The Four-Step System for Selling Anything
Promotion creates interest in your VFP (Valuable Final Product) but does not put money in your pocket. Once someone is interested in your VFP you need to sell it.
Fortunately, selling a VFP is easier than you might think. You simply follow this four-step procedure called the Dissemination Drill. (“Dissemination” means to distribute or spread out.) What you are doing in this case, is distributing information about your VFP. These four steps were developed by L. Ron Hubbard.
As long as the VFP is beneficial to the person, the Dissemination Drill works every time.
Dissemination Drill
“The Dissemination Drill has four exact steps that must be done with a person you are disseminating to.
“There is no set patter, nor any set words you say to the person. (“Patter” means specific words or phrases you say without thought.)
“There are four steps that must be accomplished with the individual, and they are listed in the order that they should be done.
“1. Contact the individual: This is plain and simple. It just means making a personal contact with someone, whether you approach them or they approach you.
“2. Handle: If the person is wide open and reaching, this step can be omitted as there is nothing to handle. Handle is to handle any attacks, antagonism, challenge or hostility that the individual might express towards you. Definition of “handle”: to control, direct. “Handle” implies directing an acquired skill to the accomplishment of immediate ends. Once the individual has been handled you then —
“3. Salvage: Definition of salvage: “to save from ruin.” Before you can save someone from ruin, you must find out what their personal ruin is. This is basically — What is ruining them? What is messing them up? It must be a condition that is real to the individual as an unwanted condition, or one that can be made real to him.
“4. Bring to understanding: Once the person is aware of the ruin, you bring about an understanding. It’s at the right moment on this step that one hands the person one’s professional card, and directs him to the service that will best handle what he needs handled.
“These are the steps of the Dissemination Drill.” — L. Ron Hubbard
Let’s go through these four steps in detail.
1. Contact
Per the Dissemination Drill, the first step is to contact the individual. You can do this in many ways.
You make most of your contacts with your promotion work.
For example, a dentist asks her patients to recommend her practice. A friend of a patient contacts her office and to schedule an appointment. The dentist has made a contact.
As another example, you design houses and need a better job. You promote your VFP (“a customized home design that delights the homeowner”) by sending a collection of your designs to home builders. One of the home builders sends you an email asking to chat. You have made a contact.
As a final example, you buy TV commercials for your car lot. A guy comes in and looks at one of your cars. You say, “Hi, thanks for coming by.” You have a contact.
Once you contact the prospective customer or client, this step is done.
2. Handle
Before you start to discuss your VFP make sure the person is open to the discussion. If the person has a hidden negative feeling towards you, and you skip this step, you will never make the sale until you handle it.
For example, you are a lawyer and a prospective client hates a lawyer from his past. When you try to talk about the law, the client is very unfriendly, because of this old hatred.
So after you make contact, resolve any antagonism (opposition, dislike, disagreement) they may have toward you, your group or anyone who produces your VFP.
Start by just asking to see if there is anything to handle. Examples:
“Have you ever worked with a lawyer?”
“Have you ever worked with an online tutor before?”
“What have you heard about ___?”
If the person has nothing to handle, this step is done. “Yes, I worked with an online tutor and it went really well.”
If you sense hesitation, fear or an unwillingness to communicate, you must locate and resolve the opposition. “Well, I suppose I might have worked with an online tutor once or twice, but it doesn’t matter.’
If the person has bad experiences or opinions, discuss them and remove this potential barrier to your sale.
How to Handle Attacks, Antagonism, Challenge or Hostility
In many cases you can resolve the problem by getting the person to state his or her concern (i.e., fear, costs, past bad experiences, rumors they’ve heard, etc.) while you listen, and reassure them all will be well. Be prepared to listen for several minutes if the situation is a big problem.
Do not oppose or argue with the person. Do not launch into 15-minute lectures, but listen to the person.
In some cases, you need to deal with “facts” they have found or heard. To handle this, you may need to show how these “facts” are not true. Provide the truth to the person.
In any case, use your people skills to resolve this barrier and ensure the person feels happy to work with you.
When the prospect is willing to openly discuss their needs, go to Step 3.
3. Salvage (Save From Ruin, Loss or Destruction)
Now before you start to sell your VFP, and before you start to explain all the benefits your VFP can give to them, and before you ask for payment, find a problem.
Your VFP solves one or more problems, right? So in this third step, you ask your prospect for problems, problems that your VFP might solve for him or her. Without a problem, your prospect will not be interested in your VFP.
For example, your online stretching class shows people how to reduce their pain. To “salvage” or save the person from their agony, you ask about their pain problems.
“Tell me about any pain you have?”
“What is the most painful, right now?”
“Do you ever have other pains?”
As another example, as an engineer, you solve structure problems for home builders (such as cracked foundations or sagging ceiling beams). You salvage these builders from wasted time, costs for making changes and customer complaints.
“What problems do you have with home structures?”
“What is the worst thing that’s ever happened with a home structure?”
“What are the biggest complaints you get from your customers regarding their home structures?”
Once you have figured out the biggest problem or ruin that your VFP solves, show the prospect how big this problem might be.
As the Dissemination Drill states regarding the ruin, “It must be a condition that is real to the individual as an unwanted condition, or one that can be made real to him.”
The prospect needs to see how their problem is ruining their activities. They need to see how it might get worse. They need to REALLY want to solve the problem.
In many cases, you can make the ruin more realistic by asking questions about the ruins you have found.
“When did this happen?”
“What else happened because of this problem?”
“Does this problem hurt you in other ways?”
For our pain ruin example, ask questions like these:
“When does this pain occur?”
“How long does the pain last?”
“What’s it like when it’s worse?”
“Show me exactly where it hurts.”
“Does it throb? Does it extend to other areas?”
“How often does it occur?”
“How does it affect your life? Job? Family?”
If the prospect is actually facing their problems, they will REALLY want to hear about your solution. You many need to spend a great deal of time on this step to get this result.
If this step is not going well, the Handle Step may not be complete. Go back and do that step again.
However, if your prospect is willing to keep talking about their ruin, keep going. You are preparing him or her to want your VFP, so get the details and importance of their problems.
Once the prospect truly wants to learn about your solution, this step is done. Your prospect is open and ready to discuss your VFP.
4. Bring to Understanding
In this final step, your prospect agrees your VFP is a terrific solution and you get paid.
In some cases, simply offering to sell your VFP is all you need to do.
“Here is the phone that meets your needs. It costs $500.”
“I will prepare all of your business tax forms each year according to the law. You will not have problems with tax agents again.”
“I’m glad you love this house. Are you ready to sign a contract?”
In other cases, you need to make a presentation or proposal. Be sure to include these points:
1. The prospect’s goals.
2. A list of their ruins.
3. How your VFP solves their ruins.
4. How your VFP helps them reach their goals.
5. All the benefits of your VFP.
6. Exactly what they get for the fee.
7. Results you expect.
8. How you operate.
9. The steps to get started.
10. Payment options.
If your VFP is expensive or involves a major commitment, this step can take hours. You may need to give a demonstration or arrange for the prospect talk to some of your clients.
If all steps are correctly done, the prospect buys your VFP!
Important Note: If they are not interested, Step Two (Handle) or Step Three (Ruin/Salvage) may need to be repeated. Go back and do them more thoroughly until the prospect wants your VFP.
Recommendations
Practice selling your VFP with a partner or coach.
Persist with these four steps until you get the sale. If you do not get a sale, go back to your coach for more work on the Dissemination Drill.
Follow the steps in the TipsForSuccess “Income Skills” Workbook.
Copyright © 2002, 2022 ExecTech Services, Inc. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.