SEC – psychological discovery of a customer
The SEC method is a psychological customer discovery method derived from the simplification of the SONCAS method, deemed difficult to apply by some salespeople. Instead of choosing between six motivations, we select just 3 that cover all 6. Another advantage is that if you’re not sure you’ve identified the right motivation, it’s not difficult to […]
The SEC method is a psychological customer discovery method derived from the simplification of the SONCAS method, deemed difficult to apply by some salespeople. Instead of choosing between six motivations, we select just 3 that cover all 6. Another advantage is that if you’re not sure you’ve identified the right motivation, it’s not difficult to end the argument by summarizing the 3 advantages and close the sale. It’s a simple, effective, “punchy” sales technique.
The SEC method
A reminder of the SONCAS and SONCASE methods
- Safety
- Pride
- New
- Silver
- Sympathy
- Ecology
Here are the three SEC motivations, which also cover the 7 SONCASE motivations
- Safety
- Desire for protection
- Low prices for secure spending: that’s Soncas’ silver motivation
- Ego
- Desire to appear
- Acheter un produit cher pour montrer sa richesse : motivation Argent du Soncas
- Ecological products to save the planet: motivation Écologie du Soncase
- Comfort and convenience
- Furniture or car comfort, for example
- Convenience of using a product or service
- Sympathy for the object, service or salesperson: Soncas’ sympathetic motivation.
How to apply it
- Évaluer un client en fonction de son âge ou de son poste :
- An elderly person often prefers security
- Jeune : Ego
- Chef d’entreprise : Ego
- A buyer: the certainty that users will not complain about his product afterwards
- Écouter le client et ses remarques, c’est encore meilleur, car on se base sur ce qu’il dit et non ce qu’il parait. Voici les questions du client et ce que cela veut dire.
- « Avez-vous une voiture sécuritaire ? » = sécurité
- «Quel est le meilleur de vos produits ? » = ego
- “Which is easiest to use?” = convenience
- Poser une question générale qui permettra au client de dévoiler sa motivation, c’est ce que tout vendeur devrait poser durant une vente :
- « qu’est-ce qui est important pour vous pour cet achat ? »
- “What’s important to your project?”
Application examples
Sale of financial products
- “I want an investment with little chance of losing even if I earn less” = Security
- “I want you to take care of everything, I don’t have time, I have other things to do” = Convenience
- “I want the investment that pays the most” = Ego
Furniture sales
- “I want something that takes up as little space as possible in our living room”: Convenience
- “The last piece of furniture didn’t last long, I want something strong” = Safety
- “We have a beautiful house, I want something in harmony with what we have” = Ego
Conclusion
You mustn’t start arguing before you’ve completed your psychological discovery of the customer and identified his or her main motivation in order to present the advantages and benefits aligned with his or her expectations.
The SEC method is complementary to the SOS sales technique, and allows you to visualize the Objective O. It also limits the number of objections.
If you’re not sure you’ve detected the right motivation, finish with 3 benefits, corresponding to the three motivations. You’re sure to hit one and close your sale!
Jean-Pierre Mercier
Our sales techniques directory