So, you can, for example, say:
- “Can you just list one reason that you like our product?”;
- “Yes, I do like this”;
- Their certainty is increased;
- “Can you list ten reasons against our product?”;
- “Well, uh, the price, and it doesn’t have this feature, and uh, I don’t know”;
- Their certainty is lessened;
You can use both the version that works and the one that fails for you or against you.
- One reason works, so you can ask:
- “Can you give me one reason why you like our product?”;
- “Can you give me one reason why this other product may be worse?”;
- Ten reasons fails, so you can ask:
- “Can you give me ten reasons why you dislike our product?”;
- “Can you give me ten reasons why you like this other product?”;
It’s important to state that, in extreme cases, this technique won’t work:
- If you ask them for one reason why they like you/your value proposition, and they don’t even have one;
- If you ask them for ten reasons why they dislike you/your value proposition, and they have ten or more;
- But to be honest, if they don’t even have one reason for liking you, or if they have ten against you just like that, you weren’t going to close them anyway…;
- It can help identify low-quality influence targets;
It’s also important to state this technique should be used in the room. It’s an immediate technique. It’s not something you should do in the long-term, asking the person to come up with ten reasons and give them time to think.
- In many cases, people can’t find ten reasons even with time to think… but you don’t want to give them a chance;