I was coaching several Attending Physicians for a large residency program and had a discussion with one of the lead surgeons about common obstacles many doctors face when providing care to their patients.
She shared with me the story of one particularly challenging patient who simply refused to undergo a fairly common procedure that would ultimately save his life. He argued with and objected to everything the surgeon and his team suggested, making it difficult to provide him with quality care. To her credit, the surgeon stood her ground, provided information, shared statistics, and even shared testimonials from other patients who received the same treatment and raved about how easy the recovery was and how much better they felt once it was over.
Finally, after months of education, information, and gentle nudging, the patient was convinced the procedure was not only safe but ultimately necessary for his health. Feeling proud of herself and her ability to win the patient’s trust, she scheduled the surgery. To her surprise, during the next visit, the patient brought his sister with him. She had many of the same questions and objections that the surgeon had so carefully and meticulously addressed with the patient, but like her brother was months earlier, she remained unconvinced and ultimately talked her brother out of going through with the procedure.
Frustrated, the surgeon had to start over, educating and informing her with the same information and statistics she had before, essentially reselling the procedure. Again, a few more weeks later, the sister, like her brother, was finally convinced the procedure was necessary and gave her blessing to move forward.
Anyone who has ever faced this type of situation can completely identify with this common yet frustrating obstacle of needing to sell your product, idea, or service over and over again. In Decoding the Sales Process, we refer to this situation as “Understanding who ALL the decision-makers are.”
If you don’t clarify this basic piece of information early in your process, like this physician, you will be destined to sell and resell your product, service, or idea over and over again. Think about how many times you’ve convinced someone in your business or your life to do something you would like them to do. Just when you think you’ve done a great job presenting your thoughts, you are told the person needs to check with someone else before deciding. It’s frustrating, to say the least, but ultimately it will happen to everyone.
When I was a young salesperson selling houses to first-time homebuyers, I had to learn this lesson many times before I finally understood the process. I had shown young couples dozens of houses, taking the time to educate them on the market and what they could expect to get in their price range. They also had to learn the hard way that the really good houses almost always got snapped up the first few days they were on the market. Many times, these homes received offers over the asking price. More than once, I worked with a young couple for weeks and months and finally got them to the point where they were ready to make an offer that gave them a good shot at the home of their dreams. Then one of them would make the fateful statement, “My Dad, or my parents, want to come look at the house before we make an offer.” Inevitably, when one of the parents came to look, they were almost always shocked and disappointed by the home their pride and joy was looking to buy. And I completely understood why, after all, these parents probably hadn’t bought a home or been in the housing market in 20-30 years. Home values had skyrocketed since they purchased their first home. To top it off, the idea that you would offer ABOVE the asking price to get a home was completely foreign. In their minds, you always offer less, then go back and forth until you reach an acceptable price.
The problem here, like the earlier situation with the attending physician, is that we were asking someone to take the final exam without actually taking the course, and when that happens, we usually fail. In the case of the home purchase, the young couple would typically have to lose out on a home they really loved and start all over again. This time, however, and in all cases moving forward, I made sure that the parents, or any other decision-makers, came out with us to learn about their market firsthand.
The Decoding lesson here is that whether you are a physician attempting to convince a patient to undergo treatment to benefit their health, a salesperson attempting to educate your buyer about market conditions, or a manager at your company trying to persuade your boss to understand that some new way of doing things is much better than the old way, know that you will probably have to sell and resell your thoughts, ideas, and processes more than once. If you can identify “Who” the actual decision makers really are up front, figure out what’s important to them, and understand where the true objections may really come from, then you have a much better shot at achieving your goals and outcomes.
Where have you made the mistake of not really understanding who the true decision-makers
are?
How have you overcome this obstacle?
What have you decoded in your own process that can help you move forward to achieve your
objectives?