply to conversational sales, but also to digital interactions like an email, your website, or even your ads.

To understand CARE, it’s important to first understand the concept of gradualization (or escalation). Don’t jump to asking someone to “buy now” if they aren’t ready. People need to go through a series of realizations in order to be ready to make a decision – some of these realizations may have been uncovered on their own or through research, and different people might be at a different stages.

Every product/service/solution and customer is different but here’s a rough example that captures what most people go through:

I need to first realize that:

• What I’m doing right now isn’t working…
• There must be a better way…
• X method is the better way for me…
• There are options to learning X method and Option A is the best one for me…
• This Option A (or vendor of Option A) will give me results faster, with less risk, and is easiest out of all the alternatives…
• I need to start now…

With this in-mind, your goal is to apply GRACE according to your best available knowledge of where the customer is in their personal journey of realizations.

Connect

Connections & relationships matter more than anything (even an amazing product). They’re the cornerstone to driving referrals and retaining happy customers. First impressions matter, they form the foundation to building a strong connection as you move into this relationship with a new prospect.

This could be in the form of:

• What people immediately see above the fold on when they land on your website.
• Your email subject line + first sentence.
• 10-10 rule: How you look 10 feet away, your body language, and what you say in the first 10 seconds of the interaction.
• Your storefront.

A good Connect only needs to do 2 things:

1. Build Rapport
2. Build Trust

Rapport

People buy from people that they like, and naturally, people like people who are similar to themselves.

You want the person you’re speaking with to know that you sincerely care for them, can relate to them, and understand their perspective.

A good mindset to place yourself in is to focus on their needs and making them feel welcomed, not your desires/goals (getting a sale).

This is where Non-business Conversation (NBC)/small-talk comes in. To do it well:

1. Be authentic: Don’t say you share a same perspective (if you don’t), just to give the impression that you’re similar.
2. Give sincere praise (don’t flatter): A good exercise is to actively try to notice something about someone new that you honestly admire and to vocalize it early in the interaction. Don’t just flatter someone with fake praises if you don’t mean it, people can tell.

Here’s an example of rapport building in a LinkedIn outreach message I received:

The messaging at the top isn’t the best, but notice that he called out his customer’s values/traits.

Because I shared those traits, it immediately resonated with me and I felt like I could relate to him.

Exercise

If you haven’t already crafted your customer persona, DO IT. If you have, list out some common values/beliefs that your main personas share? It’s easier to find common ground on causes/values vs. interest/hobbies.

Trust

People buy from people that they trust, and who better to trust than an expert in the field? However, don’t confuse credibility with authority. Avoid power plays, be humble and recognize that your customer may sometimes want to lead the conversation, or even know more than you know about your competitors given that some of them may have already actively done their research on alternative solutions before approaching you.

Here are some things you can do to build credibility:

1. Highlight your experience/time in the industry.
2. Display credentials/certifications.
3. Dress the part (of what they expect from an expert)
   • In some cases, that might mean dressing up in business appropriate attire, and in other cases, it might mean dressing down to casual geeky attire.
   • Either way, ensure you’re presentable.
4. Demonstrate passion for your industry (not just your own product/company).
5. If available, highlight your experience in their shoes (if you’ve also had to use/shop for the same solution).
6. Be knowledgeable, be confident.
   • You should know what’s good for your prospect, even if they aren’t aware of it.
   • Some customers might know your competitors better than you do, but you should know their competitors better than them since you’re actively speaking to and selling to them. Educate them on what normal performance looks like, if they’re underperforming, they may not even be aware of it themselves.
   • Share what normal performance from their peers looks like, stories and experiences of other customers, highlight blindspots and problems that they might not have even considered, and be knowledgable about your competitors.

This is the reason why you often see reviews, testimonials, or logos of “other companies we’ve worked with” displayed above the fold on many websites.

Exercise

What would an expert in your field look like? What could you highlight to demonstrate your expertise?

Assess

Now that you’ve initiated contact, the next step is to acquaint yourself with your prospect – not personally, but professionally.

You’re shifting from small-talk questions to relevant questions that will help you understand their problems, motivations, context, and how they might use your products/services.

1. DO YOUR HOMEWORK: If you’re able to research your customers before the interaction, you won’t need to spend as much time here and you’ll come across as more of an expert/professional.
2. Use open-ended questions: These are questions that can’t be answered with a simple Yes/No or a single word.
   • Instead of “Do you…”, ask “Who, What, Where, When, How, Why do you…”
   • Open-ended questions are also more conversational and make the interaction less interrogative (as you’re not firing question after question following their short response).
   • Another tip to make it less interrogative is to acknowledge and make a comment about their response before jumping to the next question. It also shows them that you’re actively listening.
3. 80% listening, 20% talking: You’re not pitching yet so shut up and listen, give your customers space to express themselves, vent, and explain their context.
4. Write it down: Don’t be afraid to ask for permission to take notes as the customer is speaking, it shows that you’re attentive. Remember “stockpiling”? Writing things down also helps you “let go” so that you aren’t constantly reminding yourself of key points that a customer mentioned and can be more present as they speak and share.
5. Quantify value: It’ll allow you to benchmark and measure the improvements your solution is creating for them. When you circle back to check in with the customer on how this number has changed, it builds loyalty as they can clearly see the value you’re providing. Also makes for great case studies/testimonials.
   • e.g. You mentioned delivery issues, how is that impacting your business?
   • It’s delaying getting products to our customers, costing us more time energy, and money in returns.
   • What would it mean to have your products delivered on time? (Digging deeper – your goal is to get the prospect to give you something measurable to quantify that value).
   • We spent $5,000 last year alone on refund related issues.
6. Identify timeline: Understand when they’re hoping to implement/see results. More on this later on in the “Closing” section.
7. When it doubt, never assume, ask and get the prospect to clarify.

Exercise

1. What are some questions you could ask to help you understand their problem/context?
2. What question could you ask to help you understand how they might use X feature in your product/service?
3. What questions will help you quantify the value of their problem/missed opportunity(s)?
4. How could you inquire about their internal timeline and expectations?

Recommend

It’s time to transition to the pitch, but before you do that:

Acknowledge and summarize their needs/problems/situation. It shows them that you’re really listening, reminds them of the key points, and gives them the opportunity to correct you if you misunderstood anything.

Feature, Benefit, Value

When showcasing your solution, always remember that people don’t buy products/features. People buy things because:

1. It reaffirms their personal identity.
   • Brands exist and people are loyal to them because different brands have different values that say something about an individual. It could represent a personal belief, a lifestyle, a mission.
   • e.g. Apple, Patagonia, Nike – they sell the same things but people still choose them over their competitors because buying them both affirms ones personal identity and makes a statement about it to others.
2. They buy into the promise of a solution’s benefit, and ultimately, the sense of value that comes with it.
   • People don’t buy drills, they buy holes.
   • e.g. Don’t talk about the features of your drill, no one cares. Talk about what it can do better – drill a cleaner, straighter hole more easily/quickly, etc.

That isn’t to say that you can’t talk about features. The goal is to ensure that when you’re discussing them, you’re tying it back to the benefits and values so that your prospect can see how it’s relevant to them.

• The biggest confusion here is sometimes the difference between Benefit vs. Value.
  • Benefit is how the feature will solve the customers problem. 
  • Value is how the product will change their life.

Example Pitch:

You said you often download movies through torrents at home? (Need)

I think the Hi-Speed broadband package will be the best for you. With that package, you get 128mbps download speeds (Feature),

which means that you can download an average movie in less than 15 minutes! (Benefit)

With that you’ll waste less time waiting and spend more time enjoying. (Value)

Benefits/Values are what they WANT. Your product/features are what they NEED.

Does a doctor sound more convincing if he/she says:

“You need to exercise more and eat healthy to avoid another heart attack episode”
or
“If you want to spend more time with your children, you’ll need to exercise more and eat healthy”

The latter. Emphasize the WANT, the benefits, the values, then tie it back to their needs.

Exercise

List out some of your core products/features.

• How do they each benefit the customer?
• What are some values that they each speak to?

Engage

Asking for the sale is often the most challenging step for most. It’s more about mindset than technique, so here are some tips.

If you’ve gone through the trouble of understanding the customer and showing them a possible solution to their problems, not asking for the sale at this point is akin to

Stop thinking of sales as a numbers game; instead, view it as customer service. It’s unfair to the customer if you have a solution to their problem but you’re not offering to help them.

Here are 3 elements that will help you Engage:

• Qualifying & Buying Signs
• Trial Closing
• Overcoming Objections

Qualifying & Buying Signs

Much has been written about BANT so I won’t go into detail:

Budget – available
Authority – decision maker(s) identified
Need – problem agreed to
Timeframe – identified

Make sure your customer qualifies before you attempt to close them, if you know they’re stuck in a contract/can’t decide till their next AGM, don’t have the budget until the next fiscal year, etc. it might make sense to follow-up later rather than push for a close.

Not a hard rule, but also keep an eye out for positive vs. negative buying signs, just to give you a sense if the wind is blowing against you or with you.

Some examples

Positive buying signs: Mimicry behaviour, leaning in, smiling, nodding, agreeing often, #of times an email is opened/forwarded (if you have email tracking through a tool like Hubspot/Salesforce).

Negative buying signs: Defensive behaviour, argumentative, arms crossed, constantly distracted, slow to reply.

Trial Closing

This technique can be used to test the waters to see if a prospect is ready.

How it works: Ask ~3 closed-ended questions that lead to a YES response

e.g. Do you understand everything I just said?

Does this look like something you could use?

Do you believe this will solve your problem?

Do you like this product?

If a customer is agreeing, odds are you have the green light to ask for a sale. If they say NO, fear not, it’s not the end of the road. It’s time to:

Overcome Objections

NO doesn’t mean no I won’t buy your product, not now, not ever. Be curious, understand WHY they’re saying NO, there might have been insufficient information for them to make a decision, perhaps there was a misunderstanding, or maybe they are interested, they just can’t commit to it right now.

This is often where sales reps screw up and come across as being pushy. Persistence is good, but never do it purely for the sale. Instead, only if you genuinely know that your solution is in their best interest even if they’re afraid, hiding from reality, have personal doubts, or are holding themselves back from maximizing their potential.

Here are 2 things to try:

1. Plan for common objections and address them early in the process
   • e.g. if the quality of your product is a common objection, weave it into your Recommend stage when you’re showcasing your solution. Address misconceptions about quality before it’s even raised, that way, it’s no longer going to be an objection.
2. It’s safe to make an assumption here
   • e.g. “I’ll think about it” is one of the most common objections
   • Reply with “What are you uncertain about? Is it too expensive?”
   • Any assumption should help you uncover the real objection.
   • e.g. They might say “It’s not too expensive, I just need to discuss it with my manager”

Other tips:

1. Improve your Persuasion in Sales by understanding the Decision Threshold
2. To shorten your sales cycle
   • How to shorten your Sales Cycle with Usage-based Pricing
   • Identify and agree to the timeline early: During Research, ask questions that will help you understand their timeline
     • e.g. How soon do you want to see X result? When were you hoping to switch? How much longer are you willing to put up with this?
     • Then hold them accountable to it: You said you wanted X by Y date, to achieve that we need to start by Z date.
     • This form of internal urgency is much more effective than relying on external urgency factors like early bird pricing, limited seats, or promotions because internal urgency speaks directly to the prospects personal motivation.
   • Reduce formalities: Contracts, legal agreements, etc. drag out the process, make it as easy as possible for them to say yes and try. That isn’t to say that contracts are moot, there is a time and place for them and they may be appropriate after the initial project.
   • Never send proposals before a meeting, less you end up getting ghosted because they see something they are uncertain about. Always go through proposals in a meeting so that you can identify any concerns and address them immediately before sending a copy of it over as confirmation.

Exercise

What are some good and natural closing statements you’ve heard as a customer?

Expectations

This is important enough that the acronym should actually be C.A.R.E.E. but that doesn’t spell right so I’m sneaking it in as a hidden E.

Closing isn’t the last step, you still need to set expectations, educate, and on-board your customer.

It really is that simple.

If reality exceeds your customer’s expectations, they are delighted. If your solution falls short of their expectations, they are disappointed. Bad experiences and customer service complaints stem from poorly managed expectations.

Now that you’ve closed a sale, it’s a good time to educate in more detail (you don’t want to over-educate) the customer before you close because:

1. It might overwhelm them.
2. Certain shortcomings in your solution might negatively impact the likelyhood of them closing
   • That’s not to say that you should hide these from them, you want to be transparent and honest about shortcomings and now’s a good time to do so.
   • It’s OK if they change their mind and back out because they no longer think it’s a good fit.
   • This isn’t manipulative, people are naturally risk adverse and disproportionally prioritize maintaining the status quo over trying something new. It’s about giving them the chance to try something new and experience it first, loss aversion is stronger and they’re less likely to back out if they’ve come to realize the benefit your solution provides far outweighs the shortcomings.

Example:

I’ve worked for both Bell and WIND (now called Freedom) Mobile. Bell was one of the big 3 incumbent telecommunications company in Canada and would tout that they had the largest and best cell coverage nationwide. Freedom on the other hand was honest about being a smaller regional carrier that was still growing.

While at Bell, I had far more customer complaints than at Freedom despite Bell having better cell coverage.

The difference? Bell set high expectations and reps were trained to brag about our amazing coverage. Freedom on the other hand trained us to educate customers in great detail on where their phones might not work, how to make emergency calls if necessary, and what roaming charges meant. We didn’t intentionally set low expectations, but reality often exceeded the customer’s expectations and we often even had customers coming back happily telling us that there was coverage in areas that they didn’t expect to have reception.

Be Proactive

Beyond educating, you’ll also want to ensure that you’re Proactively reviewing expectations.

Don’t be reactive, don’t wait till you receive complaints to take action. If you have 100 customers and a few of them are complaining, you can be pretty sure that there are a lot more that have had a bad experience and either never voiced it or converted to an alternative/competitor solution.

Actively check-in with your customers to catch these problems early, always ensure that you’re meeting their expectations at a minimum, if not exceeding them. Even the simple act of acknowledging a problem and saying that you’re working on it (even if you haven’t already fixed it), is a lot better than hiding it and hoping it goes unnoticed.

Example:

Being on strata council for my new apartment, we recently fired the old caretaking/janitorial company because many residents were complaining about the poor standard of cleanliness. Had they been proactive with soliciting feedback from council & residents and clearly communicated expectations around reasonable delays, they might have been able to avoid losing the contract.

Happy customers = better retention, longer lifetime value, and more referrals. Don’t underestimate this step!

Now that you understand GRACE, here’s an example of GRACE in action in different mediums for different types of businesses:

At the end of the day, if you:

1. View sales as an opportunity to leave your prospects better than when you found them and
2. Focus on what they want, not what you/your manager wants,

you should never feel manipulative.