Learn to Apply the ‘So What’ Test to Sales

Most salespeople miss the point. When talking to clients and potential clients, they focus on their products or services, on what they offer, or on themselves. But the customer doesn’t care. She doesn’t care about you, or even about what you’re selling, says sales consultant and trainer Mark Magnacca.

Not until you answer the one question that matters: So what?

In his book So What? How to Communicate What Really Matters to Your Audience (FT Press, 2009), Magnacca, president of Insight Development Group in East Sandwich, Mass., shows how to use a “so what” mindset to become a more effective salesperson.

Travel Market Report spoke with Magnacca to learn more about how his ‘so what’ approach translates to travel sales. A former road warrior who still appreciates the value of a travel agent, Magnacca suggests that travel sellers who focus on price don’t get it. “The idea that fare is the only variable that matters when traveling speaks to a lack of salesmanship.”

What’s your premise?
Magnacca: Simply this: We’ve been taught to think in terms of what’s in it for me. If you change the question you ask yourself, you change the way you think, and if you change the way you think, you can understand what matters to your clients. It’s thinking about what’s important to the client and thinking about that first. So for travel agents, to the extent you communicate the benefit of going to a Beaches or Sandals, versus going to a hotel, you break through the clutter and get their attention – rather than telling them the resort has two pools and a buffet, etc.

What’s the game changer here for sales professionals?
Magnacca: The big idea is that following a process changes everything. Winging it, which is what a lot of us in sales do, makes everything harder. The so what matrix uses three simple questions: For What? So What? Now What? Before you get on the phone, the first question is: For what reason are you having this conversation? The second is: So what? Why does the other person care? And the third is: Now what?

What habits do salespeople need to adopt?
Magnacca: One is the ability to do what I call CSI research, spending a few minutes to learn about the person you’re calling. There’s almost no excuse as a travel agent to not do some research before you pick up the phone. When you’ve thought about what’s important to your target audience, it’s so much easier to be confident because you know they’re engaged.

A travel agent today is in a more consultative role than ever. Part of being a consultant is being able to ask better questions. That’s the thing a website can’t do. The site can have a list [for consumers] to fill in. But to truly understand what you’re trying to accomplish, that’s where a talented human being provides huge value.

You talk about a better way to answer the question, ‘What do you do?’
Magnacca: The way most travel agents answer the question plays into a preconceived idea – the image of a person sitting behind a terminal finding flights. People think ‘I don’t need that. I can go on kayak.com.’ Think about what you actually do and how it connects to your target audience. Use language to paint pictures. So in the what-do-you-do exchange, you say something like, ‘You know how people want to create an ideal vacation experience for their family but don’t have time to plan everything? What I do is help people create the vacation of a lifetime and give them back what they value most, which is time.’

What’s another core idea in your book?
Magnacca: The power of a personal biography. This is particularly true for a travel agent who has traveled themselves – to be able to package that they are part of what makes working with them unique. You’re communicating your competence, your character and your common ground, which allows you to shift gears quickly to what matters to your client. Many people have a personal bio on their website, but it doesn’t necessarily pass the ‘so what’ test.