How I Learned to Sell Intangibles

When I was starting out in my career, I went for a job interview with a financial services firm. Before the interview began, they asked me to take a multiple choice test to determine whether I had the right stuff for the role, I guess. A few minutes after I took the test, a guy came out and told me the interview was cancelled. He explained that I had zero talent for selling intangible services, so it would be a waste of time to even talk to me.

I guess I must not have listened closely when he informed me of my enormous handicap, because I’ve made a very successful career selling nothing but intangible services for several decades now.[1] I’m not saying it was always easy, but I learned a few things along the way that have helped me tremendously, and which I share in this post.

So what?

The first tool I had going for me was a lifelong habit of always asking SO WHAT? any time I heard or read new information. I always wanted to know, “What does this mean to me, and what does it mean for me?” It was a useful way of thinking, but it truly became a powerful tool only when I learned (quite by accident), to direct the question outwards, to preemptively answer the SO WHAT? question in the mind of my customer. So what, you might ask, how did that change my selling style? I quickly figured out how to describe our (intangible) financial services not in terms of what they were or how they worked, but in terms of the tangible ways that the customer’s life would change if they used them: how they could produce more widgets, build that big new warehouse they were dreaming of, have more zeros on the bottom of their income statements.

Make it personal

Next, I learned that since customers can’t see or feel your intangible service, their minds pay attention to the tangible things that they do see. The most tangible thing they see—often the only tangible thing they see—is you. They make predictions about the quality and potential value of what you’re selling unconsciously, based on the tangible signals they see: Do you look professional, do you look them in the eye and smile to show you care about them? Does your body language project confidence; does your voice sound warm? Do you ask penetrating questions; do you answer questions candidly and directly?

SAVE it

After many years of just doing it, I started systematically studying the science and craft of persuasive communication, and a lot of what I learned I distilled down to my own acronym: SAVE. SAVE stands for Stories, Analogies, Visuals and Examples. Any one of these can turn an abstract concept into a “real” experience in the customer’s mind. Make sure you have a few good stories of how you helped a customer with a similar need, or better yet, make the customer the hero of their own story through asking great questions. Use analogies to express unfamiliar ideas in terms of things they know well. Use visuals to bring those stories and analogies to life, and don’t limit yourself to slides: some of the most charismatic speakers are those who can paint word pictures that seem as real to the listener as anything you could show on a screen. Finally, use examples put flesh on the bones and show that you’ve “been there and done that”.

By learning to always ask SO WHAT?, by taking special care with the personal relationship, and by putting SAVE in my toolbox, even someone with no talent like myself can make a good living selling intangible services and ideas. Imagine what you’ll be able to do with them!

[1] I’m not sure what it says about the validity of these types of tests, but that’s a topic for a different day.