{"id":11204,"date":"2018-02-02T10:52:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T10:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/salespeople-dig-deeper-reversing\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T16:00:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T16:00:22","slug":"salespeople-dig-deeper-reversing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/salespeople-dig-deeper-reversing\/","title":{"rendered":"Salespeople: Dig Deeper \u2026 With Reversing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When prospects ask you a question (or use wishy-washy words, or try to mislead you, or use smokescreen tactics), wouldn\u2019t it be nice if you knew for sure what their true intention was? David Sandler developed a tool to help the salesperson accomplish exactly this. It\u2019s called reversing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Begin by noticing that, very often, prospects will make statements that can be interpreted in a number of different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, consider this situation. A prospect says of your competitor XYZ, \u201cWe\u2019ve been working with XYZ Company since my parents started the business nearly 50 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Does that statement mean:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cI\u2019m looking for a brand new solution?\u201d<\/li><li>\u201cI\u2019d never even consider changing such a longstanding family tradition?\u201d<\/li><li>\u201cI\u2019m so glad you came along, because I didn\u2019t know there were any alternatives?\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You have no idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As it happens, you have two options when it comes to deciphering what\u2019s behind the prospect\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Either:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take yourself hence to a remote cave situated perilously high in the misty mountaintops of the Himalayas. Clothe yourself only in rags, and, sleeping on hay, fast for 40 days and nights. Mediate 18 hours a day during this period in order to properly attune yourself with the psychic ether, and, on the fortieth day, divine what the prospect might have meant. Do this by slaughtering a chicken and watching how the smoke from its charred feathers swirls in the moonlight at the stroke of midnight on the eve of the winter solstice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ask.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I have always plumped for the second option. I\u2019m not good with heights, and sleeping on hay gives me a nasty rash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notice that I did not offer the option of assuming that you were being asked a question. Interpreting a statement as a question and then attempting to answer it (even though you don\u2019t know what was behind it all) is a classic selling mistake\u2014often a fatal one. Never answer an unasked question! (That\u2019s Sandler Rule #5 of 49 if you\u2019re keeping score at home.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before responding appropriately to prospects\u2019 statements (and remember, sometimes the statement made is merely a statement, and doesn\u2019t even require a verbal response), you must first discover the&nbsp;<em>intent<\/em>&nbsp;of the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You do this by asking questions like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You are telling me that because\u2026?<\/li><li>OK, but that means what?<\/li><li>And\u2026?<\/li><li>Such as\u2026?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Those are \u201creverses,\u201d by the way. When you reverse, you answer a question with a question. Let\u2019s see how this approach could help you deal with the example above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prospect: \u201cWe\u2019ve been working with XYZ Company since my parents started the business 50 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You: \u201cOK, I understand. You\u2019re telling me that because\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prospect: \u201cWell, I\u2019m running things now, and I think it\u2019s maybe time for a change\u2014we have to move with the times, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nice. Not a single decapitated chicken, nor a trip to the chemist for some ointment for that bothersome rash. But keep going. You\u2019re not quite done yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You: \u201cMakes sense. But tell me, what does \u2018move with the times\u2019 mean in your view?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By adopting this simple yet powerful technique to explore what the prospect is truly saying, feeling, or meaning, you ensure that the real roadblocks are uncovered. At the same time, you avoid jumping to any erroneous conclusions. All too often, salespeople make Himalaya-sized Mountains out of molehills. This is because they don\u2019t bother to figure out the underlying meaning of utterances that were, after all, just statements. Reverses help you do that. And remember: Used properly, reverses can also keep you from freezing to death in a cave clutching a charred, frozen chicken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/reports.sandler.com\/sample-chapter-garrido-asking-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Get your free chapter of\u00a0Asking Questions the Sandler Way\u00a0to learn more! (opens in a new tab)\">Get your free chapter of\u00a0<\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/reports.sandler.com\/sample-chapter-garrido-asking-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Get your free chapter of\u00a0Asking Questions the Sandler Way\u00a0to learn more! (opens in a new tab)\">Asking Questions the Sandler Way<\/a><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/reports.sandler.com\/sample-chapter-garrido-asking-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Get your free chapter of\u00a0Asking Questions the Sandler Way\u00a0to learn more! (opens in a new tab)\">\u00a0to learn more!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When prospects ask you a question (or use wishy-washy words, or try to mislead you, or use smokescreen tactics), wouldn\u2019t it be nice if you knew for sure what their true intention was? David Sandler developed a tool to help the salesperson accomplish exactly this. It\u2019s called reversing. Begin by noticing that, very often, prospects&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":11205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1120],"tags":[1026,1115,1105],"class_list":["post-11204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-prospecting","tag-qualifying","tag-sales-process"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Salespeople: Dig Deeper \u2026 With Reversing | Sandler Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When prospects ask you a question (or use wishy-washy words, or try to mislead you, or use smokescreen tactics), wouldn\u2019t it be nice if you knew for sure what their true intention was? 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