The Yes Ladder Technique: How Small Yeses Can Lead To Big Sales

Psychology is a core part of sales. Everything from your clothes to your tone of voice can affect your client's opinion of you. The psychology behind sales doesn't stop there, though. There are dozens of little-known tricks you can use to affect your client's decisions and build trust.

The "yes ladder" strategy is one of the most effective sales psychology techniques. It relies on the fact that people are more likely to say "yes" to big questions if they follow a series of smaller questions. It also gives them fewer chances to refuse your pitch before it's over, leading to the desired outcome.

To put this into perspective, consider the methodology that's aimed at getting you to purchase something in your daily life. For example, have you ever sat through a telemarketer's whole pitch only because they kept asking yes-or-no type questions? More than likely, you probably felt like you couldn't bow out of the call because you had no opening in that type of rapport. Now you understand how it works and how it can give an advantage in your sales tactics.

Mastering the "yes ladder" is not challenging when you know what to do. Plus, it is statistically proven to work. However, it still takes some pre-planning for prospects to say yes. Let's dive deeper into the psychology behind the "yes ladder," and learn how to go from a small yes to big sales.

The Yes Ladder Technique is About Commitment and Consistency: Know Your Big "Yes"

You need to keep your questions focused for this strategy to be effective. 

First, identify your big ask. What is the larger commitment you want your client to agree to? If you skip this step when implementing the yes ladder technique, you risk wasting time with useless questions. Once your client thinks you're wasting their time, the sale is dead, and your ultimate goal fades away.

Take into account the seriousness of your bigger ask as well. In general, the more you want from your client, the longer you should try to engage them. If you want them to climb the ladder, you have to give them something to climb.

Improve Your Sales Success By Learning Why They Would Say No

Clients tend to have their guard up when dealing with salespeople. But you can get around their guard by beating their refusal before they even think of it.

For example, let's say you're trying to sell an accounting solution, like billing software for accountants that automates invoicing, tracks payments, and reduces errors. The company representative might decline because they already use a system, but that doesn't mean their current solution is the best fit.

 So, one of your first steps might be to highlight the features of your product that are better or missing from the software they are currently using. Then, tie those features into a problem that your client is currently facing.

You might ask, "Did you hear about the security breach (client's competing company) had?" When they answer "Yes", that's the first step on the yes ladder. You have your foot in the door, as they say. That's why the yes ladder is also known as the foot-in-the-door technique. When you get someone to say "yes" once, they're more likely to keep doing so. 

You can now continue to discuss the security features your program has to protect against this type of security breach. Another good question to ask here is, "If I could help you prevent a similar problem, would you hear me out?"

If you get another yes, you can then proceed to offer a product demo. This psychological technique of getting people to agree to small commitments tends to lead to a slightly bigger "yes" down the road.

This technique is a powerful tool in any salesperson's arsenal. Customers are conditioned to say yes, and you haven't even offered the real product yet.

Initiate a Positive Response: Create Steps Up To the Big Yes

Patience is a virtue that most salespeople lack.

It's tempting to get right to the nitty-gritty of the sale, but you must avoid that temptation in order for this method to work. Start with small questions with guaranteed "yes" answers and ease your way in.

When the client agrees to a small request, you can slowly try to increase the level of commitment. Remember, the whole strategy breaks if your client says "no" to you. 

But there's a balance here. If they say "no" once, they are likely to keep saying it. Therefore, you can't ask too many questions or you'll become a pest. Figuring out the proper number of questions depends on individual prospect interactions.

If you're having a mid-workday phone call, settle for 3 or 4 questions. If you're attending a relaxed mixer-style conference, take your prime prospect on a journey of small yeses and steer them towards a desired outcome.

Keep Your Psychological Advantage: Always Check Your Attitude

There's a very popular (and very wrong) method of using this strategy, notoriously employed by charity groups and annoying telemarketers. They'll load their "yes" questions with moral value. They might begin a conversation with, "Do you want to keep your family safe?" or "Do you believe children should have clean water?".

Questions like these can be really frustrating for clients. First, they're coercive. They feel like they have to say "yes" or risk being seen as a bad person. It's important to note that making your client feel pressured or attacked doesn't make them trust you more.

Second, it makes the whole interaction feel fake. Effective salespeople try to build genuine connections with clients, and questions like these are bad at building rapport. They're blatant sales pitches that offer no valuable insights whatsoever. Fake-feeling questions like these get fake answers, and a fake interaction rarely results in a real sale. There is no ladder to continue climbing in this situation.

If you want to build trust and rapport, consider implementing real questions.

Micro Commitments: The Introductory "Yeses" Can Really Be Anything

Getting your prospect to say the big "yes" can be a series of questions that don't necessarily have to be related.

One of the easiest ways to start up the ladder is with simple questions. Think along the lines of "Can I offer you a seat?" or "Do you have a minute?" This helps to frame your "yes" questions as parts of a conversation and not a sales pitch.

Confirmation questions are an easy way to start the conversation. They don't give the client a reason to say "no," and they're also an organic part of the conversation, making it more likely that the conversation will continue.

Keep it simple with more confirmation questions, like the following:

• "Hi, your name is so and so, right?"
• "You work for [fill in the blank] company?"
• "Are you enjoying working in this role?"

Simple, impersonal questions like these just made your client say yes three times in just a few moments! They won't be signing a contract at this moment, probably, but they are on their way.

Get Some Micro-Commitments with the Natural (or Unnatural) Approach

Framing your questions naturally is the true art form here.

If you're too loose with your "yes" questions, you'll never get to the point. If you move too fast, you'll sound like a question-spewing robot. Ideally, you'll earn your yeses through a natural back-and-forth conversation.

So, become a conversationalist. Figure out where you want the conversation to go beforehand and travel there organically.

Phone sales are a different story. It's hard to be natural when you're selling things to someone you've never met. Usually, if they say no on the phone, they will remain consistent with their initial choice.

So, be unnatural! One of the most effective phone strategies is starting off with a "yes" question so out of left field that your client wants to see where this conversation is going. Remember, whether the aforementioned telemarketer actually sold you anything, you still heard him or her out.

Final Thoughts: Small Yeses Can Land You Huge Sales

There are almost too many psychological sales tricks to count. However, working up to a big yes with several small yeses is one of the simplest and well-tested methods. It works everywhere, from Tupperware parties to roundtables with business executives. When someone agrees to a small yes, a big yes is more likely.

It's also pretty effective at business conferences like Dreamforce. Just make sure you practice the technique beforehand. Dreamforce is full of salespeople, and they'll definitely see through a weak attempt!

Improve your success with this sales technique by pairing it with sales productivity tools that get the job done.

Our enterprise scheduling feature helps you get to "yes" when setting a meeting time with a prospect, while our attachment tracking feature helps you understand when someone is ready to say "yes" to your proposal.