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Sales Hack: The Rule of 3s - How to Get a Free Super Bowl Commercial
posted by Darren Pierce
Breaking up is Hard to Do
Whether you are delivering the news or catching it, a breakup is very hard to handle. There are many reasons, but I believe the most prominent reason for the pain: You KNOW each other. You know things about her and she knows things about you. No matter how long you’ve been together, there are things you have learned about your partner that are unique and things you have shared with your partner to differentiate yourself. This exchange of personal information is woven together to form the fabric that we refer to as a …. Relationship.
We all know this, we do this naturally in our personal lives, the exchange of information to form a relationship. So why then do we sometimes neglect to do this in our professional lives? Exchanging information about yourself with your prospect, and learning things about them in return, will form a relationship.
Sales Hack: The Rule of 3s
Research suggests that in order to form a strong bond with a person, you need to do the following:
1. Share 3 unique things about yourself that are memorable
2.Convince the other person to share 3 unique things about themself with you
If and when this is accomplished, you now have formed a “relationship.” Relationships build Trust. Trust allows you to prescribe a solution for their pain, and they will believe you. That is if you believe yourself (Prescribe your SaaS Solution with Confidence).
This works. I’ve been preaching it to my sales reps for over 10 years, and I do it myself. But it’s so much harder than it sounds. First of all, you aren’t going to get this accomplished in 1 call or even 2 calls. It may take longer or more detailed conversations. Second, it’s so much harder to share personal things about yourself with a stranger than it is to ask them. Here are some strategies to help establish the Rule of 3s.
1. Genuine - Be Genuine.
I mean really. You should be genuinely interested in establishing a relationship with everyone. If you don’t care then you need to switch jobs, SaaS Sales is not for you.
2. Practice - Identify and rehearse 5 to 6 things about yourself.
This takes time. Really come up with good stuff, not just plain “I have 3 kids.” Rather “My middle daughter’s favorite sport is Archery, and she recently fired an arrow through an apple at 100 yards.”
3. Super Bowl - Improvise at least 1 of the 3 about something you recently did or are doing.
Ideally, it should be something upcoming because it will remind them about you in the future. “I’m going to the Super Bowl with my 90-year-old father, he has always wanted to go, he’s a huge Seahawks fan so I’m really hoping for a victory.” Boom, you’ve just bought yourself a $7 Million Dollar Super Bowl commercial for free. Especially if you are able to text or email a picture during the game.
4. Learning about them
First, you have to start off, it never works if you expect them to share without you going first. Sometimes they will automatically offer up merely while you are sharing. If not, start small, ask some simple open-ended questions, after sharing something about yourself. Here are ones I like:
How was your weekend?
Do you have big plans for the weekend?
Are you taking this call from the office today? What is your office like?
Have you tried Amazon Fire TV yet?
5. Research your sales leads
Know where they live, where they went to college, where they worked in the past, prior to calling. This allows you to step it up a little bit with a leading question such as:
I see you live in Atlanta, my favorite restaurant is Daniel’s, have you been?
You used to work for Uber! What was that like?
Remember, be genuine and honest. To me, my favorite part about B2B SaaS Sales is meeting new people and forming new relationships. These relationships last a lot longer than either of your jobs. Expand your network and have fun.
