ARC: The Most Powerful People Skill Ever Discovered
Part Four: ARC in Sales and Negotiations
You sell and negotiate every day. Examples:
- You sell an idea to your boss, coworker, client or customer
- You negotiate dinner plans with your spouse
- You convince someone to meet with you
- You sell a service or product to a new contact
- You make a deal with your kids to clean their rooms
But if you have a low opinion of salespeople, you might hate the idea of selling anything to anyone. In fact, salespeople are sometimes taught to treat you like an enemy.
“Strip off their objections!”
“Lie about their options or the competition.”
“Push them until they agree!”
Instead of making a win-win deal, you invent lies to get away from the salesperson.
“Sure, OK, I’ll go try to find a loan.”
“I just want to sleep on it.”
“Oops, I’ve got another call. I’ll call you back.”
With the ARC Triangle, you put the relationship first and the sale second. You communicate, you have affinity and you reach agreements. ARC is so powerful, it can make anyone, including you, into a great salesperson or negotiator.
Why?
Your kindness is genuine. You reach ethical, helpful agreements or sales. You love win-win deals.
People then say things like:
“I’m buying because I believe and trust you.”
“I’m very interested, but have one embarrassing concern. Can I tell you what it is?”
“If you let me have one small change, I’ll sign the contract.”
Afterwards, you hear things like,
“I’m so glad we worked out a deal where we both win!”
“If you hadn’t helped me, I would have bought the wrong one.”
“You really helped us solve some big problems. Thank you.”
Selling with ARC
As we covered in Part One, “What is ARC,” this simple, but powerful quote can make anyone into a good salesperson or negotiator.
“The triangle of affinity, reality and communication could be called an interactive triangle in that no point of it can be raised without affecting the other two points and raising them, and no point of it can be lowered without affecting the other two points.” — L. Ron Hubbard
All you have to do is raise one point of the triangle and the other two points follow.
Let’s say you sell cars and someone walks into your car lot. The first thing you do is increase affinity. You find something to like about the prospect. “He drives a nice car.” “Her shoes are beautiful.” “They look like a happy couple.”
Because you have created some affinity for the prospect, he or she will find it easier to have affinity for you. You raised the Affinity corner of the triangle without saying a word.
Then, you increase the Realty corner and find something on which to agree. “Quite a nice day we’re having, would you say?” “Do you like the look of that new model?” “I noticed that you keep your car in good condition.”
As a result, the Communication corner automatically increases. The customer starts talking.
As you help the customer to get what he or she wants, you never let anything lower any point of the triangle. The ARC Triangle never breaks. (However, if it does break, you know what to do from Part Two.)
Negotiating with ARC
As a negotiator or deal maker, you have greater success when you first establish ARC with all parties.
For example, when you first sit at the negotiation table, you look at each person and find something you like about each one. “I like his suit, I like her hair, I like how bright he looks and I like how organized she is.”
You then discuss something on which everyone can agree.
“Does everyone agree that our goal today should be to find a deal that meets all our needs?”
“Is it okay with everyone if I control the discussion?”
“Can everyone work on this for two full hours without interruption?”
Magically, because you increase the ARC, you get more done in less time with greater results!
Recommendations
1. Write down a deal you would really like to negotiate or an item you would like to sell this week.
2. Write down HOW you will first establish or increase ARC with the people involved.
3. Take action. Establish or increase ARC first, then make a deal where everyone wins.