How can you help your prospects unshackle themselves from their current appraisal of the software they use . . . and eagerly embrace your software application?

This sales situation requires the right tactics. More so if your prospects rely heavily on that software application to keep their job.

In the next few months, I’ll be reviewing several tactics you can use to tackle this common sales situation. Today I’ll be talking about the use of tactical surveys in your direct response marketing.

Surveys get your prospects thinking. They can show your prospects their inconsistency between what they believe should be the right software application for them and the inadequacy of their current software application.

But you need to craft the survey questions properly. Before I give you some pointers that will help you do this, let me explain why surveys work so well.

When the survey questions are right, you can get your prospects to make a small commitment to you and your application. This is all you need to get your prospects to favor your application over what they have. After they make this small commitment in your favor, your prospects are now under pressure to behave consistent with that commitment.

At this point, they have to do something since none of us can stand inconsistency.

To understand why surveys are so effective, let me explain why your prospects are shackled to their appraisal of their current software application.

Let’s assume you’re selling an accounting system and your prospects are already using an accounting system. Since they have no need for two accounting systems, before you sell them your system, you have to dislodge your prospects from their accounting system and get them to use yours.

The problem for you is that your prospects are fully committed, shackled to their software program and will not give their commitment up so easily.

They’re committed to their software program because they either had a say on what accounting package their company use, or they’ve spent time making it work for them.

If they had a say on what accounting system they currently use, they probably researched the options and invited the sales people to a presentation. And at the end, they convinced the CIO and the CEO to purchase the system they were advocating.

And even if they were not in the purchasing decision, when they started working with this software package, they spent time making it their own. They learned it, worked out the bugs, personalized the settings and preferences, and made the system fit — somehow — to the unique problems of their financial situation.

With all the time and emotional energy they spent on the system, what happens is that over time, they start discounting the pain the system will bring them.

They discount the pain because it now involves their ego. Now that they have the system all set up for them, they can’t admit either to themselves or others they have problems other applications like yours don’t cause. They prefer to deceive themselves. They’ll go on denial. Then, they become shackled to this denial.

This is why surveys work so well. With the right questions, surveys get your prospects thinking again about what’s important to them. This can turn into a small commitment towards your application, a commitment if nurtured, can allow for your prospects to turn around and make a huge commitment to you and your product.

Social psychologists like Robert Cialdini, who have studied this type of behavior, have noted how quickly a person can change their commitments. Although at one point they’ll defend their current commitment literally with their lives, in a short amount a time, with the right trigger, they can turn around and loose that commitment.

It’s all about consistency between their beliefs and their behavior.

But not just any set of questions on a survey will work. Here are three tips that can guide you in the crafting of questions.

1. Ask questions that will help your prospects assert what’s important for them in their line of work.

2. Ask questions that will help them see the reason for their assertions.

3. Ask them questions about their experience with their current software application.

The first set of questions helps your prospects recall what it is that they believe about what they’re doing. The second set of questions shows them what it means to have those specific beliefs. And with the third set of questions, you allow your prospects to see the gap between what they’re experiencing and what they believe.

Here are a few sample questions taken from a lead generation letter for RxWorks. RxWorks is a software application that allows veterinarians to better manage their practice.

The letter starts with a headline: “Large study finds that most veterinarians fail to provide a high level of quality care.”

Then the letter asks the veterinarian to take a 10 questions survey to see how they might have fared had they participated in the study. Although implicit, the first question the letter asks the vet to answer is whether the vet believed in quality care.

If this is what they believe, then some of the questions in the survey show them what quality care looks like in their own practice. The letter uses questions like:

Do you know exactly what level of compliance you get from your therapeutic diet recommendations?

Do you offer your recommendations verbally and in writing?

Do you offer all treatment options without prejudging a client’s ability to pay?

And so on . . .

Then at the end the letter asks:

Does your practice management software offer support for compliance goals?

The set of questions the letters uses creates an effective survey. The vets that believe in quality care were reminded of what quality means for them in their own practice. Then they became fully aware of the inadequacy of their current software program.

Before the letter, their software management program was adequate. After they spent time with the survey, they weren’t so sure. If they go ahead and send for your offer, they’ll be making a small commitment towards changing their situation.

All you need to do then is to capitalize on this commitment. These prospects are in the way to becoming your customers sooner than you think.

In Brief:

1. Remember prospects have built a commitment to the software they use. They’ve already discounted a lot of their future pain.

2. If you want them to stop using the software they’ve invested heavily on and start using your software, it’s going to take more than showing them benefits, features or their pain.

3. Surveys with the right questions are a good tactic to use in this sale situation.

4. Surveys get your prospects thinking, remembering what they belief and seeing the inadequacy of their current software program.

5. At this point, prospects will more easily ask for your offer.