What should you practice? Getting the fit right means executing as follows:
• Neutral prospects get very hard strip-lines, such as, "It sounds like you're very happy and I should leave. Before I go, what do you like about who you're doing business with now?"
• Negative prospects get hard strip-lines, but not as hard as neutral prospects. For example, "Based on what you just said about your current vendor, it makes sense to me why you're not interested in switching your business to another company. We get great feedback like that from our customers, too, but your vendor sounds really good at what they do. I don't know if you can do any better than that. There doesn't seem to be much opportunity for us to work together here, is there?"
• Positive prospects get strip-lines that are just a light tug: "Thanks for reaching out to us. I have to say, your friend Bronwyn gets almost all the credit for having a great experience with us. She was very good about explaining the application problem, and that really helped her have a happy outcome with us. Since I don't know your application, I'm not sure if I can help you at this point. Could you be nice enough to tell me about it?"
In all three examples, you'll find three components. Look at each of them, and you'll see how strip-line responses are structured.
1. The first component is a build-up (a compliment or validation of the prospect's point of view). In the above, an example of that was, "It sounds like you're very happy."
2. The second component is a takeaway (a conclusion that goes in the opposite direction to what the prospect expects). In the above, an example was, "... and I should leave."
3. The third component is a question (a continuation of the discussion). In the above, an example was, "Before I go, what do you like about who you're doing business with now?"
