Generating curiosity (part 4 in the series)

**Note: This is the fourth part in a five-part series on getting off to the right start in appointments.

Previous articles in the series:

• Generating instant rapport.
• Generating instant credibility.
• Start appointments right.

Here are five quick and easy tactics to generate curiosity in buyers:

Startling questions. A great way to start: “Jim, do you really want to know the one key people ignore in improving their…?” Complete that sentence with whatever benefit you provide. The words “the one key” perk up peoples’ ears and prepare them for what you say next. This is curiosity.

Stunning statistics. An example: “I have 76 customers, Sharon. Over the last 12 months they’ve saved, on average, $23,000. And those are their numbers reported, not my estimates.” Numbers matter to people. Stating the numbers before you’ve given all the “how” details piques curiosity.

Surprising statements. The statement, “I’m not ready for your business” early on in a sales conversation has always engaged buyers for me…or variations on that phrase, anyway. I obviously tell them why, which is that I simply don’t understand their current situation well enough–including how efficient or inefficient it may be–to know for certain that I can help.

Sure-footed testimonials. You’ve probably heard it said before: when you tell them, it’s bragging, when they hear it from someone else, it’s true. Now, these can’t be just any testimonial. They can’t be the typical, “Bob has done a great job in managing our blah blah blah the last five years…” And they can’t be from Jimmy Joe’s Auto Repair down the street. The testimonial has to have clout and has to have magical, curiosity-building words: “Bob continues to shock me with his ideas for helping me stay well under budget.”

Stand-your-ground confidence. We’re naturally drawn to people who have an unshakeable, don’t-mess-with-me self-assurance. I’m not talking arrogance. Cocky people turn us off. But confident people turn us on and make us want to hear them out and know them better.

As you build curiosity by buyers in you, in your company, and in your products, you build momentum during that critical first appointment.