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8 Breaking the pattern

Business conversations should be interesting and informative
for all involved. Critically though, if your buyer's interest is not
engaged, their mind may stray to other more pressing matters. video
If this continues, the other person will cease participating, you
will not get the information you could have, and it is likely that
your buyer will find reasons to avoid accepting future requests for
conversations. Learn
Why
Too many buyer conversations follow a linear pattern with the consultant / salesperson
retaining control of the agenda and mentally ticking off the points they wanted to cover. In
more extreme cases, the consultant / salesperson follows a well-rehearsed route, driving toolbox
the agenda towards an end point where they put their offering on the table.

Introduction

Point 1
Point 2

Point 3
Point 4

Point 5
Conclusion

The influence of confirmation bias is clear in such an approach (see section 6 - Bias). We
think we’ve seen similar situations before and know what the other person needs, so we
push them along a path or through a process that is familiar to us. Other biases such as Learn
liking/disliking, availability bias and self-serving bias can also subconsciously drive our Explain
behavior.

SHAPE mitigates the impact of our subconscious biases and forces us to pay more
attention to the other person, with the conversation following a less structured route, that
allows the other person to participate equally in guiding the direction of the conversation.
For the consultant / salesperson, the focus is more on listening (section 13 - LISTEN)
and sharing experience and insights (see section 14 - Presenting ideas). Any points not
covered can be picked up and dealt with at at the end of the conversation or covered in a
later conversation.

Point 4

Point 2 Point 1
Conclusion
Introduction

Point 3

Point 5

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