The Acquirer’s Pitch
Flipping the Script with Sales Psychology
This lesson comes from Chris Do. Chris is an Emmy award-winning designer and founder of The Futur. While his educational content is geared towards designer/creatives and agency types, his sales advice is evergreen and universal. Let’s start with Chris’ story and then move on to how some of the lessons might apply to the Entrepreneur through Acquisition (ETA).
Chris calls it ‘the psychology behind effective sales’ and it all began with a personal trainer. Chris is in pretty good shape, but like many of us wondered if he might do even better by hiring a personal trainer.
It just so happened Chris ‘knew a guy’; and this guy was legit. The whole six-pack shebang. His personal trainer friend was continually posting good content — and in one piece of content the friend had ‘just three slots left’ for someone to claim a free tool or resource if they were ‘serious about getting fit’. And just as Chris’ spidey senses started tingling, he realized too late he’d stepped into the ‘sales funnel’.
The ‘free tool or resource’ turned out to be ‘jumping on a call’ on Zoom. The personal trainer asked Chris if he was serious about getting fit, then he paid Chris a few compliments (showing he’d done some homework on Chris). Next the personal trainer asked what Chris calls the MOST IMPORTANT question: “Out of curiosity, why is getting fit so important to you?” Chris dutifully lists all the reasons getting fit is important to him. Then came the magic. The personal trainer asks Chris, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it for you to get fit?” The hook is getting set pretty deep. Chris throws out an 8 on a scale of 10. Once more the personal trainer asks Chris why it’s important to him to get fit. Chris lists his reasons but knows “he’s selling himself” at this point.
Just when you think it can’t get any better, the personal trainer springs what Chris calls ‘the trap question’. The personal trainer asks, “Chris, why isn’t your score lower? Why not a 6 or a 7?” Many of us might have been tempted to ask the opposite: “Why not a 10?” But now the hook is set. The personal trainer just gave Chris a safe space to keep selling himself on how importing getting fit was to him. In the end, Chris ends up shelling out $4,500 for eight months of personal training.
Game. Set. Match.
The psychology of this sales process transcends industries. Let’s break it down for the aspiring ETA. I’m not sure where the ‘just three slots left’ might fit (scarcity — I’m sure there’s a place for it) into the ETA script, but we’ll start with the prequalification questions. Most of us looking for a business to buy will lean towards the “Why are you selling?” question. Instead ask, “Are you serious about selling your business?” Once they’ve established their seriousness, pay the seller a few compliments on the business they’ve built.
Then, taking a page from Chris’ script, ask: “Out of curiosity, why is selling your business important to you?” or maybe, “Why is it important for you to sell your business right now?”
Once you’re satisfied with the seller’s answers it’s time for the rear-naked choke hold: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it for you to sell your business (now)? Follow-up with, “Why not a (lower score)?” Chris notes at this point in the process you’ll be getting much deeper, and probably much more truthful, answers.
This process will flip the script, especially when seller financing is on the table. The seller is now proving their business is worthy of you, rather than you trying to prove you’re worthy of their business.
