Handling the ‘think-they know-it-all’ prospect
Chances are you’ve come across folks who are true know-it-alls – who express their opinion on nearly any topic, and really know their stuff.
The “think-they-know-it-all” is a different animal entirely. Such individuals know only enough to be hazardous to their health, or yours.
In a sales setting, if you find yourself face to face with such a person, the best approach is to make excuses for them, with language like this:
“You must not have seen the research that came out about this last month,” or “You’ve been so busy you were onto something else when this was studied.” or “I was surprised myself to find that (xxx) wasn’t actually what happened.”
Inventing some reason why they don’t know what you know helps them save face. Maybe they were busy. They must not have seen this. This just came in. Whatever.
When you take this approach it helps them accept the correct set of facts that you are about to present to them. And it allows them to accept this new information without being forced to defend themselves.
And when you do present your evidence, provide sources as backup. Even if they don’t check them out, doing so adds to your authority and credibility.
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Source: Dr Rick Kirschner. For more visit www.theartofchange.com
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