‘How ‘Pre-Stamps’ Help Overcome Client Resistance’ – Sean D’Souza’s Article

had two stamps already filled for them in advance.

You see what’s happening, right?

Both sets of customers have to fill in the exact same number of
stamps to get the free car wash–namely eight washes. So which group
did better? Yup, the second group. In fact 34% of the second group
got to their free car wash vs. just 19% of the first group. So why
did this happen?

It’s called momentum

And it’s a feeling you know exceedingly well. If you have to start
a project, you dilly and you dally. You find every reason to avoid
the project, because starting up is so hard. But once you’ve got
about 20% of the project going, you feel the wind in your sails and
you move groggily ahead, but at least you’re moving. And this is
what resistance hates the most.

It hates momentum, because momentum disregards the temptation to
get easily distracted; it avoids those fervent pleas to just head
to the cafe or do something that’s not project-related.

Which is why you need to create momentum both for yourself and your
clients

Let’s start with your client. Let’s say you want them to do
something really big and momentous. Where do you start? You start
with the tiny bits. So tiny in fact, that they’re almost impossible
to goof up.

So let’s take an example. At a Psychotactics workshop, we want to
create a safe zone as quickly as possible. But this is difficult if
everyone just shows up on the day of the event itself. Everything
is new; everything is different and hence quite intimidating.

So we have a meet and greet session the day before

What do they have to do for the meet and greet? Why, nothing other
than show up. That’s easy, huh? So they show up. And they don’t
show up in their regal outfits. Everyone’s casually dressed. There
are no speeches, no notes, no seats to find, nothing to do but show
up.

And when they’ve shown up, we take them to the room and show them
the room. They get a chance to see where they’re sitting. They see
the notes on their desk. And then we have a question session. If
there are any questions, they can get it out of the way. Once
they’re done, we suggest they go to dinner together.

So what just happened there?

20% of the safe zone was created before the workshop began. When
you watch the participants walk in the next day, they’re not
frozen. They’re laughing, they’re joking and they’re having a great
time. There’s no fear and intimidation. And hence the momentum
towards creating a safe zone is well on its way.

And no matter whether you’re in consulting or training, you can
knock out the resistance simply by getting stamps on their card.
Once the client gets started, they continue to move along more
efficiently than if they started from zero.

But how do you use this concept for your own goals?

Let’s say you want to lose weight. What do you do? You need to get
20% on your card, right? Well, don’t start with this big vigorous
program of losing weight. Just focus on one thing you are
guaranteed to achieve. E.g. No munching sweets after lunch or
dinner.

Now this isn’t about eating less, or exercising more or doing Zumba
steps. It’s just a little something that is almost like cheating.
But it gets the momentum in place. A week of this simple activity
and you’re well on your way to getting 20% on your card.

But isn’t this kinda sneaky, almost like fooling your brain?

Sure it is. But why do you care? You want to get the job done,
don’t you? So go ahead and fool your brain, if that’s what it
takes. And help your clients fool their brain. If you’re running
into clients that won’t get their work done, won’t do their
assignments, don’t implement things on time–then look for the
blockage.

The blockage lies in them having to fill ten stamps on their card,
instead of eight.

How can you fill two stamps in advance?
How can you get the momentum going?
Figure that out, and more clients will get to the finish line
faster than ever before. And ironically, so will you!

How do you get momentum? Share your business or personal story here.