In a recent presentation, I was teaching a segment on Values and the importance of appealing to a person’s values when trying to elicit buy-in. During the Q & A, I was asked for suggestions about how to deal with a client in a sales environment whose only concern (value) is price. I’ll share the complete answer in my next few posts. For now, I’d like to share a few of the highlights about how to use values to elicit buy-in.
First, for the purposes of creating buy-in in terms of management, communication, and sales, “values” simply refers to what is important to a person. Of course, what a person values will have an effect on their behavior and how they spend their time. For example, a person whose highest value is family will spend their time differently than someone whose highest value is career.
For most people, not all values are created equal. As a result, we typically have subconsciously ranked values. I say “subconsciously” because most people are unaware of their ranked values until they choose to do a bit of reflection. To elicit someone’s values, all you have to do is ask, “What’s important to you about X?” where X refers to the topic of discussion. Follow up by asking, “What else is important?” and continue until they say, “That’s it” or at least until you feel that you have sufficient information for your situation.
Once you have identified a person’s values, you can then appeal to their values to get buy-in by framing your communication so that it is in line with their values. If a person values career and financial success, you would obviously frame your communiation differently than you would with someone who values their time with their family and recreation.
Part 2 will have information on the Hierarchy of Ideas and how they relate to values. Part 3 will finally answer the question we started with: “How do you deal with a customer whose only concern (value) is price?”
Filed under: Buy-In, Communication, Management, Sales | Tagged: Communication, Management, Sales, Values, Values Hierarchy
