Can You Feel Me?

I was recently speaking with an agent regarding the objection handling technique known as Feel, Felt, Found, also known as The Three F’s. If you’ve been around sales long enough, you’re likely to have been exposed to or taught this method at some point. It’s been around so long now, and so widely used, that prospects have heard it likely dozens of times in their transactions.  

For those that are not familiar with it Feel, Felt, Found is a simple scripted technique for turning around objections by providing empathy, inclusion within a group, and alternative perspective towards the desired solution. The basic formula is stated as, I understand how you feel, many people have felt the same way you do, but they’ve found that when they buy my product or service, they got what they needed.    

• For example: I understand you feel a Medicare Advantage plan is a less expensive choice; a lot of my customers felt the same way you do initially. However, they found that in using their plan, the out-of-pocket expenses ended up being much higher than advertised. 

As a concept this is an excellent tool to have in your arsenal, however if you present it as written, your prospect can feel patronized thinking you only see them as a probable sale, and not as a potential long-term, valued client. Unless you’re truly the prospect’s peer, when you tell a prospect, you know how they feel, you’re setting yourself up for failure. The voice inside their head will immediately be thinking, “No you don’t”, and now you’ve created an image of yourself as unempathetic and uncompassionate, which are two traits that are essential in selling to seniors.   

Furthermore, for prospects who have heard this technique used on them before, you may be viewed as amateur, and therefore not worthy of their business. “Did this guy just fall off the sales training apple cart today? Can I really trust him with my business?”   

The key in utilizing this approach lies in mastering the concept and making it your own to create a natural sounding flow, not a canned script you pulled out of Sales 101. In contrast I’ve found that if you reduce the number of F’s, as well as the size of the group, when presenting your rebuttal statement, you can create a much more normal sounding statement that doesn’t come across as contrived.   

• For example: One of my most loyal customers used to think Medicare Advantage plans were less expensive... until she actually started using her plan. Then she found that her expenses ended up much higher than advertised, because, as she stated, every time I went to the doctor, I kept pulling out my credit card. 

There is only one F in the above statement, yet it conveys empathy and belonging, and also exposes a negative to change the prospect’s perspective into realizing that your product will provide the solution they want. Just tack on a solid closing question and you’re one step closer to converting this shopper to an esteemed and loyal client. 

Scripts and techniques are excellent guides, and very much needed as training tools, but as salespeople we have to understand that they are merely concepts that we must learn to master and embody them as our own. Until we do there’s only a fraction of customers that will give us their business. I’ve always believed that business is broken into thirds. A third of your prospects will buy from you simply because you’re there, with a good attitude, and you have a good product. Another third will never buy from you no matter who you are and what product you have – they just won’t. Stubborn goats they are. The final third is the group that you have to win over through mastery of sales, communication and relationship building. The Three F’s are just one of those methods you can master to help you get more business from that final third.