1: Imagine you are a salesperson. You and your prospect are sitting in a conference room.
You are competing with several large, well-known competitors. By comparison, your company is considered “small” and not substantial.
You take out a piece of paper.
You write down the following numbers:
28
500
8,000
85
11/65
Then, you say:
“28. . . That’s the number of years that our company’s been in business.
“500. . . $500 million. That’s the amount of cash we have in the bank.
“8,000. . . That’s our number of happy customers.
85. . . Percent of services delivered on time and on budget. Industry average: 45 percent.
“11/65 . . . $11 was the price of the initial stock offering, and today it’s worth $65 after splitting twice.”
Then, you say: “These numbers show you that our company has been a top performer for years, and that you can rely on us as a partner in the future.”
2: What just happened?
“With just a handful of numbers, you were able to transform the impression that your prospects had of the company from a ‘small’ player in the market to a substantial partner,” Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer write in their book Conversations That Win the Complex Sale..
“Imagine how many PowerPoint slides that might have taken in the past,” Erik and Tim observe.
The example above illustrates what the authors call “a Grabber.”
It’s the “wow” in your message.
“Grabbers get your prospect emotionally involved, literally and figuratively leaning into your message,” the authors write.
This week, we’ve explored Erik and Tim’s “Hammock” concept. Our brains focus most at the start and end of meetings.
Grabbers are how you create “your hot openings, hot closes, and spikes in the middle of your message,” they suggest.
3: The example above is a “Number Play”—one of four Grabbers for Power Messaging. The others include: “What-if-you” questions, customer stories with contrast, and 3D props—all of which will be covered in upcoming RiseWithDrew posts.
“A number play is a more interesting way of delivering numbers as part of your presentation,” Erik and Tim write.
It’s straightforward. First, write the relevant numbers where prospects can see them—on paper, a whiteboard, or a napkin.
Then explain what each number means. This keeps the prospect engaged—they wonder what’s next.
“The best number plays provoke your prospects to see their world in a new way,” the authors explain. “The more unexpected the information you provide, the more you break the pattern of what they expected to get out of their meeting with you.
“Remember,” they state, “breaking the pattern is the key to getting people’s attention and keeping them out of the Hammock.”
Here’s another example of a number play:
90
40
∞
“90. . . According to a recent study,” Erik and Tim write, “up to 90 percent of all marketing materials go unused by salespeople.”
Huh? Do salespeople not need marketing materials?
Not so fast. Another study showed . . .
“40 . . . The average salesperson,” the authors note, “spends 40 hours a month creating their own marketing materials.
“So, it’s not that your salespeople don’t need materials. It’s just that, in most companies, they’re not being provided with the right materials.”
Which leads to the infinity sign. . .
“∞ . . . The number of different messages that are being delivered to your prospects today.
“This is what causes message schizophrenia in the market. This is why you get the stories of a sales manager saying that they traveled with three different reps, and it sounded like each rep was working for a different company.”
Erik and Tim write: “What’s powerful about this number play is that it surprises prospects at first. They wouldn’t have guessed that these are the real numbers.
“However, once they see the numbers written in front of them, and once they really think about their situation, you start to see them nod their heads as they accept the idea that this accurately describes a core problem they are experiencing today.”
More tomorrow!
___________________________
Reflection: Am I presenting information in a way that blends in—or using it to create a moment that captures attention?
Action: Create a simple “number play” for your next conversation that highlights a key insight in a clear, unexpected way.
What did you think of this post?
