Eliciting Definitions

There's an English idiom that goes, "The devil is in the details." I'm sure you've all heard it. It implies that the small things in plans or schemes are often the things that take the most time in the long term. Well, in criteria elicitation, we need to dig a little deeper than just the surface act and get a little dirty with the details.

I believe that the elicitation of criteria is at the cornerstone of all sales. When we do this, to use a sports metaphor, it's like getting the ball down the alley each time with no gutter balls. Further defining their criteria gives us a strike each and every time.

This is how definitions work.

I have students and clients from all walks of life, who come to see me for a myriad of reasons. I can have two people who come to a training for the same reason (on the surface). I can ask them both about their criteria and they'll respond that what is being taught in the training is really important to them.

If you ask them, "Is this important to you? Do you really want to learn this?" Both of them will say yes.

When you ask the first person they say they're there because they want to learn new skills. And so your follow up question is to ask what that means and they say that they want to see a list of skills and they want to participate in exercises using the skills so they can learn them.

Whereas the second student, when asked why they believe the training to be important might say that they are doing it to be recognized by their peers, and maybe the teacher or other students.

So these two students are willing to pay for and participate in this training, but the similarities in their criteria re: the training being important to them, are backed up by radically different definitions.

If you've ever taught in front of a group, you'll know what I'm talking about. In any group you're teaching, there will be a section of people that probably know your material and maybe reasonably well, or at least think they do. There will be a group of people that are thinking, wow, I'm really in the presence of a master who I've studied for years.

Then there will be the majority of the people that are interested in really wanting to gain knowledge and see if there is something of value to them in what you're saying.

It's important for you to begin to understand that every time you think you know what someone wants, unless you ask, you don't. You're not on target. You're not on track. And until you both elicit the criteria and elicit the meaning, the definition, you are completely missing the boat.

Knowing criteria is an awesome start. And if you want to bowl strike after strike, the key is to learn how to define their criteria.

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Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of affluent prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.

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Eliciting Definitions

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