5 Non-Salesy Sales Techniques that help with signposting and referral
Why yes, I did generate this image with AI, how could you tell?
When community services are talking about how to increase take-up, there’s a phrase I hear a lot.
“We need to sell it better”
Everyone agrees it’s a key issue, that when professionals refer or signpost people to this service, they’re not selling it well enough.
But then for some reason that’s as far as that conversation ever goes, in my experience.
We end up retreating to our comfort zone of “providing information” or “raising awareness”. We send out another newsletter article highlighting the importance of these services and the latest evidence on outcomes.
Why do we never actually look at teaching professionals some actual sales techniques?
Could it be because the word “sales” conjures up a mental picture a bit like the one on the top of this page??
Maybe we should start there…
What do we mean by selling?
I think, and this is a big sweeping generalisation, so I respect it won’t be true for everyone (but I’ll be honest I’ve yet to meet anyone in our type of work who doesn’t feel this way at least a little bit…) I think those of us who work in the community find the idea of sales a bit icky.
I think community work naturally attracts people who care deeply about helping people. What our patients and service users need is the priority above all else, and I think that’s a fundamental principle that many of us work to. Not just in our careers, often, but in who we are as people.
Sales, on the other hand, is about the business’s needs. And the idea of putting the organisation’s needs before the patient, to use sales techniques to manipulate people into using certain services, breaks that fundamental principle.
So I think it becomes a bit taboo to even suggest it.
I think part of the problem is that good sales techniques are indistinguishable from being helpful, so we don’t always recognise them.
So what usually first springs to mind when we think of “sales” are the kind of terrible, clumsy, old-fashioned, or predatory techniques we immediately recognise as an obvious sales pitch.
Or the ‘salesman’ tropes we see in entertainment:
Talking up the product/service as if it’s the absolute best thing in the world and has zero flaws.
Like Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin, a parody of drug advertising by the Amateur Transplants. “it can cure the common cold and being struck by lightning”Using carefully worded language to make false claims without being accused of making false claims.
Like Eleanor’s pharma salesman boss in The Good Place. “So we sell two products here: NasaPRO, and NasaPRO silver. We aim this at seniors. Now, you can't legally call it medicine, because it doesn't technically "work", and it is technically "chalk"Hiding any flaws, or spinning them as benefits.
Like, well almost any estate agent actually, but Ray in Schitt’s Creek “As you can see, it's light and breezy. And by breezy, I mean there's a slight but steady draft I'm told you only notice in the winter.”Denying or minimising any risks.
Like C.M.O.T Dibbler in the Discworld series. “Anti-dragon cream. Personal guarantee: if you’re incinerated you get your money back, no quibble”
Think about when staff in a shop or a service have helped you find something, or figure out which of the different options was right for you. Those times you had a great experience shopping, because the staff were so friendly and helpful.
They were sales techniques, done well.
I'm not saying they weren't genuinely helpful people who take pride in good service, and enjoy making sure you have a great experience.
I’m just saying that's not actually a different thing from being a good sales person.
And it’s possible to use sales techniques in a benevolent, even ethical way.
Here are my top 5, from when signposting was part of my job.
5 Non-Salesy Sales Techniques for Community Services
Aim to be helpful, not persuasive.
Let go of the pressure to encourage someone to take up any particular service.
Or the pressure to persuade them to follow your professional recommendation, or whatever is set out in The Guidelines.
Because I’m guessing any discomfort around ‘selling’ is because that’s not what you want to do anyway.
That feels manipulative when what you actually want is to help this person make an informed choice that they’re going to be satisfied with.
Even if what they choose isn’t the Best-Practice-Gold-Standard-Evidence-Based option your management team want you to persuade them to choose, because you respect they’re an adult and have the right to make their own choices
That’s handy, because that’s probably what the person you’re helping wants too, and now you can work together towards that shared goal as a team.
2. Recognise everyone has different needs and priorities
Throw away any thoughts that you need to be able to list all the benefits of a service, and explain away any downsides.
There will probably be very few things in that list of benefits that will actually be relevant to the person you’re speaking to, and they might even consider some of them downsides.
Like the time someone tried to sell me a phone by saying how huge the screen is, and all the things you can do on a phone with massive HD screen. But I've got quite small hands, and just had to wait for him to finish his sales pitch before I could ask if this shop had a petite section…
Your instinct not to be that kind of salesperson and just talk to the person about what’s important to them, and help them find an option that matches that, is a good one.
Better salespeople listen to what you’re looking for, and present options for you to consider that seem to match your needs best.
And that means since you’re just helping them choose an option, rather than persuading them to try the one you recommend, there’s a lot less pressure on you to have all the answers.
It's good to have an understanding of the services you're signposting or referring to, but sometimes we can hesitate to mention a service if we don't feel confident on all the ins and outs.
With this approach, it's a bit easier to say, “I think I've heard of a service that might help, shall I find some more info for you?”
3. Use concerns and barriers to identify needs
Let go of any pressure to represent the service in its best light. It’s helpful and validating to acknowledge any concerns or criticisms.
It might be tempting to avoid getting into the pros and cons like this because the reality is, we don't often have time for much of a conversation.
But, neither do most salespeople so skills around containing a conversation and keeping it light become handy here.
One technique that can be helpful is to take the concern, and reframe it as a requirement for choosing an option.
Thinking back to #2 you’re aiming to find out what those needs are and present suitable options. People might not always consciously know what they want, but if they know what they don’t want, you can use that to help them with their choice.
So if someone says a service is too far away, you might ask how far they're comfortable travelling, or whether they'd consider a service they can use from home.
This way you can acknowledge their concerns, without dwelling on the negative, or letting the discussion drift off topic.
4. Give people time to consider their options
Ignore any pressure to “close the sale”. Your success here shouldn’t be measured by how quickly someone makes their decision, but by how comfortable they are with their choice.
After all, isn’t it also quite common that when people do accept a referral to these kinds of services, they don’t always end up engaging?
I think that’s sometimes because they felt persuaded in the moment, but later the questions or worries crept back in and changed their mind.
Or they could have used some more information, or help to figure out practicalities like how to get there or how to ask for the time off work.
So one of the most counter-intuitively powerful sales techniques is to remove pressure, and actively encourage people to take their time.
In commercial sales, that’s where they give you their card, or a brochure to look through, and you feel a bit more likely to trust them because they weren’t pushy.
5. When people do choose, seize the moment and help them take action
This one does rely a little bit on the luxury of time, which I appreciate might rule it out for many professionals.
But if you can, consider how you could help the person take action once they've chosen to use the service.
For example, if they need to call and make an appointment, could you suggest they make the call then and there? Even if they only dial the number while you're there for morale support, and you leave them to have the call in private, you've helped them take that first step.
A common technique in commercial sales is to get you to commit to a small action, like trying a sample, or just talking to the salesperson. It makes you more likely to buy something. There's some interesting psychology around how this works, but it seems like we're more likely to continue on a consistent path once we've taken the first step in that direction. It takes a conscious choice to decide to change course.
So for our purposes it can help to prevent life getting in the way of someone's plan to use a service. The people we're helping often have a lot on their plate, and it's hard to find time to make the call, or it can slip their mind with so many other things to worry about. Sometimes there may even be less helpful people in their life, who would discourage them from going.
Offering to take the first step with them, could help them be a bit more resilient to that.
