Build Them to Change Them: The DEBA Process for Building Sales Relationships
In an economic era of depressions and rebounds, one constant in sales gets consistently overlooked: the relationship between you and your client. Many companies focus instead on rigid sales programs that put the salesperson in a vacuum of staleness and mediocrity.
Rigid sales systems simply are not effective. In a competitive market weakened by economic uncertainty, your pitch — indeed, your entire sale — needs to stand out. That's only possible when you have the freedom for creative and independent thought, which in turn allows you to build a genuine relationship with your client.
How many sales are lost because clients simply don't believe that what you're selling is justified or in line with their experience? Consider this: why would someone buy a new car from you when their current vehicle is perfectly sound? Since their experience with it is positive, replacing it wouldn't feel justified. The key to making that sale is finding a way to shift the customer's perception — by building a relationship that can be influenced, perhaps by introducing a leased arrangement as an alternative.
Influence and Relationships — The DEBA Process
That's where DEBA comes in. DEBA is not only the process that leads up to a purchase — it is the framework within which a skilled salesperson operates to build influence. Understanding the systematic order of DEBA, and the way each step affects those that precede and follow it, allows you to function effectively within the dynamics of client relationships as roles constantly shift and evolve.
D: Data
Create awareness of the product or message through the spread of information. This can be done in any number of ways — advertising, word of mouth, giveaways, promotional materials. If the client doesn't know about the product, no experience or interest can be generated. Data is the foundation of the relationship, built on truth and mutual benefit.
E: Experience
Generate genuine interest in the product based on data combined with the customer's prior experiences. This can be tricky — people often hold fast to irrational beliefs rooted in past experiences. A negative association, however irrational, can create resistance. It is your role to help clients uncover these beliefs for themselves, much the way a psychologist guides a patient toward self-discovery rather than simply telling them what to think.
B: Belief
Create a desire for the product. Clients must not only believe the product works — they must believe they need it and that purchasing it will lessen or eliminate a real or perceived problem. This belief is grounded in experience, which means that in order to influence it, a relationship must already be in place through data transfer and trust.
A: Action to Buy
Influence the prospect to take action by working through the preceding steps — shifting roles and adjusting the prospect's belief system as necessary to alter their experience with the data and move them toward a decision.
This is not a simple formulaic system, and it is certainly not a computer program. The detailed steps of DEBA rely on a profound and genuine relationship. A skilled salesperson doesn't simply push clients toward a predetermined outcome — this is a process of building influence through consensual relationships, each one shaped by its own unique circumstances.
Expect Resistance to Change
Changing a "no" into a "yes" only becomes possible when you truly understand the dynamics of the client-salesperson relationship. The DEBA process establishes that relationship while providing the framework within which you can work with data, experience, and belief to influence action.
Expect resistance — it is at the heart of every change and every decision. Arm yourself with that knowledge in advance so you can prepare for it and learn how to use it to your advantage.
Begin by determining what kind of client you are dealing with. Some people are risk-takers. Others are risk-avoiders. Still others will do whatever they can to maintain the status quo. Ask questions. Discover as much as you can about their needs, values, and desires, then connect that information to your product or proposal. This requires sharp listening skills and genuine curiosity.
When resistance arises — and it will — don't panic. Breathe. Relax. Remember this: people are far more likely to believe something is true if they feel they discovered it on their own. The resistance is rarely against you personally. It is against beliefs formed by old experiences. Your job is to help clients see the answer for themselves rather than pushing your own agenda.
Think back to learning math as a child. Whether you used an abacus, beans, or apples, you were allowed to physically see why 2+2=4 rather than simply being told to accept it. That experience of arriving at the conclusion yourself shaped your belief — and you still hold it today. The same principle applies in sales.
Use Subtle Psychological Methods to Strengthen Relationships
Leading clients to their own conclusions helps them save face — something we rarely think about when trying to influence a belief system, but which matters enormously. This approach is subconsciously appreciated. It shifts your role from salesperson or teacher to peer, and that shift happens so naturally and discreetly that the client never notices it — but it will be substantially reflected in your results.
You can strengthen the relationship further by putting forth the notion that being wrong has nothing to do with human value. When you strengthen the relationship, you strengthen the influence. And when you strengthen the influence, you strengthen the influence.