Nothing happens until somebody sells something. To make sales happen, IMMS.com Key Sales Consultant Randy Schwantz has created a comprehensive series of 43 Producer Success Lessons. Used singuarly or in combination, these powerful tools can help your producers build their skills and grow their sales.
We landed at Heathrow Airport outside of London and rode the Tube (subway) into the city. Twenty minutes later we were in a taxi headed north toward the suburb of Purley.
Rick: 'What’s it like driving on the wrong side of the road?'
Taxi driver: 'In England, this is the 'right’ side of the road!'
Case closed.
Meta programs are much like learning to drive in the United States, then getting behind the wheel in England. The truth is, both ways are 'right'; it depends on your orientation. With Meta programs, you’ll notice that people have different internal systems that create their sense of direction. Some drive on the right side of the road and others on the left. The only thing that matters to us as professional communicators is that we identify how a person is oriented so we can go with the flow instead of against it.
Have you ever noticed that some people are really difficult for you to communicate with, and yet others can communicate with them fine? The reason could be that you have incompatible Meta programs.
Each of us has our own Meta programs. That’s why you might see a glass half full, while I would consider it half empty. Some of us focus on problems, while others only see opportunities. One person wants to do an opinion poll before making a decision, while someone else might say, 'I don’t care what they think, I’m going to do it.' The same situation generates distinctly different reactions. If you don’t understand these filters, and how they affect communication, you’re able to communicate about as effectively as an American in Russia. You just don’t have the same language or understanding as the person you’re talking to.
META PROGRAMS
The filters we use to sort through all the sensory input delivered to our brains are called Meta programs. We all use them unconsciously to determine what to pay attention to and what to ignore. They allow us or cause us to delete, distort, and generalize information and maintain it over time. Think about that. It’s certainly helpful to know that candles could burn your finger (generalization), so you should usually keep your finger away from them. You learned this generalization when you were a child, then retained it through time.
What happens when these generalizations aren’t helpful? For example, you still fear dogs will attack you because one bit you 20 years ago. Or you might believe that you can’t learn math, because it was your worst subject in school. Everyone employs harmful generalizations to some degree. That’s why it’s important to understand Meta programs. If you can discern the Meta programs that a prospect or client usually employs, you can greatly enhance your ability to communicate and persuade.
Once you’ve learned to 'read' your clients’ and prospects’ Meta programs either by observation or questioning, you’ll be able to use that knowledge to mutual benefit.
Basic META PROGRAMS
Every human has a unique perception of five basic Meta programs:
1. Away/Toward
2. Internal/External
3. Big Picture/Details
4. Should/Possibilities
5. Self/Others
An individual’s orientation or attitude toward each of these Meta programs forms a key element of their personality. For example, a person might generally move toward things they want, be internally motivated, see the big picture, consider every possibility, and make decisions based on how they affect themselves, rather than their impact on others.
We can understand a good deal about their personality by knowing their orientation toward each Meta program. If you knew these five things about them, the chances are that you could persuade them to buy. You’d understand the language they’re thinking in — and you’d speak to their listening.
A salesperson who told this person that if they didn’t buy the product their world would fall apart; that everyone was using the product; deluged them with details; stressed that they should do this; and then capped the presentation by stating that their decision to buy would please everyone in their company, would have misread every one of their Meta programs. The shattering of rapport and the elimination of trust would have destroyed the opportunity to make the sale.
EXERCISE
Go through the last paragraph and compare it with the description of the person on the previous page to see how the salesperson totally misread their Meta programs.
Trying to sell insurance to someone who doesn’t understand the concept or its value would be like trying to communicate in a foreign language. When you misread someone’s Meta program, the outcome is similar.
For the rest of this lesson, we’ll examine the Away/Toward Meta program. The next three lessons will review the other programs in depth.
Away/Toward
My wife is a classic 'away' type person. She seeks primarily to avoid painful things. I’m more of a 'toward' person. Pleasure or potential reward is highly motivating to me. So if I try to motivate her in a way that would influence me, I get no response. Because she has an 'away from' Meta program, I tell her, 'if you don’t do this you’ll have a big problem and it will continue to grow worse until you fix it. Doesn’t it make sense to get started now?'
Although people tend to have either a 'toward' or 'away' orientation, these are not absolute. A person might move away from painful things as a rule, but be motivated strongly by a desire for pleasure in certain areas. So, while the ability to read someone’s dominant Meta program is useful, don’t assume that they’ll always react as you expect..
One of the best ways to elicit or discover a person’s primary orientation is to ask what they want from a broker or insurance program. Observe their response carefully. Do they focus on what they want ('toward' orientation) — such as good coverages and better communication — or what they don’t want ('away orientation') — for example, avoiding incompetent and lazy vendors? You might have to ask a number of questions before you can clearly see which orientation dominates.
For example:
Salesperson: 'What do you want from an insurance company?'
Prospect: 'Well, I can’t have slow claims (away) ... I have my life pretty much set how I like it, and slow service is not acceptable (away).'
S: 'You don’t want slow service. What else?'
P: 'You’ve got to be willing to cover my kids on the auto policy (toward).'
S: 'What’s important to you about covering the kids?'
P: 'They weren’t covered a few years ago. It was too expensive — and one of them had a fender bender that cost me $1,200 (away).'
The first answer led to the conclusion that the prospect tended to move away from things. Just to be sure, the producer asked another question. Because the response wasn’t cut and dried, he then asked the clarifying question 'What’s important to you?' to elicit an in-depth answer. Since the response was away-oriented, the producer can assume for the moment that the prospect has an 'away' orientation.
THE BENEFITS
The Meta Program approach can have a significant impact on your presentations. Eliciting a person’s Meta program orientation can be very useful in tailoring your communications to make success almost inevitable. If you know that a prospect is away-oriented, stress the fact that insurance can keep costly expenses from eating into their financial security.. However, if you’re making a presentation to a toward-oriented person, focus on how insurance can help them keep more of their savings to buy the things they want.
Bear in mind that clients and prospects are constantly telling you what they want and don’t want. To maintain rapport and enhance closing opportunities, play their words back in the way they said them. From their point of view, you’ll be communicating clearly and concisely —speaking to their listening.
EXERCISE
- Elicit you're toward or away Meta program in each of the following areas.. Ask yourself these questions and write your answers below:
What do I want in a relationship? ________________________________
In a new car? ________________________________
Are your answers away or toward? ________________________________
- Repeat the process of eliciting a person’s away/toward Meta program on the clients you visit this week. In a post-interview summary, note the client’s orientation for future use.
We’ll review the other Meta programs in later Sales Lessons.