Whether you are ‘talking’ virtually or face to face, using the feel, felt, found method of communication will make you a more effective communicator.
The effectiveness of your business conversations is key on the ability to connect rather than convince.
Whether you are talking with a potential customer, new business associate or possible hostess, when you use the feel, felt, found method, you will be sharing things that your consumer can relate to and therefore make a better connection.
It is natural for someone to offer up objections or concerns to your suggestions. When you use the sales method of feel/felt/found to help get past objections and at least help the recruit, customer or hostess to see the benefits of giving it a try, you will receive more yeses to your inquiries.
What Is the Feel Felt Found Method?
The feel, felt, found method of overcoming concerns tells someone that they are not alone.
You know how they feel about the concern, you have a case of someone who felt in a similar way and when they did give it a go they had (found) great results.
Recruit Concerns—Keep it Personal
For example, when discussing your business opportunity, instead of minimizing or arguing with a concern brought up, relaying a personal experience of your own or someone you know will tell a story, rather than sound like a lecture.
You do not literally say feel felt found every time but your word choices indicate that you do know how they feel, you felt the same way yourself (or know someone who did) and what you (or they) found was…
An example of using the feel felt found technique in a recruiting interview may go like this:
If a recruit indicates that s/he is too busy and does not have the time to plan and host events, then you can respond like this:
“I understand how you feel. I have to be honest, when I first got started, I felt the exact same way. What I found was that I was able to fill the down time I had with a money-making venture and I still had all of the time I needed to take care of my other responsibilities. What kinds of things keep you busy?”
This sort of a response will allow you to convey a story from personal experience and then finish it with the lesson that you learned and a question to give you more information.
You are not trying to tell the recruit how to feel but rather you are using this as an invitation for the recruit to ask questions and get more information.
Feel – Felt – Found Effective Communication
The feel/felt/found approach is easy to remember and, when used properly, effective at getting new consultants, hostesses or overcoming objections in general by getting the consumer to rethink their objections.
You can relay your own feel felt found story or you can use an example from one of your team members such as this one where a potential says they are concerned about what their husband would say:
“I know how you feel… I had a new consultant last year who felt the same way as you do. What she found was that after she got going in her business she had more time to spend with the family because she was able to give up her full time job and work this party time. What do you think your husband will object to?”
Keep it short, use the 10 second rule and end in a question that will give you more information about the concern.
