One challenge that constantly faces your sales team – how best to “frame the presentation” of your offerings.
While there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, it can be useful to present the wheel in new and interesting ways from time to time.
(This is assuming you already have a darn good wheel.)
Think of some piece of information – an adage, a piece of advice, a recommendation – that you’ve heard 100 times… and you ignored it every time. But then someone comes along and presents essentially the same information but with a slightly different angle, and it hits home to you.
This happens because person #101 reframed the information in a way that connected with you.
You may have heard that people buy based on emotion, then justify the purchase with logic. If you can appeal with emotion and support the appeal with enough logical backup, you will close the sale.
And this depends largely on how you frame your presentation, in your marketing and in the consultation.
Here are three frameworks you can use to reframe your offering in the prospect’s mind. These will help guide your patients toward better, more confident decisions.
I’ll use LASIK as the example, but this can be applied to most any procedure.
1. “Not Yet” Framework
Think about every human on the planet as belonging to one of two categories — those who HAVE had a LASIK consult, and those who HAVE NOT had one YET. The ‘YET’ is the operative word that is super important.
Ex. “Summer is right around the corner, and you still haven’t had your LASIK consultation yet?!….”
Taking a not ‘yet’ approach means the situation just hasn’t been quite right for you yet. Well it is now.
It subtly positions whatever you’re selling (in this case, a consultation) as an inevitability. It’s going to happen.
Back this inevitability up with some reasoning around why now is the perfect time — going to the beach without contacts, extra time in the summer to have the procedure, extended summer hours for consults, etc — and you give the prospect reasons to quit stalling and come on in.
After all, even though it hasn’t happened yet, it’s going to happen sooner or later. Might as well be now.
2. “Herd Mentality” Framework
We generally like to go with the flow; it’s human nature.
This is especially true with ideas that are new or foreign to us. It’s why we look on Yelp for the best dish at a new exotic food restaurant or read fashion blogs to keep up on the latest trends.
It’s survival instinct. We save time, energy and effort when we can default to what other people are doing. The majority is probably making a reasonable, low-risk choice. I’ll do the same.
This is the herd mentality.
Present your offering in terms of ‘what most people do.’ A LASIK consultation is a new concept to your prospects. It’s not something they’ve ever done, meaning they don’t have a good grasp on what it really means or how it fits into their lives.
If you don’t eat Thai food (side note: you should start), then you need some help making a decision on what to get. What’s everyone else choosing? That’s probably a safe bet.
Secondary component of the herd mentality framework — permission. People need permission to take action. Even though we don’t realize it or want to admit it.
So when you say “most people do it this way,” you:
- Give your prospect a common framework around a foreign idea, which creates comfort and familiarity
- Give them permission to take action (in this particular way that most people do) and
- Imply that the person is now part of a tribe, which is an inherent desire in our DNA.
Here are two examples of the herd mentality framework in action.
“Our 3 p.m. consultation slots are popular because you can leave work a little early and have your consultation on the way home. That’s what most people do. I have an opening tomorrow or Thursday, which is the lighter work day for you?”
“Here’s the thing — with our $99/month payment option, you don’t have to worry about a big chunk of cash. Most people prefer to go this route because it fits right into their budget, and often times it’s less than your cell phone or electricity bill.”
3. “Moonwalk” Framework
Chronological order isn’t always the best way to present your information, even though it seems like it makes the most sense.
We think we need to start the conversation by talking about the consultation. Because that’s really step 1 of the LASIK process, and it must be complete before you move down the line.
But what happens when you start at the end and moonwalk back to #1?
The end, is this case, is 12 months after LASIK and the person is living their dream with amazing vision.
So what does it mean to start the conversation at the end?
- Figure out your prospect’s goals. What do they want to do with their better vision? ASK QUESTIONS.
- Give examples of patients just like her who wanted to do the exact same thing and love their vision.
- Discuss the benefits of the procedure that contribute to her ideal outcome.
- Talk about the consultation and getting the ball rolling toward <GOAL>.
You’re starting with the outcome (the only thing the patient really cares about), then sliding back into the ease of the procedure, then sliding back to the first step — the consult.
For example:
You: <END> So what made you call us today?
Prospect: Well, I’m getting married in a few months and was thinking about getting LASIK before my wedding.
You: <EXAMPLE OF SIMILAR PT> Thats great! My cousin did that last year before she got married and loved it! Enjoyed the honeymoon on the beach without contacts, it was great.
Prospect: Yeah that’s what I was hoping for!
You: <SX BENEFIT> And the recovery time is so quick, you can go ahead and do it now and start enjoying it, and it’s one less thing to worry about as you get close to your big day.
Prospect: Sounds good.
You: So your first step is to come on in for your free consult…
Get Started
If you haven’t tried these frameworks yet, today is the perfect time to start.
Of course you want more of your leads turning into patients. If you can do it by only making a few adjustments in your framework, all the better.
But your first step is to start implementing.
Commit to using these frameworks in conversation with 10 patients this week, that’s what most of my clients do when they get started.
Then assess and adjust as you see fit for your personality and the types of patients you see.
And remember: you don’t have to use just one framework at a time. They often work best when you stack them together.
Want an example of stacking? Just reread this “Get Started” section.
And if you want your phone team to have access to all our framing, scripting and mindset tactics to turn more calls into consults (and why wouldn’t you?), click here to add yourself to the waiting list for our upcoming Phone Sales Bootcamp, designed to turn your phone team into consultation-booking ninjas.