BizTreker

It is 10:00 in the morning and you have been in the doctor’s waiting room for over an hour. Your appointment for a complete physical was at 9:00am. You are getting angrier by the minute! You are telling yourself that instead of paying the doctor $300 for the physical, he should be paying you for the time you’ve wasted sitting in his lobby! You are feeling fine and you wonder whether you should just get up and leave. Do you really need a doctor just to tell that you are healthy? The longer you wait, the angrier you become, and the more idiotic the annual physical seems to be. But finally, the nurse calls your name and shows you to the examination room.

Even though you are angry, you decide to bite your tongue while the doctor gives you the checkup. You just want to get this over with quickly and get back to work. After the examination, the doctor leaves to check another patient while the nurse processes the results. The doctor says he will be back in a few minutes. Finally, he returns. He tells you that your heart pattern and blood tests show a dangerous
abnormality and that he needs to make some more tests immediately. He is clearly concerned! All of the sudden, the $300 fee and the long wait in the lobby are forgotten, aren’t they? You want the doctor to find out what is wrong, no matter what it takes! You will do whatever he tells you. After all, he’s the professional. The doctor was not trying to sell you anything you didn’t need. But when he found a problem, you quickly turned to him for help in solving the problem. Price was no longer an issue.

You can fulfill the same role with your customers. Your job is to ask potential customers the right questions so you can make an intelligent and informed diagnosis. You are not looking for something that isn’t there. You don’t want to create a pain where none exists. But if something you find by poking and prodding could become an unhealthy condition, you want the “patient” to take action now – for their own sake!

Think about how the doctor uncovered your potentially dangerous illness. He asked key questions that led him to develop a diagnosis. He performed certain tests that would give him an indication of things which could not be seen at the surface. Likewise, when you first meet a new prospect, start your relationship by asking questions. This shows your genuine interest in the “patient” while helping you find out if and where they are having “health-related” problems that you might be able to solve. Once you have identified a specific problem, you can either refer them to another specialist, or show them how you have an answer that will resolve that concern. Then you can review the cost with them and determine the best way to move forward. Budgets are no longer a problem.

If the cost of NOT dealing with the pain can be shown to be greater than the pain of leaving it unattended, budgets and price are no longer a factor. Budgets only become relevant when you have identified the illness or pain, but the customer only sees it as a minor inconvenience. For example, there’s not much you can do about the common cold. You just have to live with the inconvenience.

Of course, there are some people who will not pay the cost to improve the situation, just as there are some people who never go to a doctor even when they are sick. In those situations, there is little you can do. Don’t waste hours of time trying to get people to do something they don’t want to do. Move on to other people who want your help. Your worst prospect is not the “no,” but rather the one who says “I’ll think it over.” That leaves you both in limbo. People who recognize their illness rarely have to think it over. If there’s a cure, they want it! Think of this doctor story (or tell it) and ask more questions to find out why the prospect doesn’t have a sense of urgency. In the end, if you discern that they don’t want to be cured, move on. At some point, the illness will become serious enough that they’ll ask again for medical treatment. Stay in touch and let them know you are available when that time comes.