Does Reverse Selling appeal to Customers/Investors?

These are some reasons why you should not buy my solution? What would be your prospective customer’s reaction if your introductory slide were to have the above message? Most of the managers feel that the above is nothing short of a Harakiri!

In Originals – How Non-Conformists Rule the World, Adam Grant, an American Psychologist at Wharton has turned the conventional logic on its head.
Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman  were appalled by false advertising and bad advice about parenting and started an online magazine and blog network called Babble. They wanted to challenge the clichés about parenting. In 2009 when they approached investors they made presentation before their investors with a typical sales pitch. In two rounds they realized that their unbridled enthusiasm was perceived with scepticism as salesmanship with a hidden agenda.
Remembering the adage, ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’ they decided to change the typical sales pitch. This time rather than putting the best foot forward, they decided otherwise. The first slide was:  ‘why you should not invest in Babble?’ With  this, they put all their cards on the table, the investors perceived them with positive intent. Babble received $3.3 Million in funding
Two years later they made a similar pitch to Disney. The slide read Five Reasons why you should not buy Babble. Some reasons included 3 page views per visitor which was lower than expectations, 40% blog posts are by celebrities etc. Disney ended up buying the company for $40 million.
This does not mean that reverse selling will work in all situations. It is recommended when you are selling a solution for which there is no precedent with both the parties; in short it is a novel idea; the customer is apprehensive of your proposal and you expect  the customer to change his belief system. If your prospect is powerful, big and experienced in his domain, your objective should be to break the ice and build trust. Here humility works. When a vendor makes  a typical elevator pitch the prospective client tries to either find loopholes in your sales pitch ( 50 installations in last one year! Oh that’s too low or Pan-India service network! That means your products need services regularly) or he may simply sidetrack the issue.
In his book You can Negotiate Anything Herb Cohen narrates an interesting anecdote on the sidetracking angle.
Herb was representing a renowned US Aircraft manufacturer and was visiting Japan. After making a powerful sales pitch to his Japanese client he said, “ Gentlemen, I hope you are convinced about our product range and the capabilities we bring on the table. Do you have any questions?”
Client: “ I did not understand your presentation.”
Herb: “ What did you not understand?”
Client: “ Everything, can you start from the beginning please?”
However for conventional products when the competition is aggressive a conventional sales pitch is fine. Whether you are selling unique solutions or conventional products trust and rapport building is a must! In case of the former positive intent ( with humility ) is crucial whereas for the latter displaying the competence  creates the impact. (for details refer Trust – The difference that creates the difference from Contextual Selling)

For more insights on sales refer Contextual Selling – A New Paradigm for the 21st Century by Rajan Parulekar who has conducted customized training programs for more than 1000 companies.

Other services: Effective Value-Selling of Capital Equipments , Effective Salesmanship for Premium Property, Managing Outstanding Collections, Skillful Negotiations, Key Account Management, On-Line Training, Coaching and Mentoring, Sales Book

Rajan Parulekar| rajan@paradigm-info.com| www.paradigm-info.com