Happy Valentine’s Day!
Yesterday, I ran quickly through the story of how one national pro-life organization trains sales professionals at PHCs to answer the question, “Do you provide abortions?” with the immediate response, “No. We neither perform, nor refer for, abortions.”
I experienced that “training” four years ago, and I am sorry to say that the same organization continues to train PHCs to answer the question that way.
To make matters worse, there a couple of other national pro-life organizations who “help” train PHCs, and they also recommend that same sales “script.”
While coaching you to say to abortion-minded women that your PHC “…doesn’t refer for abortions…,” they are unwittingly doing exactly that, referring them to the competitor, Planned Parenthood, who will be all too happy to provide them with an abortion.
And you wonder why Planned Parenthood continues to increase the number of abortions they perform every year?
Now you know one of the key factors.
It’s mind-boggling really.
Misplaced Trust
It’s a shame that many PHCs trust those national pro-life organizations as authority figures on all things “Pro-Life Business Industry.”
Their trust is misplaced.
But most leaders of PHCs can’t see that the “training” they are receiving is, at least when it comes to sales, wrong.
Why can’t they see it?
Because the vast majority of PHCs are not led by people who have backgrounds in business, especially backgrounds in for-profit sales and marketing.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the PHCs I am aware of that are very effective at competing against Planned Parenthood, as measured by market share, are led by people who have professional backgrounds in sales and marketing in the for-profit world.
Anyone who has fought in the trenches in the for-profit world, where if you lose to your competitor badly enough, you’re out of a job, would never accept the notion that when an abortion-minded woman calls and asks about getting an abortion that the first thing you must say to her is, “We neither perform, nor refer for, abortions.”
Will the Real Sales Professionals Please Stand
You’ll notice that in the last article, and in this article, that I used the words “sales professionals” to describe the team members at PHCs who take calls from abortion-minded women.
I use that description more as what those team members should be, rather than what they actually are, in reality.
If they were true sales professionals, with real-world sales experience and success in the for-profit world, as soon as they were directed to answer the “Do you do abortions?” question with the answer, “No. We neither perform, nor refer…,” script, they would push back on that direction, big time.
After all, true sales professionals would know in the depths of their beings that what their PHC offers is objectively in every way, a better product for an abortion-minded woman than the product Planned Parenthood offers.
The reality is that most of the PHC team members who take calls from abortion-minded women have no sales experience, at all.
For the most part, they are “pro-life advocates” from the Pro-Life Movement.
They don’t view that phone interaction with an abortion-minded woman as “sales,” so they don’t follow basic proven-effective sales practices.
Leadership Is Everything
Unless, and until, PHCs are led by business professionals, from board members down through front-line staff, who know how to compete and win against a tough competitor, Planned Parenthood’s market share will continue to dominate the Pro-Life Business Industry’s market share.
Next week, we will pull back a bit from the “front lines” micro view we explored this week, and discuss from a macro view, how the Pro-Life Business Industry could become more of a viable competitor to Planned Parenthood.
Regards,
Brett
Bridget
I was taught by one of my early mentors that “master sales is a transference of conviction”. I’ve definitely learned that this is true.
So…is our conviction “NO we dont have what you need”. Or “YES even though you don’t know it we have exactly what you need.”
We must never manipulate or deceive, but the future forward PMC has so much to offer the abortion *determined woman. So day yes yes yes to skilled talking points filled with conviction.
Brett Attebery
Thank you Bridget! I LOVE your comment!
I think so much of the very common response from PHCs/PMCs of “NO, we don’t have what you need,” is the FEAR the pregnant woman feels transferring through the phone line onto the team members at the PHC/PMC who “feel” afraid that if they don’t answer a yes/no question with a yes/no response, then somehow they are being deceptive.
Of course, that’s nothing more than a “feeling.”
How to combat the feeling?
As you said, with the CONVICTION of knowing, without any doubt, that the PHC/PMC offers exactly what the woman needs.
Without conviction, FEAR can steer the conversation, and when that happens, it’s advantage Planned Parenthood.
Bridget
I was taught by one of my early mentors that “master sales is a transference of conviction”. I’ve definitely learned that this is true.
So…is our conviction “NO we dont have what you need”. Or “YES even though you don’t know it we have exactly what you need.”
We must never manipulate or deceive, but the future forward PMC has so much to offer the abortion *determined woman. So day yes yes yes to skilled talking points filled with conviction.
Brett Attebery
Thank you Bridget! I LOVE your comment!
I think so much of the very common response from PHCs/PMCs of “NO, we don’t have what you need,” is the FEAR the pregnant woman feels transferring through the phone line onto the team members at the PHC/PMC who “feel” afraid that if they don’t answer a yes/no question with a yes/no response, then somehow they are being deceptive.
Of course, that’s nothing more than a “feeling.”
How to combat the feeling?
As you said, with the CONVICTION of knowing, without any doubt, that the PHC/PMC offers exactly what the woman needs.
Without conviction, FEAR can steer the conversation, and when that happens, it’s advantage Planned Parenthood.