If you read negative reviews on Amazon or Flipkart or Glassdoor, all of them are deselling a product, person or place.
I’ve been reading about how to get better at selling.
The more I learn how to get better at it, the more I realize that we are all salespersons’ in our own right, even if we don’t see ourselves as one or we currently suck at it.
Sometimes, we need to sell even ourselves to do, or not to do, certain things.
Over the years, I have noticed something that people do when they want to push forth their agenda. For example, an ad agency has worked on a campaign that they feel is bold and not run of the mill. Or an architect has a bold suggestion to make to a client based on something they have seen on a trip abroad. At the same time, they aren’t sure if whom they are selling it to will buy their bold suggestions. What if they balk? What if their clients think they are mad and sack them, dismissing them as not their type?
Yet, at the same time, they want to present it to their respective clients as that’s what they believe in. Further, they also want to have a buffer in case they are unable to convince them. What do they do? They take along with them a safe piece of work, something more in lines with the existing norms that will assuage their clients just in case things go haywire. But the purpose of this piece of normal or safe work is not to sell it.
Enter deselling.
Deselling is basically telling someone all the reasons why something doesn’t work.
‘Don’t work with that person. They will play games behind your back.’
‘Don’t work there. You will not fit in that culture.’
‘Don’t go to that restaurant. It’s overpriced.’
If you read negative reviews on Amazon or Flipkart or Glassdoor, all of them are deselling a product, person or place.
Coming back to the example, here’s how it works.
A bold, as well as a safe piece of work, are tabled.
If the client squirms in their seat on seeing the risque work, they are assured that they also have a safe option, something that won’t make their blood pressure soar through the roof. Creating something for the sake of trashing it serves as a buffer but is not a very good strategy, especially if the intent is to push something better. This is how you end up with a lot of mediocre work.
On the other hand, deselling done effectively can save us a lot of time, effort and grief.
If you have tried it, you will realize how tough it is to dissuade someone from not doing something, even if it is not good for them. The same also works for being dissuaded.
How is selling different from deselling?
When seen in totality, deselling is exactly like selling — just that you’re passionately convincing or stopping someone from not doing something or not going down a certain path.
We often don’t make the best choices because we weren’t desold on it enough.
Just to be sure, deselling is not name-calling, trolling and being spiteful. It’s not about dissing the competition. It’s about telling someone, using rationale and logic and concern, why they shouldn’t go down a certain path or why they should get off the path that they are on.
And just like selling, even deselling requires the other person to trust that you’re persuading them against doing something for the right reason.
P.S — Covering myself in glory by attaching a signup form. This is also an effort to understand inbound marketing better, something I am working on. So sign up! If we meet, I’ll buy you a cup of filter coffee, promise!
