Are your sales where you want them to be?
Are they slow…or even non-existent?Deep down you know that you have a quality offer that your prospects would jump all over if they just gave it a good look.But for whatever reason you can’t seem to get them to slow down long enough to seriously consider it.
The Attention Barrier
I call this phenomenon the Attention Barrier – and it can wreak havoc on your confidence in your offering.If you’re experiencing this issue, chin up. You’re not alone. It’s one of the most common sales barriers regardless of if you sell face to face, over the phone, online, or in print.The reason you’re not grabbing the attention of your prospects probably isn’t that your offering stinks. It’s also not necessarily a commentary on your selling skills.It’s much simpler than that. Let’s take a look at why we fail to clear the Attention Barrier.
We Live In A Noisy World
We live in an era in which information is much more plentiful and easily available than at any time in human history.Access to more and better information opens up new opportunities to us, so we try to accomplish more with our new-found knowledge. The world is a busy place full of busy people. We work faster and we think faster. As a result, we make decisions and judgments faster.What does that have to do with your prospects? Plenty!Your prospects have more noise going on in their heads now than ever before. That means they will make the decision to either give you the time of day or blow you off faster than ever before, too.Everyone wants everyone else’s attention. We are all bombarded by offers from every direction every day.Think about when you’re the one being sold to. Between in-person salespeople, phone calls, emails, and print ads – how do you determine which of those hundreds of offers you will bother to learn more about?
The Four Unasked Questions
You probably never consciously thought about it before, but when we are approached with a new offer, we all run through four simple evaluation questions:1: Who is this person and what do they want from me?2: If I do pay attention, what’s going to happen?3: What’s in it for me if I pay attention?4: How long is this going to take?These are the four questions that your prospect will probably never ask you out loud – but if left unanswered, you’ll never get enough of their time to make the sale.Before you have the opportunity to establish trust with a prospect – and before you have any hope at all of establishing credibility, you had better answer these four questions. Succeed in answering them, and you knock down the Attention Barrier. Fail and you’re finished before you start.Good news: I have a simple but effective method of answering those four questions and moving the sales process forward.
The MATT Statement
It’s actually pretty easy. You answer all four of those questions in the very beginning of your interaction using a very simple device called the MATT Statement.To understand the MATT Statement, let’s look at those four questions again and dissect what they’re really about.1: Who is this person and what do they want from me?This is a trust and credibility question. “I don’t know you – what are you up to?” The main concern of this question is Motive.2: If I do pay attention, what’s going to happen?This is question about fear, time, and convenience. “If I do listen, do I have to go through a big hassle to complete the transaction? Are you going to bully me into buying? Do I have to provide personal information?” This is primarily a question regarding Agenda.3: What’s in it for me if I pay attention?Pretty simple one here. This question is about basic human nature. “What is the benefit to me?” is the main thought behind this question. In other words : Takeaway.4: How long is this going to take?In this crazy-busy, hectic world we all hate to give up our precious time unless we can see value in giving it up. Most of us are willing to give someone 5 or 10 minutes. But 30 or 45 minutes? Yeah, probably not. We want to know on the front end of an interaction what the Timeline will be.MotiveAgendaTakeawayTimeline.MATT Statement.
Formulating Your MATT Statement
At the very beginning of your interaction with a new prospect, you are going to craft a MATT Statement to answer all four of those unasked questions and destroy the Attention Barrier.I’ve spent a couple decades in outside business to business sales, so I’m going to use a business to business example.Let’s say I’m calling on a brand new prospect and I’m selling a sales management program. My MATT Statement might be…“Hi Jim, I’m Gary Korisko with XYZ Sales Management. We’ve been in business for 30 years, but are new to the area – so I’m out introducing myself to all the (whatever) firms in town. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your program and share some information about XYZ with you. Then, if we find that we can help you improve your sales program at no cost to you, we can schedule another time to explore it further. If not, that’s fine too. The questions take anywhere between 5 or 10 minutes. Do you have just a few minutes to talk?”Pretty simple, no?Checking Our WorkWas there an answer to the Motive question, “Who is this person and what do they want from me?”Yes. It’s Gary my new XYZ rep and he’s here to introduce himself.Was there an answer to the Agenda question, “If I do pay attention, what’s going to happen?” There was. If I pay attention, he’s going to ask me a few questions and tell me a little about his company.Was there an answer to the Takeaway question, “What’s in it for me if I pay attention?” Yes. The sales guy said something about improving my sales program at no cost to me. That sounds pretty interesting!Was there an answer to the Timeline question, “How long is this going to take?” There sure was. It’s going to take 5 or 10 minutes. That’s not long. I could give him 5 to 10 minutes, right?That statement only takes about 25 seconds to speak at a natural pace and it answers all four questions.The MATT statement works equally well in person or over the phone. Could you pull off a similar statement in an email or on a web page? Absolutely.By using the MATT Statement you have effectively taken much of the prospect’s perceived risk out of giving your offering a serious look.Once you’ve achieved that, you have quieted the noise in their head and grabbed a little more of their attention. And when you have their attention, they can more clearly see how your offer can make their life better.Give it a try. Use a MATT Statement to answer the four unanswered questions in the first minute of contact with a new prospect.What about you?Have you experienced the Attention Barrier?How do you get a prospect to pay attention to your offer?