Do You Understand Your Customer’s Values?

I vividly remember the first time I spoke with him. In the year prior I had bought a couple courses and read dozens of books on NLP and Ericksonian hypnosis. I was in sales, doing okay, and heard how he had taken the fluff out of NLP and was the man to learn how to use these skills for business and sales.

I called to ask questions about his course. I was skeptical. How would have anything different from what I've already learned? I was using what I learned, seeing significant results, and increased revenue. Then he answered the phone.

I began asking him questions about what he taught. He answered one and then asked me the question, "what other courses have you bought?" I replied and he asked me a couple more questions which I answered.

In a few moments he said a couple things about his course. I remember briefly zoning out. I started stumbling for words. Then I said, "Well, I want to get your course... I was just calling to make sure it was what I want... I thought it was, and, um, you answered the questions...um, what do I need to do to get it now? Can I give you my credit card?"

What Did He Do?

When the course arrived I stopped everything and dropped it into my cassette player (yeah, that long ago). When I came to the part on eliciting and using your customer's values I became furious.

As I was listening, it hit me. The questions he was teaching to elicit values were the exact same questions he asked me on the phone. He elicited my values and used them to get me to buy his course. That bastard!

I was mad and then realized how amazingly simple this process was. I wasn't angry about buying the product. I was angry at myself. I knew the technique and it still worked. Because it always works. The bastard wasn't him, it was me.

I knew the material. I knew how to do it. But I never learned how to do it so elegantly as he taught. He didn't do anything wrong. In fact, I was more thrilled about the material than ever. To this day, I still get chills when I use it because it works so well.

What's Important To You?

Values are what drive us all. They are the things important to you; what you want to gain and what you want to avoid losing.

Values are things like: freedom, money, success, control, love, power, self-esteem, family, connection, peace of mind, and more. Each person is different and I probably didn't list what's truly important to you. You can imagine those right now. What's truly important to you?

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