This is a live report of the keynote Tim Stewart gave during Conversion Hotel 2023. Earlier, we also shared the live report of Michael Aagaard who talked about the science and psychology behind disappointment. 

Tim opened his presentation with the stimulating question, "On what authority am I speaking here?" He acknowledged that he did not have direct authority, as he had not put an A/B test live in the past five years. Nevertheless, he does have nearly 30 years of experience in online marketing as a source of expertise. However, instead of simply telling us why we should listen to him, he preferred to show why his insights are valuable. 

"We are all at the interface of art and science, but there is also an amalgamation with sales. Often we experience resistance to sales and label it as something negative. When we think of selling, we often think of clichés such as selling ice cream to Eskimos or selling sand to Saudis, which is considered bad selling. Such sales techniques contribute to the negative perception of salespeople because they do not solve problems. Because forcing products on people who have no interest in them evokes disgust in us."

To make a point, he invited the audience to stand. After this, Tim asked the question: who hates misleading improvisations in user surveys? Then sit down. 

Then he asked for consultants to sit down if they thought sales were necessary, but were a distraction and source of frustration, with leads that seemed promising but did not result. 

He then asked developers or designers to sit down if they felt they were making everything possible but getting the least recognition for success but getting all the blame for failures.

...Finally, everyone sat down. In this way, he delivered a powerful message. The crux of his argument was that most interactions in our work revolve around persuasion and negotiation in various forms. When you need others to achieve something with a satisfactory outcome for all parties, that's a challenge.

Over the next 15 minutes, Tim showed how to handle those situations and get better results more easily and consistently. And, he asked, if he did that, would we give him all the votes as best speaker? This is also when Tim added a subtitle to his talk: "Sales but without the ick.

Source: https://conversionhotel.com/ch2023/ 

Sales but without the ick

For starters, Tim introduced the mnemonic PCMC: Probe Confirm Match Close. Or, more simply: Pukka Mukka. As it turned out, we were already Pukka Mukka'd. He had already probed who we were, whether we were in sales, freelance, customer service, in-house or development, and whether we recognized specific issues affecting ongoing business. (probe)

Then he confirmed this back to us and reframed it, "Your interactions require persuasion and negotiation skills." (confirm) Then he linked these skills to a benefit: "Essentially, I'm covering sales skills that can help you make it easier to get things done and reuse existing skills." (match)

Finally, he closed with a summary and a request for action, "You agree that this option will provide the most gain and the least pain. You agree to give your attention and time and vote for me for Best Speaker." (close)

The funny thing is that Tim is selling us something we already own. We use the techniques from PCMC every day in our work on a large scale in creating and optimizing landing pages, shopping cart pages and upsells. But why do we struggle with it in other situations in our work?

The good news is that it is easier to do this in person or in internal communications than for a larger audience. In these situations, it focuses on one-to-one rather than one-to-many. This is the ultimate form of personalization. It is direct and interactive.

What are the steps of PCMC or Pukka Mukka?

Probe: 

Find out more about the problem. Use open-ended questions with what, where, when, how, who or why. Be sure to open up and actively listen. If you need clarification or something is interesting, go deeper into the topic.

Confirm: 

Reframe and Reflect. This is hugely important because you can't offer a solution until you understand the problem. Reframe problems to common elements: 

• time, 
• quality, 
• scope, 
• volumes. 

Limit Probe's open discussion to key points. Do not ask closed questions until you are ready to move on. Use phrases such as "That's interesting, can we conclude that the common theme is ...", or "Can I clarify that you like ...", or "In summary ...", or "The problem is [this], the cause is [that], the consequences are [...]." Be specific based on what they have said, "This affects you/ others/ a certain group [in this way]." Make sure you fully understand before moving to the next step: "This is what I understand, is that right?"

Match: 

Tell what you have to offer and what problems you can solve. If you've reframed well, you're already halfway there. Avoid linking features without the associated benefits. For example, "You said you struggle with [Problem A]. [Feature X] is designed to address [Problem A]. This is beneficial to you because [the benefit of solving A]."

Close:

Ask for confirmation. Summarize what you have discovered and use repetition: repeat what was agreed upon, to encourage an affirmative response in order to conclude well. For example, "By using [X], we can provide this benefit. You agree that it connects well. Therefore, we have reason to continue."

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Closing for dummies 

The final stage is where we as an industry fall short. Our industry is so focused on calls to action and next steps. We are not successful at selling because we cannot close effectively. Here are some techniques for closing:

Alternate Closure: "Do you start Monday or Tuesday?" The only choice you have is to choose one of the alternatives.

Close corner: "If you want to include all features, you agree to more budget."

Assuming closure: "Great, I will book the meeting/resource and I will submit it to compliance so you can approve it." This way you assume they will agree.

"Now or never." "If you agree today, I still have capacity. If you wait, there may be a delay".

"No obligation try out" closure: "You can try this for free. We'll show you how effective it is."

Sales success unlocks

All of the closure techniques mentioned may sound familiar. They bear similarities to what we use on our websites: "Do you want it in red or blue?", "Starter, Pro or Enterprise?", "Pay more for extra benefits, pay less for less". "Free trial." We use techniques that capitalize on scarcity or time sensitivity. These methods are effective. We know this. We have tested them. We have data. But when it comes to what we need, we fail to close.

When we try to close and encounter objections, it doesn't mean we haven't sold. On the contrary, objections actually signal interest in buying. When people make comments like "I need to verify that [solution X] actually solves [problem A]," "I can't decide right now," or "That covers [problem A], but I still have [problem B]," they are actually signaling: "I understand. It might work. I'm still interested, but I need reassurance." How do you handle this? Identify the objections and reapply the Pukka Mukka method! Research further, confirm additional points and apply the Pukka Mukka as many times as necessary to reach a successful conclusion.

This is all a lot, but fortunately you don't have to freestyle this. You can research and plan ahead of time. Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance, a.k.a. PPPPPP. So if you don't want the Ick, always be a PCMC and always shut up!

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