You say up, they say down. You say hot, they say cold. You know this type of customer. So, I wanted to spend this week’s post on a customer you may not think much about until you are face-to-face with one and then have to respond, now! You may encounter this type of customer from time to time and they are someone who appears to disagree with just about everything you say during your sales interaction. They are known as mismatchers. They state the opposite of what is being said to them.
Mismatchers usually disagree on principle since they have a natural tendency to see the differences in the information being presented. They just see things differently and appear to come across as challenging and resistant people. They are not. Again, they look at information being presented to them from a different perspective than most people. I know, I am a mismatcher myself.
The good news is that only about 10% of individuals are mismatchers.
No matter what solution you provide they will find fault, difficulties, and/or a reason for it not to work. They are focused on the downside of what is being presented. Ultimately, if you say it won’t, they will say it will because they will want to mismatch you. So, it is easy to talk to a mis-matcher, once you have identified the customer as a mismatcher. All you have to do is put an opposite twist on what you say to them. For example: “I don’t think you will agree with me on this, but…” or “you won’t want to use it unless you are concerned about …”.
Here are some more examples of putting an opposite twist on what you say to a mismatcher:
- I don’t suppose you would…
- I don’t know if you are comfortable using it …
- You won’t want to… unless…
- Don’t use it except if you want…
- I don’t think you will…but…
- I don’t know whether you…
A basic structure you can use as a guideline for communicating with the mismatcher is to say: Don’t, and then the action they need to take, unless you want to, and then state the outcome. Here is a simple example: Don’t use it unless you want options.”
Remember, to effectively handle a mismatcher, you need to put an opposite twist on your communication with them.
Copyright 2012 J.P. Thompson. All rights reserved.
If a brief conversation about how to improve your sales team’s effectiveness is valuable please call J.P. Thompson at (888) 821-6656 or drop me a line at jpt@ascenticg.com
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