I once had a competitor say to a prospect that if they bought from us, we would nickel and dime them to death. Of course this is a lousy way to sell, and I would never advocate disparaging your competition like this. But having been presented with this “negative frame” and hearing it repeatedly in the marketplace, I had to do something.
The last thing you want to do when confronted with a negative frame is to deny or argue against it. Because, even though it may not be true, arguing against it only reinforces the frame.
It’s like trying to answer the question, “When did you stop beating your spouse?” Even if you’ve never even thought of such a thing… even if you’re not married, you can’t answer the question because it sets the frame deeper. Remember frames are based on metaphors in the brain and connected to stories and emotions. They are not subject to reason.
There are only two things you can do with a negative frame. The first is to ignore it. This is hard to do, but it is the prudent choice 95% of the time. The second is to re-frame it into a positive.
In the case above, we had our sales team quietly answer, “Of course we nickel and dime you… unlike others, we look for every cent of savings until you’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars.” We turned the frame positive, then changed the subject.
Recently, someone framed Taco Bell as having only 65% beef in their taco meat. It’s not true of course. What did they do? They started an ad campaign saying their tacos contain 88% beef and the rest is secret ingredients. They then list the secret ingredients. What people eat and consider food is a deep-seated metaphor. You know what I remember? Taco Bell doesn’t use 100% beef in their tacos, they use 88% and some other stuff. I hadn’t heard of this issue until I read their ad. They confused jumping on the issue quickly with how to respond to the frame. Now millions more know about it.
Lee Stocking
Prairie Sky Group
Driving Sales Through Customer Focused Marketing
lee.stocking@gmail.com
651-357-0110 (24×7)