Don’t Just Paraphrase – Clarify

By now you know the importance of parroting or paraphrasing a prospect’s most important points to confirm you heard correctly and demonstrate you are listening. But executive coach Keith Rosen says presenters need to go beyond parroting and learn to clarify. Clarification does three things, says Rosen in his new book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale (Alpha, 2007). First, it confirms you received the message the prospect intended to send, whether through words, gestures, or body language. Second, it ensures your message was accurately received and understood. And last, it enables you to gauge the prospect’s level of commitment to moving ahead with your solution. Here’s a look at each aspect of clarification:

1. Recap, summarize, and confirm what you’ve learned. Once you have learned about your prospect’s needs, challenges, and primary concerns as they relate to making a change, you must confirm you are both “singing from the same sheet of music,” says Rosen. This is where you paraphrase what he or she has told you. Once you’ve paraphrased the problem, sticking to the same terms and language the prospect used, you’ll be in a much better position to deliver a custom solution that will address the prospect’s pain – and he’ll be in a much better position to hear it. To effectively summarize and confirm, Rosen suggests using a clarifier that sounds like this:

“For my own understanding, what you are saying is…. Is that correct?”

“So if I’m hearing you right, it sounds like the real pressing issue for you now is…. Have I missed anything?”

“So if there’s one thing we can accomplish for you that would make this investment worthwhile it would be…. Is that correct?”

2. Take the prospect’s pulse. Once you have confirmed the prospect’s situation, you must take his pulse to identify what he has accurately heard from you. By doing so, you further qualify his level of interest and desire in taking the next course of action. “These clarifiers reconfirm that the prospect heard and understood the information and advantages to making the purchase that you intended him to hear,” says Rosen. Here are some questions you can ask to take the prospect’s pulse both during and after your presentation:

“How are you feeling about what we’ve discussed so far?”

“Of what we’ve discussed so far, what stands out most for you?”

“With any new purchase, there’s always the chance you may have some concerns in the back of your mind. What concerns do you have at this point that might cause you to hesitate in making your decision?”

3. Pre-close. In this step, you confirm the prospect’s current level of commitment to buying and eliminate any concerns or objections that could derail the sale. This critical step helps you gain a solid understanding of where the relationship is ultimately heading. It will let you know whether it’s time to shepherd the client to the next step or whether there’s some damage you must first address. Finally, the pre-close ensures there should be no surprises, as long as you deliver on what you promised. Here are several approaches you can use to pre-close:

“Based on what I’m hearing you say, if the proposal meets the needs and objectives you’ve shared with me, is it safe to say we can take the next step toward working together?”

“Based on what I’ve shared with you, as long as we can honor your budget and your timeline, is there anything else you can think of that may get in the way of us working together?”

“What would you need to see in my proposal that would make us your first choice for this project?”

“Bob, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 means that it’s safe to say we will be taking the next step in working together and 1 means you are looking forward to shutting the door behind me, where do you stand?” Then follow up with, “So what do I need to do to make this a perfect 10?”

The goal with clarifying is to get all of the prospect’s concerns and objections out of the way. Thinking through these questions and weaving them into your presentation can help you do that. “You certainly don’t want to get blindsided by an ever-growing objection simply because you missed asking the right question,” Rosen concludes.