Victor Antonio Start Selling 2009

S.T.A.R.T.
Selling
An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

Victor Antonio
S.T.A.R.T. Selling
By
Victor Antonio
1st Edition
Sales Influence Publishing
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
Sales Influence Edition

Copyright 2009 by Victor Antonio
Published by Sales Influence Publishing
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be

produced in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic,
including photocopy and recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without the permission in writing
from the author or publisher; exceptions are made for brief
excerpts used in published reviews.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative

information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold
with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in
rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If
legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of
a competent professional should be sought.
This Sales Influence Publication Edition is published by

Victor Antonio, Chief Sales Officer
11770 Haynes Bridge Road
Suite 205-501
Alpharetta, Georgia 30004
www.SalesInfluence.com
Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: July 2009
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Antonio, Victor
S.T.A.R.T. Selling: An Investigative Approach to
Bridging the Sales Gaps!
ISBN Pending (U.S.A.)

1. Business 2. Sales

Victor Antonio
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
Victor Antonio, Founder of Sales Influence
From food stamps and

welfare to being the CEO of a
high-tech company, Victor
Antonio is proof that the
American dream of success is
alive and well. A poor
upbringing in one of the
roughest areas of Chicago
didn't stop Victor from
earning a BS in Electrical
Engineering, then an MBA,
and building a 20-year career
as a top sales executive and manager.
Prior to being CEO, Victor was President of Global
Sales and Marketing for a $420M company and Vice
President of International Sales for a Fortune 500 $3B
corporation. He was selected from over 500 sales
managers to join the Presidents Advisory Council in 1999
and 2000 for excellence in sales and management.
He has conducted business in Europe, Asia, Australia,
Latin America, the Caribbean, South Africa, and the
Middle East.
Today, he trains salespeople to achieve quicker selling
results with his program Sales Influence. Victor is a
dynamic trainer who specializes in taking apart complex
subject matter and breaking it down to simple, applicable,
everyday strategies for sales success. His workshops are

Victor Antonio
loaded with sales strategies backed by research in the field

of consumer behavior.
What makes this program different from others? Sales
Influence isnt about how to sell, but about how people
buy and the thought processes that drive their decision-
making behavior. When you understand how people buy,
its easier to sell to them. Thats a new approach to selling!
For more information go to: www.SalesInfluence.com .
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling

Victor Antonio
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Bridging the Sales Gaps
Chapter 2 - The Awareness Gap
Chapter 3 - The Urgency Gap
Chapter 4 - The Solution Credibility Gap
Chapter 5 - The S.T.A.R.T. System
Chapter 6 - Situation Questions
Chapter 7 - Trouble Questions
Chapter 8 - Amplify Questions
Chapter 9 - Reward Questions
Chapter 10 - Consistency Theory
Chapter 11 - Tie-Down Statements
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling

Victor Antonio
Introduction
Its quite elementary, my dear Dr. Watson.
Before I get into the investigative side

of selling, let me begin by confessing
upfront that I am a fan of the old
Sherlock Holmes movies that featured
that wonderfully stoic actor Basil
Rathbone. Theres nothing better on a
rainy day than sitting back and watching an old, grainy
black and white Sherlock Holmes movie.
For movie aficionados, you may have noticed that
almost every movie follows the same formula with slight
modifications to the overall script it seems. The characters
may change, but their roles are still the same. A crime is
committed. Scotland Yard calls on Sherlock Holmes to
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
come in and find out who did it. With a keen eye for detail
and an incessant commitment to asking poignant and
incisive questions, Holmes is able to begin putting the
mystery of who done it together.
Holmes strategy rests on asking key questions, but
more importantly it also rests on the consistency of
testimony offered up by the suspects (i.e., does it make
sense and does it fit with what the evidence is telling him).
The key to Holmes success again lies in his ability to
ask crucial questions each aimed at getting at the truth of
what happened. If you watch enough episodes of Sherlock
Holmes you begin to notice a pattern in his questioning
technique. The first few questions are aimed at formulating
a general idea of what happened and who the primary
suspects are. He then questions the suspects to get their
alibi (e.g., where were you the night of killing?) Every
response to his questions is monitored for tone of voice or
facial gestures; anything that might give Holmes some
insight into whether or not theyre telling the truth.
He then begins to put together a mental picture of what
may have happened. He revisits the physical evidence to
help him confirm what the suspects are claiming. And after

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all the evidence is analyzed and all the usual suspects have
been vetted, Holmes points to the murderer which is
usually someone no one expected. The suspect feigns
surprise and accuses Holmes of making a mistake. It is at
that moment that Holmes will walk through the scene of the
crime in elegant detail tying up all the loose ends. The
suspect is forced to come clean and usually breaks down
and confesses in the face of overwhelming evidence.
What does all this have to do with selling? Everything!

Every sale is a crime to be solved. What is the crime?
The fact that prospects arent buying from you is a crime in
of itself! Why arent they buying from you? The only way
to find out is to go and interview the main characters in
this debauchery and to bring those prospects to sales justice
sorry, a bit of melodrama to illustrate my key point.
This book is about developing a questioning strategy
that you can use over and over again (i.e., repeatable) and
more importantly effective in getting your clients to
confess that theyve committed a heinous crime by not
buying from you in the first place. If you learn how to do it
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
right, at the end of your sales pitch youll have your clients
screaming, Alright! You got me! I confess. Im ready to
buy! Im sorry!
Alright, maybe thats taking it a bit too far. But
seriously, what if we could develop a sales questioning
strategy that you could use repeatedly to get clients to view
your product as the obvious choice; would that be of
benefit to you? I think so, which is why I wrote this book.
The sole purpose of this book is to outline a questioning
strategy or system that youll be able to use over and over
again without thinking twice about it. What makes
Sherlock Holmes good at what he does is that he
understands that the answer to solving any crime lies in the
ability to asking the right questions. More importantly, at
the heart of this book, is that he uses a sequence of
questions, a system if you will that he knows will get to the
truth quickly.
In selling, you as salesperson need to develop a system
that is comprised of a sequence of key questions that will
help you do several things:
a) Qualify the prospect as soon as possible
b) Identify the prospects needs

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c) Make the prospect cognizant of those needs

d) Create a sense of urgency to act and
e) Identify a credible solution that fits the prospect
Once youve done this, you will be in a position to then

offer the prospect a solution that fits those needs.
Underlying this system is the fundamental belief that a
prospect will not act (i.e., move to purchase your product)
until a need has been clearly identified and enough urgency
has been created to spur the prospect to take action.
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Chapter 1
Bridging the Sales Gaps
Heres an age old question in selling, Why do people

buy? Ask a hundred different salespeople why people buy
and theyll give you a hundred reasons why buyers are
motivated to take action. Reaching a consensus on a
United Nations resolution would be a much easier task than
trying to get a group of salespeople to agree on why people
buy.
That said I will now give you a conceptual framework
of the decision-making process that people generally go
through in order to make a buying decision. In any
decision process, the buyer will go through what Ive
identified to be three major phases or three major sales

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gaps, which Ive labelled as follows: Awareness Gap,

Urgency Gap and Solution Credibility Gap.
When it comes to learning, Im a very visual person.
The word phase doesnt conjure up in my mind a clear
and concise picture of what that represents. But when I use
the word gap, my minds eye immediately seizes upon a
picture of me standing on one side of a valley seeking a
way to get to the other side.
A gap is simply the space between two objects or two
end points. In selling, when we cant close a deal its
usually because of a gap between the salesperson trying to
get the order and the prospect being ready to buy. Selling
is about bridging the gap so we can move the buyer
mentally from where theyre at to where we need them to
be in order to make the sale.
As Ive mentioned, there are three major gaps we have
to bridge in order to make any sale happen.
a) Awareness Gap
b) Urgency Gap
c) Solution Credibility Gap
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
Often, the problem in selling is that: a) salespeople dont

know that the gaps exists or b) they dont know how to
walk the buyer across the gaps to get to the other side, in
order to close the deal.
Take a look at the illustration below. Imagine that over
on the left side is your buyer who you need to move over to
the right-side in order to close the deal. How do you do it?
How often has this happened to you? You set up an

appointment to meet with a prospect and you ask all the
right questions, do a marvelous job in presenting the
features, benefits and the value your product can bring to
their business. You then try to get some feedback from the
prospect on what he thinks about your product. The
prospect casually mentions how he does see the value in

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what youre offering but beyond that he doesnt seem to be

that excited.
At that moment youre a bit confused, or at a minimum,
put off by his reaction. You were expecting a more
enthusiastic response and you can sense the meeting losing
some momentum. You iterate to the prospect the problems
that your solution solves but the prospect still doesnt seem
to get it.
Soon afterward, the prospect thanks you for your time
and tells you how much he appreciates you coming in and
taking the time to present your product solution. He
promises to give your product and proposal some thought
and if need be, hell give you a call if hes at all interested.
You walk out of the office building back to your car
thinking, Well, maybe hell call. As youre driving
home, you begin to question whether or not he will call
back and something in the back your mind is nagging at
you asking, Why didnt he seem too excited about what I
had to say? Doubt starts to creep in by the time you pull
into the parking garage of your office building. You wait a
week and still no response from the prospect.
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
You call to get an update, but you either get voicemail

or his secretary telling you that hes much too busy, and
that she would be more than happy to take a message.
After several phone calls and messages, you are now
convinced more than ever that your initial hunch was right,
the prospect didnt understand the value of what you were
offering.
You finally admit to yourself that the deal isnt going to
happen and you move on to the next prospect. Sound
familiar?
Was it the prospects fault for not understanding the
value, or was it really the salespersons fault for not being
able to tie the value of the product to the buyers current
needs? Its easy to make a case for the latter.
In my sales seminars I often get the question, Yes, but
what if the customer doesnt know what he needs? Ah ha!
Thats exactly my point. How can you sell to a prospect
that isnt aware that he has a need? How is that possible to
sell to someone without making them consciously aware of
a problem theyre having? It isnt!

Victor Antonio
Chapter 2
The Awareness Gap
The first step in any sales situation is to help the prospect

bridge the gap (i.e., cross over) between being unaware of
any problems with his business to the prospect becoming
fully aware of these problems and his needs. Simply stated
we need to help the prospect become aware of the problems
that exist within his business and help him make the
connection to the product as his solution. Only by first
making him aware of his problem will you the salesperson
be in a position to begin selling.
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
An example might prove useful. Lets say that youre

trying to sell a high-end industrial printer that costs
somewhere in the neighbor hood of $50,000. Your printer
is highly efficient and uses less ink than your competitors
which means the cost of buying replacement cartridges is
significantly lower.
You have your first meeting with the Chief Financial
Officer in charge of all the companys finances. The goal
of every CFO should be to try to cut costs wherever
possible.
Before you can get the CFO to listen to how great your
new printer is, you first have to create awareness. You do
this by simply asking key questions about what type of
printers theyre currently using. The CFO may or may not
know, but will certainly be able to provide you with that
information. Once you know what printers theyre using,

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youll describe and show how much more efficient and cost
effective it is to use your printer.
Caution! Just because youve made the prospect
aware of a problem doesnt necessarily mean you can
jump into your product pitch. Up to this point, youve only
made the CFO discontented with what theyre currently
using. Dont confuse discontent with a decision to move
forward or wanting to make a change. That could be a big
mistake!
Weve all been in situations where we dont like the
product were using, but were also not in the mood to go
out of our way to find an alternative. Were aware of our
unhappiness, but that isnt enough to motivate us to
search for alternatives, let alone implement a change.
Rationalization The Enemy of Change

Human nature is a funny thing. You can point out to
people that something is wrong but if they view the change
as too cumbersome or worse an annoyance, they will
invent reasons why they should leave things as they are.
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The CFO in this example may tell the salesperson that

they have a long-standing relationship with their current
supplier and theyd hate to change that. He may also praise
the current suppliers willingness to help when one of the
printers goes down and how great their technical support
has been over the years. He may point to the fact that it
isnt only about saving money, its about loyalty and
working with people who he knows he can count on. You
get the idea.
When people dont want to change, they look for
reasons why not to change. These are called
rationalizations or as I like to point out, the ability to ration
lies to themselves.
Whether you as a salesperson agree with CFOs line of
thinking or not is irrelevant. What matters here is that he
sincerely believes in what he is saying and if you try to
challenge his belief system head on, youre only setting
yourself up for a contentious relationship with him in the
end, which you will lose. So what do you do?

Victor Antonio
Chapter 3
The Urgency Gap
The next step is to bridge the Urgency Gap by creating a

sense of urgency (i.e., a big enough reason for the prospect
to reconsider the status quo). Although the prospect is
aware of the problem, he doesnt have a big enough
reason(s) for making that change. So your job as a
salesperson is to create that sense of urgency, keeping in
mind that human beings will always prefer the path of least
resistance. And that path has a name; its called Do
Nothing.
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Lets go back to the example of the CFO who is aware of

the problem, but feels that there are enough reasons (i.e.,
rationalizations) for NOT taking any action. Your job as a
salesperson is to create enough human capital and financial
pain to make the CFO stand up and take notice and
reconsider the companys complacency. How do you do
that? By digging for pain!
What if we made the CFO aware of how much the
replacement cartridges were costing him over a given
period of time, lets say a year, do you think he would
listen? If the numbers were high enough, I think youd get
his attention.
Lets talk operations and down time. What if you could
also show that having to replace the cartridges is costing
him more than he realizes. For example, lets say that it

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takes 1 hour to swap out one cartridge, and then multiply

that by the number of cartridges that have to be swapped
out in a week or month. He would quickly start getting the
idea that just replacing them is costing him money.
But why stop there. What if you could also add to the
pain by describing the effects its having on their ability to
meet turnaround deadlines due to delays caused by the
swapping of cartridges.
Or how about what happens when an existing cartridge
runs low on ink ruining a perfectly good printing run
because its begun to produce streaks on the paper being
printed. Weve all had that happen with our home printers.
Once the ink gets down to a certain level it starts streaking
and you have to start over and toss the messed up paper
out.
On a large scale, the cost of tossing expensive printing
paper could begin to impact the companys profit margin
on that project. You get the idea.
If youve presenting this painful scenario in the
appropriate way, the CFO prospect should be experiencing
a great deal of discomfort given the amount of man hours
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and money the company is losing based on what youve

mentioned.
Im often asked, Doesnt the prospect already know
how much its costing him in time and money? Theyre
smart people shouldnt they be able to figure things out on
their own? The answer is yes and no.
Sometimes employees are too close to the problem that
they cant see the forest from the trees. Psychologist call
this selective perception where you only see what you
want to see or what your mind is prepared to see.
A good salesperson is one who knows how to dig for
this type of information or pain in order to get the prospect
to pay attention. This is extremely important given todays
fast paced environment and the increasing number of
competitors in the marketplace. You as a salesperson have
only so much time before the prospect stops listening to
what you have to offer.
Dont be afraid to go at the prospect with tough hard
hitting questions that are aimed at getting at the heart of a
problem the prospect may have or simply not be aware of
how much the problem is costing him.

Victor Antonio
Asking tough questions is not a license to be rude. Find

ways of softening the questions, but maintain that focus of
digging deep for potential problems that may be affecting
the prospects business.
When the prospect begins to contemplate how much
inefficiencies are costing him and the company, you can bet
youve now bridged the sense of urgency gap. At this point
the prospect should be open to listening to a solution to
mitigate or alleviate the problem.
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Chapter 4
The Solution Credibility

Gap
The last and final gap to bridge over is the Solution

Credibility Gap. Imagine for one moment in the printer
sale scenario where youve managed to make the prospect
not only aware of the need for your product but youve also
created a sense of urgency and the prospect says, Ok. I
get it. I have a problem and its costing me money. How
do I know your solution can help me?
The first thing you should do is mentally celebrate what
youve just accomplished. Youve managed to move a
prospect from a sense of indifference and apathy to one
where he is not only listening, but he is also hoping that
you can solve his problems. At this point, you are now

Victor Antonio
ready to deliver the best damn sales pitch youve ever

delivered.
The key to success in the solution credibility phase is
the ability to tie the problems youve identified to the
benefits your product offers. In the case of the printer
salesperson, the goal now is to tie the benefits of his high
end printer cartridge to the needs hes already highlighted.
There are several ways you can demonstrate your
products capabilities. You can do a show and tell, but
what Ive found is that clients also like to see hard numbers
and the more you can substantiate your claims the more
likely they are to buy into your product without questioning
you too hard. Heres a typical sales pitch a printer
salesperson might use to demonstrate the cartridges
capabilities.
Prospect: Alright, Im listening. Show me how your

cartridges can help save me time and money.
You: Mr. Prospect, I mentioned early on that our

printer cartridges use Everlasting Ink. In several
studies we conducted, our cartridges printed an
average of 75% more than the brand you are currently
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using. Given your workload today, that translates into

a direct cost savings of $2,000 per month.
Prospect: How do I know what youre telling me is

right?
You: Well, theres two ways to answer that question.

One is that we can give you the names of people who
run companies like yours and have used our products
and let them confirm for you what Im saying.
Second, we would be more than happy to go ahead
and install a few of these on a trial basis and you can
then measure for yourself how effective they are. Both
options are available but before you decide, Id like to
share with you some other facts about our cartridges
with your permission of course.
Prospect: Go ahead.
You: How much does it cost you in terms of labor

when a printer is down for cartridge replacement?
Prospect: I havent given that much thought. But if its

down an hour, Id estimate its costing me about $500
to $1,000 when I have to stop the whole production
line.
You: Weve calculated the numbers and figured out

that by using our cartridges you only have to replace
them half as many times compared to what youre
doing today. That said we estimated that on top of the
$2,000 youll also save an estimated 5 hours per day in

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uptime. Using your numbers that could be an

additional savings of $2,500 (5 x $500) to $5,000 (5 x
$1,000) per day. If you multiply that by 22 working
days you stand to save an additional $55,000 to
$110,000 per month in labor and efficiency costs.
Prospect: I have to admit, thats a significant savings.

But whats the catch?
You: There is no catch with the exception that our

cartridges are 20% more expensive than what youre
currently using now (hand him a pricing proposal).
But if you run the numbers youll see for yourself
that youre still going to come out way ahead when it
comes to reducing your overall printing cost and labor.
Prospect: I see.
You: That said, I mentioned earlier that you can speak

to any our existing clients. To save you some time,
heres a copy of a letter a company similar to yours
sent us confirming the cost savings. His contact
information is available and Ive asked him to make
himself available during this hour so we can call him
right now if youd like.
Prospect: No, I believe you.
You: I appreciate your confidence in me. When would

be a good time for us to ship you the first batch of
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printer cartridges so that you can try them out for

yourself and begin lowering your costs?
Im sure you get the idea. And in case your thinking this
example is an ideal case, youre right! It would be great if
all sales presentations and pricing discussions went this
smoothly. But what is real in this scenario is the
salespersons ability to get to the point where the prospect
really wants to hear your solution.
I cant guarantee that youll be able to get all of your
prospects this excited, but I will guarantee you that if you
can bridge the Awareness and Urgency Gaps successfully,
you should see an increase in your sales close rate.
It goes without saying that this is contingent upon your
delivery and effective sales pitch of course. And if all goes
well, you should celebrate!

Victor Antonio
You now understand how buyers buy and how critical it is

to bridge each sales gap before you begin selling. Its now
time to develop a questioning system that will allow you to
bridge each of these sales gaps effortlessly.
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Chapter 5
The S.T.A.R.T. System
Ive had a chance to study a plethora of sales training books

and programs out on the market. Each book, much like this
one, purports a strategy or approach to selling; a system if
you will.
I lined up all these programs next to each other and
found that there is a basic pattern, a common sales process
that runs through each of them that looks something like
this:
Prospecting: Finding new potential buyers.

Qualify: Once found you need to ask key questions
to see if there is a fit for what youre selling and
what theyre buying.
Investigate: Once qualified, you can then begin to
ask key questions to uncover a need for your
product or service.

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Present: Present or demonstrate your product or

service capabilities.
Proposal: Layout how much it will cost for the
prospect to buy from you.
Close: Solidify the deal with a contract to buy.
Each step above is an important part of the overall sales

process. Im often asked, Which of these phase would
you consider the most important? This is a tough
question to answer since each phase plays a vital role in
convincing the client to buy from you.
If you dont find new clients (Prospecting) then its a
sure bet youll fail. You can have the best pitch
(Presentation) in the world, but if you dont ask (Close) for
the order youll fall short. If you dont take the time to
build rapport and trust (Preliminaries) from the onset, the
client may like the product, but not trust you enough to cut
the order. If you dont take the time to find out what the
client needs (Investigate), you may be proposing the wrong
solution altogether. Suffice to say, all play an important
role in selling.
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The question I think theyre really asking me is, Of the

six steps, which is the most critical when it comes to sales
success? If I had to choose one, I would say that
prospecting is without a doubt the single point of failure.
(i.e., no clients, no sales),
Second only to prospecting, I believe the next critical
step in selling is the investigative phase. Unfortunately,
this is the stage that is often overlooked which is the
purpose of this book. It is during this stage, the
investigative stage, where you have the opportunity to
uncover the prospects need (i.e., create awareness) and
help the prospect understand how important it is to act (i.e.,
sense of urgency) so that youll be able to position your
product accordingly (i.e., demonstrate solution credibility).
Getting back to my Sherlock Holmes analogy, when you

want to get to the heart of why someone will or wont buy,
you have to ask probing questions that will get you the
answers youre looking for in order to be able to sell more
effectively.
Most salespeople just go into a sales call and think that
by simply asking a lot of questions theyre doing their job.

Victor Antonio
The reality is that simply asking questions without an aim

or purposeful intent is a waste of your time as well as the
prospects time.
What you want to do is go in with a questioning
strategy that will allow you to extract the pertinent
information from the prospect, and at the same time, you
want to be able to create sales momentum towards getting
the prospect to buy. Learning how to ask the right
questions, in the proper sequence, will allow you to gently
move the prospect along a desired line of thinking.
To illustrate my point here, Id like you to participate in
the following exercise. I need you to answer the following
eight questions and when youre done, I will attempt to
read your mind.
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Step 1: Pick a number 1-10:
Step 2: Multiply that number by 9 and write down the new

number: _____
Step 3: Now add both individual digits together (ex: 13 = 4,

23 = 5, 57=12) to get a new number:
Step 4: Now subtract the number 5 from the above number:
Step 5: Now assign the number the corresponding letter of

the alphabet (example: A=1, B=2,):
Step 6: Think of a European country that starts with that

letter and write it here:
Step 7: Take the 2nd letter of the European country you

wrote down and think of a large mammal that begins with
that letter and write it here:
Step 8: Last question. Write down the color of that

mammal?

Victor Antonio
Page left blank intentionally to prevent you

from peeking at the answer on the next page.
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Answer: Did you know that there are no

Gray Elephants in Denmark!

Victor Antonio
If youre like 90% of the people who do this exercise, you

shouldve picked Denmark as your country, an Elephant
as your large mammal and as we know, most elephant are
indeed Gray.
How was I able to guess the answer you wrote down?
Simple. I used a line of question that led you directly to the
conclusion I wanted you to reach. Heres how it works:
Step 1: Pick a number 1-10: (Any number will do in this

case)
Step 2: Multiply that number by 9 and write down the new

number (Simple enough)
Step 3: Now add both individual digits together (ex: 13 = 4,

23 = 5, 57=12) to get a new number. (Heres the heart of
the trick. If you multiply ANY number by the number 9
you will get a two digit number that when added together
will ALWAYS equal nine. For example, 9 x 5 = 45 and
when you add the digits together 4+5 youll get 9. So no
matter what number you start out with between 1-10 youll
always end up with a 9 at this point.
Step 4: Now subtract the number 5 from the above number.

(Since it will always be 9, your result will always equal the
number 4)
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Step 5: Now assign the number the corresponding letter of

the alphabet (The 4th in the alphabet is the letter D)
Step 6: Think of a European country that starts with that

letter and write it here. (I limited your thinking to a
country in Europe so you wouldnt choose a country like
the Dominican Republic. The only European country that
typically comes to mind is Denmark)
Step 7: Take the 2nd letter of the European country you

wrote down and think of a large mammal that begins with
that letter and write it here. (By having you take the 2nd
letter from Denmark, E, and limiting your choice to a large
mammal (i.e., an elephant), I again controlled or limited
your choices so you wouldnt choose another animal like
an Eel.
Step 8: Write down the color of that mammal? (Most

Elephants are grey)
The purpose of this exercise was to drive home the point

that you can control, to some extent, the flow of a
conversation and guide the prospects thinking. If you
structure your questions and arrange them in the proper
order in such a way to get the client to think the way you
want them to think.
S.T.A.R.T. selling is a question system that youre
going to learn and use so that when you go in to see a

Victor Antonio
prospect you already know what questions you want to ask,

and in what order, to get the client to be more receptive to
what youre selling.
Let me begin by defining what the acronym S.T.A.R.T.
stands for: Situation, Trouble, Amplify, Reward and Tie-
Down. Each letter stands for the types of questions you
will be asking your prospect. Each stage is designed to
elicit specific information which will help move the sales
forward.
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
S.T.A.R.T. Questions
Questions Objective
Situation Find out what the company is currently using

or doing to solve the type of problem your
product or service solves. You need to find out
what theyre currently doing, what theyre
buying and who they are buying from.
Trouble Gauge their level of satisfaction with their

current supplier and identify areas of
dissatisfaction or trouble spots.
Amplify Take those identified trouble points and

Amplify the problem so the client can get a real
appreciation of how it is impacting their
business.
Reward This is the what if question stage. Have the

client tell you how resolving those problems
will benefit his company or him personally.
Tie- Obtain a verbal commitment or some form of

Down acknowledgement from the prospect that
resolving a specific problem or having a
particular capability would help.

Victor Antonio
Chapter 6
Situation Questions
Once youre in to see the prospect and after all pleasantries

have been exchanged (e.g., nice weather were having,
great office, great location, how long have you been with
the company, love your companys product portfolio, etc.),
its now time to get down to business. It all begins with
easing into asking Situation Questions that are designed to
get the prospect to give you some background information,
and the current state of affairs as it relates to what you and
your company is offering in terms of products and services.
Here are some types of Situation Questions that you may
want to consider asking:
Supplier questions:
Who do you currently use as your supplier?
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
How long have you been using your current

supplier?
If there was one thing you could improve from a
supplier standpoint, what would it be?
Motivation questions:
What factors today contribute to your success with
regard to (your product or service)?
Why are you looking at other alternatives? Or, are
you looking for alternatives? If so why?
Buying process questions:

When was the last purchase you made?
How often do you purchase?
What led to deciding on that particular vendor?
How does your decision making process work?
Market questions:
Who are your current competitors?
How do you see our product helping you compete?
What are some marketing advantages youre
seeking?
When asking Situation Questions, the objective is to really

understand the current situation with the company and
quality of the current supplier relationship. Each question
should be aimed at answering two essential questions:
1) Are they a match for my product or service?

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2) Are they in the right frame of mind to consider my

product as an alternative to their current supplier?
Let me throw in a word of caution. You have to be careful

during this initial stage of questioning. Asking too many
Situation Questions may come across as an interrogation
rather than an exchange of information.
Many decision-makers, whose time youre taking up,
will quickly become annoyed if you ask too many Situation
Questions. Why? Think about it for a moment. The
decision-maker is giving you his time and what are you
giving him in exchange for this courtesy? A barrage of
questions hes probably answered a hundred times to other
salespeople whove come before you.
The faster you can move through the Situational
Question phase and into the Trouble Phase, the better. New
salespeople like to ask a lot of Situational Questions
because theyre safer than asking the tougher question
about problems the prospect might be having with their
current suppliers.
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
You will do well to remember that Situation Questions

only benefit the salesperson, and not the buyer. Use them
sparingly upfront and learn to incorporate them into natural
conversation throughout the sales process.
Every good relationship starts out with a healthy dose
of mutual respect. Respect the prospects time by keeping
in mind that he has agreed to meet with you in exchange for
what he believes will be an exchange of information that
will help him solve a problem or to help him extricate his
company from some troubling issues theyre having.
The decision-maker is not there solely to give you
information, but to receive new information that will
hopefully benefit his company in some way. Keep this
thought front and center; itll help you focus on how to
create a win-win conversation. But to get that
conversations rolling, we need a fresh approach to getting
information from the prospect while at the same time
maintaining an air of openness.
Verbal Gifting: The Ultimate Rapport Builder

Victor Antonio
As Ive already alluded to, one of the biggest challenges we

often face with a new client or prospect, is getting them to
open up so that we understand their situation and then be
able to provide an adequate solution.
Unfortunately, clients and prospects today are
somewhat jaded by the sales process and immediately
throw up a mental defense perimeter when a salesperson
walks into the room.
Think back to the last time you went to a car dealership.
Before you stepped one foot on the lot, you were already
preparing yourself for mental warfare. In fact, by the time
you got to the car dealership you felt this tense anxiety to
turn back. As you walked into the dealership you
repeatedly warned yourself not to give out too much
information, because it might be used against you when it
came down to negotiating a price. Sound familiar?
Our clients today are more reluctant than ever to give
out information. But without this free exchange of
information and ideas, its hard to 1) build rapport and 2)
offer the client our best product or service. So the question
is How do we get them to open up?
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
One of the best ways of building rapport or getting

someone to open up is to apply the rule of reciprocity. In
the field of influence and persuasion, most people are
familiar with the rule of reciprocity which states that if we
are gifted something, we feel the social pull to reciprocate
in kind. Since no one likes to be in debt or indebted to
someone else, we move swiftly to cancel the debt by
repaying the favor in kind with something of equal or
greater value.
When most salespeople go to see a prospect, after
pleasantries have been exchanged, they dive right into
asking questions, theyll listen intently and then
demonstrate understanding by asking another question. As
salespeople, we already know in advance what critical
pieces of information we need to qualify and/or sell the
prospect. So we prepare a list of questions and then engage
in the following sequence to gather the information:
Step 1: Ask a Question

Step 2: Listen Intently
Step 3: Demonstrate Understanding (Back to Step 1)

Victor Antonio
The danger with this question-listen sequence is that often

times it comes across as an interview or worse, an
interrogation. A prospect who feels like their being
interrogated will resist giving you information because it
will appear, by virtue of your countless questions, that you
are there to take his information.
In society, and as citizens in a society, we hate or resist
takers in any form. To illustrate my point, heres an
example of a salespersons first encounter with Bob the
prospect whos looking to buy a car.
Salesperson: Man, it really is hot out here!
Bob the Prospect: Yes it is.
Salesperson: Well Bob you seem like a man who means

business so lets get right to it. Is it alright if I ask you
a few questions?
Bob: Go ahead.
In the above example, no meaningful piece of information

(i.e., a verbal gift) was offered upfront by the salesperson.
The salesperson does demonstrate that he respects the
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
prospects time by wanting to get right to business, but

unfortunately at the cost of not taking the time to establish
an atmosphere of mutual exchange. Instead, Bob the
prospect is bracing himself for an interrogation by a taker.
To avoid this stigma or any misunderstanding, its
critical that from the onset when visiting a prospect you
arent seen as a taker, but rather a sharer of information.
The best way to do this is to insert a gift at the beginning
by volunteering a piece of information first in the
questioning sequence.
Step 1: Volunteer Information (The Gift)

Step 2: Ask a Question
Step 3: Listen Intently
Step 4: Demonstrate Understanding (Back to Step 1)
Begin a conversation by first presenting the prospect with a

verbal gift that will cause him to want to reciprocate. Let
me define this verbal gift as some type of information about
you or your company that has value and meaning to the
prospect. Lets step back in time with Bob the prospect,
except this time, lets try using the verbal gift approach.

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Salesperson: Bob, I remember buying my first car 20

years ago and it was a Cutlass Supreme. Man I loved
that car. What was your first car?
Bob: My first car was my grandmothers old beat-up,

wood panel station wagon; a real chick magnet for an
18 year old. (sarcasm)
Salesperson: So I take it a wood panel station wagon is

not why youre here today.
Bob: Nah, Id like to look at some of your luxury

sedans.
The salesperson, by volunteering a piece of personal

information with meaning (i.e., we all remember our first
car), presented Bob with a verbal gift which he then felt
compelled to reciprocate by sharing his own personal
experience about his first car. This allowed the
conversation to get started without the salesperson feeling
as though he was forcing the other to participate and vice
versa. The prospect saw the conversation as an exchange
of information, not a line of questioning.
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
The rule of the verbal gift is simple; share something of

value and the other person will reciprocate. The next time
you meet someone for the first time, whether in a social or
professional setting, try it out. I think youll be pleasantly
surprised at how often people will open up to you by
simply offering a verbal gift.
Now is this rule 100% guaranteed? No, but Im willing
to bet that your conversations with prospects will see a
dramatic improvement by simply applying this rule.

Victor Antonio
ACTIVITY SHEET
Situation Questions:
Id like you to pretend that youre selling highly efficient,

industry grade ink cartridges. With that in mind, Id like
you to develop 5 Situation Questions that you would ask a
new prospect to assess the current situation at their
company as it relates to your product or service.
Situational questions fall into four categories: Supplier
questions, Motivation questions, Buying process questions
or Market questions.
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
ACTIVITY SHEET
Situation Questions

Victor Antonio
Chapter 7
Trouble Questions
Once youre in to see the client, after all pleasantries have

been exchanged, and enough Situation Questions have
been asked, its now time to gently shift gears and begin to
dig for trouble spots (i.e., dissatisfaction with their current
supplier or their current way of doing things). Theres no
right way or one way of approaching this line of
questioning, but you do have to be sensitive.
The Psychology of Consistency

During this stage in the sales process, you will inevitably
have to deal with the problem of internal consistency. Its
worth taking a moment to pause and reflect on the
psychological state of the client.
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
You are a salesperson who has come in to uncover

some trouble or problems that the client may be having
with a product theyve purchased. Human nature dictates
that people hate to admit when theyre wrong and they will
become more defensive when a decision theyve chosen is
threatened. This is often times referred to as the Psychology
of Consistency. Once a person makes a decision, they will
behave in a manner that supports that decision. Studies
have shown that a persons conviction will grow
significantly once a decision to buy has been made. In
other words, once a person makes a decision, they will
justify and rationalize why they made that decision.
Another aspect of consistency that needs to be taken
into account is the fact that the more public that decision is,
the more the prospect will defend that position. If the
person youre dealing with was involved in the previous
decision to go with another product, they will undoubtedly
be more reluctant to tell you what the trouble spots have
been with the product since the purchase.
At this point you will experience friction in the sense
that the client will resist giving you the answer you need to

Victor Antonio
be more effective, which means you have to be more

persistent in dragging it out of him.
Its very critical that you find out if the person youre
dealing with was involved in the selection of the current
product youre trying to compete against. If the person
was, than you may have to find a way to blunt the
consistency factor. Look for parameters that would allow
the person to save face.
Here are some face-saving strategies you can use to
reduce the clients need for consistency:
Parameter Sales Strategy to reduce consistency:

Time Argue that enough time may have gone by
where a new solution is needed
Technology New technology, which wasnt available

back then, now brings newer solutions
Market Mention how unexpected changes in their

business model calls for new requirements
and retooling
Resources Maybe managements change in attitude

toward the problem has expanded the
budget allowing them to buy what they
need, and not just what they could afford
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
Whatever tactic you want to take, keep in mind that the

prospect on the other side of the table cant be made to look
bad. Do everything in your power to position them to shine
in the eyes of their peers and boss.
Listening Carefully for Trouble

When asking probing questions in order to uncover
dissatisfaction, begin by asking general questions that relate
to your product. Here are a few improvement questions
you could ask:
What areas do you see need improvement?
If there were two or three things you could improve,

what would they be?
What are some capabilities youd like to have

tomorrow that you dont have today?
What would you say is your number one issue with

the product youre currently using?
These probing questions are meant to beat the brush to see

what flies out of the prospects mouth. Listen carefully for
soft trouble spots (i.e., the client shows dissatisfaction but

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minimizes it at the same time). Gather as many trouble

spots as you can during the conversation.
Dont React or Act

Salespeople who are looking for trouble spots, upon
hearing one will immediately react with some visual cue or
change in audible tone. As soon as you react, the client
may notice it and decide to pull back and not speak so
freely. In poker, the fastest way to lose your money is to
telegraph to your opponents the type of hand youre
holding. The way to win and win big in poker is to let the
opponent think they have the upper hand and that theyre in
control. Every time a card is drawn, smart poker players
will lull the opponents into a false sense of security causing
them to commit deeper to the pot. Once hes gotten them
to commit as far as he thinks theyre going, he goes all in
catching the opponent by surprise, leaving them confused
and unsure of themselves.
In selling, its no different. If the client tells you
something critical that you know you can use later on to
help you close the deal, dont show any emotion
whatsoever or you will cause the client to pause or even
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worse, stop feeding you good information. Allow the client

to talk and encourage him to share as much as he can about
the troubles theyre having. Dont interrupt. Just shut up
and listen and once in a while throw in some momentum
phrases:
That sounds interesting, tell me more about that.
You mentioned some discontent with this item, can

you elaborate?
When you first discovered the troubles you were

having, how did you handle it?
Sound like youve had it rough. What did you do?
The obvious purpose of these phrases is to nudge the client

along in talking about trouble theyre having with their
current vendor or product. The more the client talks, the
more information you gain and the more the client starts to
feel comfortable with sharing. Youll build faster rapport
and trust by listening and empathizing with the clients
situation.

Victor Antonio
Preparing for Trouble

The best way to uncover trouble spots is to formulate an
idea of what the trouble is going to be. If you know your
business, then you must have some idea of what your
clients troubles are going to be. The more years you have
in sales, the more you notice that the problems dont really
change that much from one company to another or one
client to another.
Armed with this knowledge before seeing the client, its
best to prepare questions that will point to the trouble spots.
Lets say that youre in the business of selling printers. Its
not hard to figure out what every client must be
experiencing if theyre having printing troubles. Here are
few that come to mind:
1. Cartridges are too expensive

2. Printer uses too much ink
3. Constant paper jams
4. Printer is down twice a week
5. Doesnt do double-sided printing
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
The next step is to take these troubles and convert them

into questions, which you will ask your client. Theres two
way to ask. You can be Direct or Subtle.
Example:
1. Cartridges are too expensive:

(Subtle) Can you talk about some of the costs
associated with the printer youre currently using?
(Direct) Do you have an issue with your cartridges

being too expensive?
4. Printer uses too much ink:

(Subtle) Are you happy with how long the ink lasts
per cartridge?
(Direct) Do you constantly have to change

cartridges because they use too much ink?
The key here is to take each problem that youve uncovered

and convert that problem into a question. These questions
should be developed and rehearsed before you meet with
the client. Keep in mind that the objective is to uncover as
many trouble spots and keep the client talking. The more
he talks, the more you learn how best to sell him.

Victor Antonio
ACTIVITY SHEET
Trouble Questions
Having a particular prospect in mind and based on your

experience, Id like you to develop 5 Trouble Questions that
you would ask a new prospect and then label them as
Direct or Indirect. Remember, indirect questions are
usually more effective, less confrontational and allows the
prospect to depersonalize his response (i.e., he wont get
defensive nor think youre questioning his business
acumen).
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
ACTIVITY SHEET
Trouble Questions

Victor Antonio
Sales Milestone: Crossing the

Awareness Gap
Earlier you learned that the first step before selling or

pitching your product was to first make the prospect keenly
Aware that he indeed has a problem. The way you
accomplish this is by asking Situational Questions and then
converting them in to Trouble Questions that will raise the
prospects awareness Level.
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
Congratulations! You crossed over the first sales gap!

Take a moment to celebrate!

Victor Antonio
Alright, thats enough celebrating.

Lets get back to work!
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Chapter 8
Amplify Questions
When confronted, a client may try to characterize the

troubles they may be encountering as minor irritations that
the company has had to endure. The client may be in
denial or simply hasnt thought through the consequences
of these trouble spots.
This is where you will now focus your attention
turning those trouble spots into tangible expenses for the
company. The goal is to amplify the trouble spots to such
an extent that the client begins to see the impact on a much
broader, company scope.
An Amplification Question typically follows an open
or closed question that seeks to highlight the impact of a
given problem. Amplification Questions are used
essentially for exposing the real impact of a problem and

Victor Antonio
creating a sense of urgency on the clients part to act and

correct it.
CASE STUDY
Youre selling a computer program that will allow a
prospect to access their information 24/7 from anywhere in
the world from any computer. The prospects current
system can only be accessed from a company computer in
the office and only during working hours.
Step 1: Identify one Trouble spot the client has (e.g., No

24/7 access)
Step 2: What question(s) would you ask the prospect to

highlight the trouble spot? (e.g., Trouble Question - Do
you have 24/7 access?)
Step 3: Write down 3 consequences the client faces from

the above trouble spot:
1. Limited productivity
2. Delayed reports
3. Delays in paperwork create shipment delays
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
Step 4: Put the three consequences above in question form

to amplify the problem for the client:
1. How does not having 24/7 access impact

productivity?
2. What kind of problems does it create when you have

to generate reports?
3. Is limited access creating delays in paperwork? If so,

how is it impacting delivery times?
Trouble Consequence Amplification

Question(s)
No 24/7 Limited to time work In terms of
Access on tasks completing tasks on
time, how does not
having 24/7 access
impact your
business?
Pay for more overtime How is the lack of

24/7 access
impacting your
payroll?
Inconvenient Is the inconvenience

of not being able to
access the system

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24/7 affecting other

parts of your
business?
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
ACTIVITY SHEET
Amplify Questions
Identify one trouble spot YOUR prospect has today:
What question(s) would you ask the prospect to identify the

trouble spots?
List 3 potential consequences of the above trouble spot:
1.
2.
3.
Put the above consequences in question form to amplify the

trouble spot:
1.
2.
3.

Victor Antonio
ACTIVITY SHEET
Amplify Questions
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Chapter 9
Reward Questions
Once youve identified the trouble and amplified it to the

point that the buyer now sees the full impact of what he
thought was minor, he is now in a state of mind to listen to
your product proposal.
Most salespeople, seeing that the client now
understands the need for change would seize the moment to
make their product pitch. This isnt a bad approach. But
there is a psychological mood at play that might hurt you
unless you address it right there, its called the Law of
Association.
The buyer now associates you with bad news, which
makes it unpleasant to continue the discussion. If you tell
the client that you have a solution and heres what you need
to do, you are telling him what he should do. The most

Victor Antonio
effective strategy here is to get the client to tell you how

your products would help him alleviate his newfound
concerns.
Let me give you an example to illustrate my point.
Early on in my career I knew an individual, well call him
Joe, who every time he saw me would tell me what I was
doing wrong. He told me what I should do but for some
reason I never wanted to listen to him because he was
always so negative. It got to the point where just looking at
Joe coming down the hallway would put me in a bad mood.
My brain, without my consent, associated bad news with
Joe. From that point on, Joe couldve had the best ideas in
the world, but my state of mind would not permit me to
listen to him.
When you talk to a client and all you do is bring up all
the troubles hes having and then go about asking him
questions that only amplify those troubles, the client
may have the same reaction I had to Joe. He might just
shut down on you and go to someone else to help solve his
problems.
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People dont like to be told theyre wrong, but they like to

be shown how right they are.
So before jumping into the product presentation, lets go

ahead and make the client feel good about his need for
change by rewarding him with compliments on his
insights into the problem.
For any real change to occur in someones behavior or
attitude, the need for change has to come from the
individual.
External forces pressuring someone to do something
will only work for the moment and lose their affect over
time. So in order to get someone to modify their thinking,
we need them to tell us what needs to be done and make
them feel good about it.
A Reward Question is similar to an Amplification
question with one key difference. A Reward Question is
positive and an Amplification Question is negative.
Lets go back to the example where the company
doesnt have 24/7 access to their computers which caused
the following trouble:

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1. Limited productivity
2. Reports not on time
3. Delays in paperwork create shipment delays
We then took these three trouble spots and created

amplification questions to bring the totality to the
prospects:
1. How does not having 24/7 access impact

productivity?
2. What kind of problems does it create when you have

to generate reports?
3. Is limited access creating delays in paperwork? If so,

how is it impacting delivery times?
Notice that these three questions are negative in tone

which is useful if you want to generate pain and a sense of
urgency.
Reward questions on the other hand are positive in tone
and allows the client to elaborate (i.e., dream a bit if you
will) on what it would mean to have these troubles
resolved. For instance:
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
Seller: (Amplify) How does not having 24/7 access

impact productivity?
Buyer: Right now we have reports begin generated late

which in turn cause confusion and delays in delivery.
Seller: (Reward) Would having access eliminate those

confusions and delays?
Buyer: Absolutely.
Seller: What else might it improve?
Buyer: Well, it would help us track our inventory better.

Sometimes the reports are so delayed that they dont
reflect our true inventory.
Seller: (Reward) And how would having accurate

reports help you save money?
Buyer: Sometimes we order products we dont need

because the inventory reports are old, which means
were spending money unnecessarily which reduces our
positive cashflow.
The goal of Reward Questions is to get the buyer past the

pain of not having into a state-of-mind that sets up a
what if scenario and allows him to think about the
positive aspect of resolving other problems that are a
consequence of the immediate problem.

Victor Antonio
ACTIVITY SHEET
Reward Questions
Amplification How does it impact you? Negative

Questions
Reward Question How does it help you? Positive
List some Reward Questions you might use:
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
ACTIVITY SHEET
Reward Questions

Victor Antonio
Sales Milestone:
Crossing the Urgency Gap
The aim of asking an Amplification Question is to make the

buyer keenly aware of the costs associated with not having
the right product or service in place. The Reward Questions
then allow the buyer to think about an alternate reality if
he were to go ahead and implement certain changes by
buying your product or utilizing your service.
Therefore, the Urgency Gap is about helping the prospect

see the real costs associated with not using your product
and the potential upside of using your product over the long
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run. When youve done this, you have crossed over the
second sales gap! Take another moment to celebrate!

Victor Antonio
Chapter 10
Consistency Theory
Before I get into the last and most persuasive step of the
S.T.A.R.T. system, I think it would be educational and
advantageous to take a mental step and look at how people
in general make decisions and how those decisions then
direct their behavior.
In selling, we want people to be convinced to buy our

products or services. But convincing them is one thing;
getting them to sign on the proverbial dotted line is another.
What every salesperson needs to know is how to convert
that mental yes into getting the client to buy right there and
then.
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When you meet a client for the first time, whether you
like it or not, prejudgments are being made about you.
When youre in front of a large group presenting,
prejudgments are being made about you, your company,
and your product. Whether these prejudgments are right or
wrong, people will make decisions on whether to do
business with you or not. So its safe to say that first
impressions are everything.
But what if these first impressions are wrong? What if

the prospective client draws the wrong conclusion about
you, your company, or your product? Is there anything you
can do as a salesperson to correct those perceptions? Im
sure you would agree that these are important questions in
the world of selling.
To answer these questions, lets review a study done by

two prominent social psychologists by the names of Morton
Deutsch and Harold Gerard. Deutsch and Gerard wanted to
know to what degree it was possible to get people to
change their mind after being shown that their judgment
was erroneous. They also wanted to know under what
conditions people would be more reluctant or willing to

Victor Antonio
change their mind if they were shown that their judgment

was proven to be incorrect. Simply put:
1) Would people change their minds if they were

proven to be wrong?
2) Under what conditions would people be more
willing or reluctant to admit their error in
judgment?
Deutsch and Gerard came up with a simple to test to get to

these answers. They set up an experiment with college
students and broke them up into three groups. The three
groups were then shown a set of lines and asked to estimate
the lengths of the lines and record their answers.
The first group was asked to privately, in their own

minds, estimate the lengths of the lines. The second group
was asked to record their answers on a magic slate. If
you were lucky enough as a child to have had one, youll
remember what these are. Its a writing pad with a carbon
base and a clear plastic sheet laid over it whereby using a
pointed object you can write on it and upon lifting the
plastic sheet, everything is erased. The third group was
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asked to jot down their estimates on a piece of paper, sign

off on it and then hand it in. All three groups had to
commit to their answers but in a way that ranged from
private (think of the answer) to semi-private (write answer
on a magic slate than lift to erase) to public (write down
answers, sign and hand in).
What Deutsch and Gerard wanted to know is which of

the three groups when presented with answers unlike their
own would be willing to change their minds and accept the
new answers. What they found was interesting. The first
group, who privately held the answers in their minds, was
willing to accept their answers as being incorrect. The
second group, whose answers were semi-private, being
written and then erased with the magic slate, was somewhat
reluctant to change their minds. But by far the group most
resistant to changing their minds was the group who had
jotted down their answers, signed the results and submitted
the answers to the experimenter.
The results of this experiment will begin to make sense

if we look at studies done by Leon Festinger, another
prominent social psychologist. Festinger is responsible for

Victor Antonio
the development of the theory of cognitive dissonance (also

known as the consistency theory), which suggests that
inconsistency between ones beliefs and behaviors will
cause an undesirable psychological tension. The only way
to reduce this undesirable psychological tension is for the
person to change his or her beliefs to fit his or her actual
behavior. So if you do something (behavior) and youre
not in full agreement with it, you then have to modify your
thinking (belief) to fit the behavior (i.e., to reduce the
psychological tension) so that you remain in or attain a
state of consistency.
In the Deutsch and Gerards experiment, they showed

that the more public a behavior is, the more likely the
person is unwilling to change his or her mind in order to
appear consistent. Those who were not required to write
but only think of their answers demonstrated more
malleability in changing their minds because there was no
actual public act performed (i.e., writing it and submitting
it) as opposed to the other two groups who were required to
show some form of public commitment.
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Stepping back from the experiment, the consistency

theory is about alignment or congruency between what you
believe and what you do. If you publicly state your
answers and someone shows you answers to the contrary,
your immediate reaction is to defend your answers. Why?
Your belief system (i.e., estimate length of lines) is now
under a direct assault. Therefore, your thinking, your
ability to comprehend or your judgment is in question. In
order to reduce that tension, that anxiety surrounding your
judgment, your immediate response is to reject anything to
the contrary and insist that you are correct.
At the other extreme we have the first group in the

study that didnt have to write down the answers. For them
its easier to attribute their wrong answers to simple errors
in judgment and not think much of changing their mind
since only they themselves know they were wrong.
There are a plethora of studies that prove that

consistency not only exists, but that it drives our behavior.
Did you know that:
After placing a bet, a person is more assured of

having a winning ticket.

Victor Antonio
You have more hung juries when ballots are public

(raise your hand) then if they are private (submit
secret ballot).
You are more willing to give a charitable donation
if in the past you stated aloud youre in favor of
charity organizations in general.
You are more likely to vote if asked by someone if
youre going to vote in the next election.
These four examples have one theme that binds them

together: consistency. In each example, a public
declaration of some sort is made. In each case, the persons
belief system has to be in line with what he has committed
to publicly if the person wants to avoid any psychological
tension.
What does this psychological tension feel like? Well,

have you ever told someone you were going to do
something and then didnt do it? How did you feel? Have
you ever told someone something to not hurt their feelings,
but deep down inside you knew it was untrue? Have you
ever found yourself in a position where you were cornered
into supporting someone publicly when deep down inside
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you knew it was the wrong thing to do? Thats the

psychological tension were discussing here. There are
three lessons to take away here:
Inconsistencies between what you say and what you

do will cause psychological tension.
This will lead people to change their beliefs to fit
their actual behavior.
The more public the decision, the more likely you
are to act consistently with that decision.

Victor Antonio
Chapter 11
Tie-Down Statements
Lets do a quick summary of where we are at. Up to

this point weve learned to understand the prospects current
Situation by asking key question about current
performance. We followed that up by keying in
specifically on Trouble they might be having with their
current supplier. Up to this point, the goal has been to
create awareness on the prospects part.
The next step in the process was the need to really dig
for some pain by highlighting to the prospect what the real
price of not addressing key issues was really costing the
prospect in terms of time or money. Using the Reward
step, you get the prospect to see the upside and benefit to
resolving some of the current issues. If you did your job,
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
the prospect should be feeling a sense of urgency to resolve

his problems.
It is now up to you, the salesperson, to begin to tie-
down the prospects needs by demonstrating how your
product or service will help the prospect.
The last and final step in this S.T.A.R.T. system is the
Tie-Down. A tie-down can best be described as a
summation question posed by a salesperson seeking to get
some form of agreement or commitment from the prospect.
Tie-down are powerful closing techniques that can be
used to get the prospect to commit to buying or to simply
get the prospect to agree with what youve stated. Tie-
downs can be used in small (simple) and large (complex)
sales, but how you use them to close a sale differs.
The Simple versus Complex Sale

In a small sale, where the prospect is less conscious of
price, a tie-down can be used to gain the prospects
commitment right there and then. For example, after
having created the need and urgency, you may try to tie a
prospect down for a commitment by using some commonly
used tie-down phrases:

Victor Antonio
Based on what Ive shown you, you can see why

buying now would be a good idea. Am I right?
Now that you seen the product, lets go ahead and

get the process started. Does that sound good to
you?
Seeing is believing and you have to admit that

buying this watch makes sense, dont you think?
Even you must agree this is a great deal for the

price. Lets go ahead and write up the order.
Hows that sound?
If youre selling an item that isnt high priced and isnt that
much of a commitment to the prospect, these tie-down
techniques are viable and have been shown to work. But
what happens when youre selling a high value item and the
commitment to buy now requires a greater risk on the part
of the prospect; do you think a decision can be made
quickly? I have my doubts.
The sales value equation is simple, the more a prospect
has to pay, the more time he needs (i.e., hand holding)
before theyll commit to buying the item. Higher value
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
means higher risk to the prospect and simple tie-down

techniques like the examples above may prove to be more
harmful than helpful in your selling process.
For example, if you havent built enough value into
your sales presentation and then lunge into a tie-down to
close the sale, the prospect will push back and say, Whoa!
Wait a minute. Im not ready to lay down that type of
money based on what youve told me.
Many sales books today apply a one-size fits all
mentality when it comes to closing a sale. Using high-
pressure closing techniques (i.e., tie-downs) may work
when trying to sell a ten dollar watch, but will fail
miserably when youre trying to sell a high-end item.
A complex sale is one where the item to be purchased is
so expensive that it requires multiple people to make the
final decision. More people involved means the sales
process just got a bit more complex and requires a more
systematic approach to getting the prospect to agree to a
purchase.
In a complex sale, tie-downs occur throughout the sales
process and not just at the end of a sales pitch. Every time
youve made a point or demonstrated your products

Victor Antonio
competence and seek the prospects agreement that is

essentially a tie-down. A tie-down in a complex sale is
more akin to an agreement or acknowledgment.
Lets go back to the previous computer software
program example we asked the client
Seller: (Amplify) How does not having 24/7 access

impact productivity?
Buyer: Right now we have reports begin generated late

which in turn cause confusion and delays in delivery.
Seller: (Reward) Would having access eliminate those

confusions and delay?
Buyer: Absolutely.
Seller: What else might it improve?
Buyer: Well, it would help us track our inventory better.

Sometimes the reports are so delayed that they dont
reflect our true inventory.
Seller: (Reward) And how would having accurate

reports help you save money?
Buyer: Sometimes we order products we dont need

because the inventory reports are old, which means
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S.T.A.R.T. Selling
were spending money unnecessarily which reduces our

positive cashflow.
From the above dialogue, we know that we can show that

the software can be used to access reports 24 hours a day
which in turn will help the prospect by:
a) Producing accurate reports
b) Better inventory tracking
c) Increasing cashflow (not tied into inventory)
A simple tie-down that can be used here after the above

discussion could be:
Seller: (Tie-Down) Based on what youve told me, its a
foregone conclusion that having a program with 24
hour access is critical to keeping your cost down?
Buyer: Absolutely.
Seller: Ill be able to demonstrate that feature easily.

But before I do that, I wanted to ask you about (insert
Trouble #2).
Notice that the seller is not looking to close the sale at this
point with the tie-down question. The seller is seeking to
gain a verbal commitment from the client before moving on
to the next point.

Victor Antonio
Also, note that the salesperson, having created the sense

of awareness and urgency, moves to the next Trouble spot
and repeats the whole Trouble-Amplify-Reward-Tie-Down
sequence again.
If done correctly, by the time youre ready to present
your product or service, youve already gotten a series of
commitment statements from the prospect. As you
demonstrate your capabilities, you tie each feature/benefit
to the commitment statements (or agreements) the prospect
has already made regarding the importance of a particular
feature. It is at this moment that you have crossed over the
final gap, Solution Credibility.
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ACTIVITY SHEET
Tie-Down Questions
Practice writing down some Tie-Down questions you might

use:

Victor Antonio
The difference between an average sales presentation and a

closing sales presentation is the ability to cross all three
sales gaps without cheating (i.e., going straight to
demonstration of a solution).
Laying the groundwork by creating a sense of awareness

and developing a sense of urgency will allow you to deliver
a more focused demonstration of your product or service
which is directly aimed at addressing the prospects needs.
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S.T.A.R.T.

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

Sales Influence Edition

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative

This Sales Influence Publication Edition is published by

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

ISBN Pending (U.S.A.)

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

Victor Antonio, Founder of Sales Influence

From food stamps and

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

loaded with sales strategies backed by research in the field

For more information go to: www.SalesInfluence.com .

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

Chapter 1 - Bridging the Sales Gaps

Chapter 2 - The Awareness Gap

Chapter 3 - The Urgency Gap

Chapter 4 - The Solution Credibility Gap

Chapter 5 - The S.T.A.R.T. System

Chapter 6 - Situation Questions

Chapter 7 - Trouble Questions

Chapter 8 - Amplify Questions

Chapter 9 - Reward Questions

Chapter 10 - Consistency Theory

Chapter 11 - Tie-Down Statements

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

Its quite elementary, my dear Dr. Watson.

Before I get into the investigative side

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

What does all this have to do with selling? Everything!

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

c) Make the prospect cognizant of those needs

Once youve done this, you will be in a position to then

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

Bridging the Sales Gaps

Heres an age old question in selling, Why do people

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

gaps, which Ive labelled as follows: Awareness Gap,

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

Often, the problem in selling is that: a) salespeople dont

How often has this happened to you? You set up an

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

what youre offering but beyond that he doesnt seem to be

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

You call to get an update, but you either get voicemail

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

The Awareness Gap

The first step in any sales situation is to help the prospect

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

An example might prove useful. Lets say that youre

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

Rationalization The Enemy of Change

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

The CFO in this example may tell the salesperson that

An Investigative Approach to Bridging the Sales Gaps!

The Urgency Gap