Ever notice how some people have a certain energy about them that naturally attracts success. What is their magic secret? Who you are personally shows up in your sales approach. It's a big mistake to think that you can fool people when you are not coming for the right place. It's the subtle subconscious clues that you send your prospect that can make or break your sale. Let's face it - People buy from people they trust. People trust people who are like them. The more you behave like your prospect the more they will trust you. This is the core of relationships. Much research has been done on the determining factors of creating rapport with prospects. It's not what you say that counts, it's how you say it. These are the three components in communication for developing rapport. Words, Voice qualities and Physiology. These three elements equal 100%. What's your best guess on the breakdown? Your words are only 7% of your communication. Your voice qualities are 38% and your physiology is 55%. That means that what you say is the least significant. How you say it and how your carry your body are the most important factors in your ability to create rapport with your prospect. It's important to speak your prospects language. You already know how to be who you are - it takes an elegant persuader to care enough about the other person to enter their world. Everyone wears different glasses to perceive the world. Your job is to find out what glasses they are wearing and speak to your prospect about your services with their glasses on. When someone feels like you understand them, their trust level goes up significantly and are more likely to buy. There are three basic types of people Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. Identify which one your prospect is and enter their world. Keep in mind in different circumstances people are all three. People tend to favor one more than the others. You use both of your hands, but tend to favor one more than the other. Selling Strategies for the Visual Person Visual people tend to look upwards, speak rapidly and have high levels of energy. They love to look good and will usually dress to perfection. Visual people love visual information. They speak in visual terms and they want you to do likewise. They love to see the goods, not talk about them. The look of the goods is vitally important in assisting them to make a positive buying decision. Keep this overview in mind as we present you with a picture on how to highlight your presentations to Visuals in a way that is both illuminating and compelling at the same time. Can you see what we are looking for? 1. For a visual prospect, a picture is truly worth a thousand words. Use charts, graphs, photos, and slides. Reinforce your presentation by using the blackboard. Bring videos if you have them. 2. Use visual words to pace their information gathering process. Develop beautiful pictures through your language. Use phrases in summation and closing like, "Is that clear to you?," "Imagine how this will...." or "How does this look to you?" 3. Glance upward occasionally. If you want your customer to imagine something or think visually, you can guide them to access visually. Looking upward will enhance their ability to form lasting mental pictures. 4. Write things down for your visual client throughout the sales call. Write important points down as you summarize. Encourage them to take notes. When you close the sale with a visual client write everything down so they can see the agreement. 5. Dressing professionally is important with any client. It is especially important with the visual client who will look for the "image" you have created with your clothes and your briefcase. 6. Visual clients "notice" everything. Pay attention to detail and the way things look. The package is as important as the product to Visuals. 7. And last, but most importantly, paint vivid and compelling pictures. The more vivid the picture, the more powerful the influence. Selling Strategies for the Auditory Person Auditory people tend to be more centered. Their eyes tend to move with their ears. Auditory people love auditory information. They speak in auditory terms and they want you to do likewise. They love to hear about your product, not necessarily see it. What others have said about your product is very valuable information. Record this information in your mind so you tune in to your auditory prospect. Give them an earful of persuasion and listen to them to ask you for more. Can you hear what we are saying? Are we beginning to sing the same tune? 1. Use auditory words and phrases like, "Does that sound good to you?", "Are we in harmony on this?", "Shall I speak more directly about the facts and statistics?" or "This plate stamping machine is twice as quiet as the one you now have." 2. Quote testimonials and endorsements with your auditory clients. Auditory people think in "words" rather than feelings or pictures. They love to hear what other people have to say about your products or services. 3. Use your voice to hold the Auditory's attention. Change tone, volume, pitch and speech rate to verbally emphasize and enhance your sales points. Auditory prospects will pay as much attention, if not more, to how you speak as to what you say. 4. Tell the auditory customer lots of stories. Story telling in sales is powerful with everyone, and it is especially important with auditory prospects. 5. If you have to send them some information they often will not enjoy reading a brochure, so send a cassette tape outlining benefits, features etc. Use all the verbal information you can to move the sale forward. Get audio tapes into the hands and ears of your auditory leads right away. If your company does TV or radio advertising, ask your auditory client if they have heard your latest ads. 6. Have frequent telephone conversations with your auditory prospects. Even a brief call will mean a great deal to them. 7. Summarize agreements verbally after closing, using such a phrase as : "We are speaking about (summarize details.)" Remember, the Auditory hears everything. Give them exciting and motivating words that will play in their internally driven tape player long after the sales call is through. 8. It is important to know that auditory people find it hard to look at you and listen to what you are saying, so give them subconscious approval for looking away, by not demanding eye contact. They need to concentrate on what they hear and that's why they look away from you. Also, don't speak to rapidly or you will lose them. Selling Strategies for the Kinesthetic Person Kinesthetic people are more low keyed, typically the like to look down to connect with their feelings. Kinesthetic people love kinesthetic information. They react to kinesthetic terms and they want you to do likewise. They love to touch the goods, so let them get their hands all over the product. They must absolutely feel good about their decision, so help them get in touch with their feelings. Grasp the important points in this section as we drive home the hard hitting strategies that work long and hard in putting deals together with the Kinesthetic. When these strategies sink in and you feel good about using them to nail down transactions with the Kinesthetic, you will have reached another plateau. 1. Use Kinesthetic words and phrases like, "Are you comfortable with this?", "How do you feel about that?" or "Do you need a more concrete example?" Talk about common interests, sports, family and let them know you care about their feelings. They want to know that you care about them and you are their friend. 2. Meet face to face with Kinesthetic clients. Don't rely too much on phone calls or written communication. They crave the head to head, belly to belly feeling that only one on one communication can give. Match them: if they have their jacket off, their tie loosened, do the same. They typically like to dress comfortably. 3. Get the kinesthetic physically involved with your presentation. Have them mark up your brochure. Have them walk through your proposal. If you are demonstrating a product they can use, encourage them to test the product out to find how it feels. Encourage them to hold the product, use the computer, feel the car finish, touch the rock fireplace, walk around the yard, stroke the leather seats get comfortable on the couch, etc. Make sure they are always physically comfortable. If they are not, they won't stay "with" your presentation. 4. Tell moving, emotionally based stories about your product and, most importantly, about the impact of your product or service on people just like them. Strongly communicate your emotional commitment to your product, to what you are selling. Then link commitment to your commitment to serving them. 5. Glance downwards occasionally. Kinesthetic people will intuitively pick it up and know that you are emotionally involved in your product. You can also guide them to access their feelings by glancing down and getting them to follow your lead. Typically, they are not comfortable with constant eye contact. 6. Kinesthetic people often like to be touched. They shake hands forever, often with the old "two-handed, let's hold this contact for a long, long time" approach. Since this is so appealing to them, an occasional pat on the back will fire off strong positive feelings. When you close the sale or come to some major commitment, shake hands on it. That gesture means a lot to a Kinesthetic person. Your prospect wants to know that you care about them. It is very easy for a salesperson to sell their product or service based on their values. Your values are what sold you to sell your product. Your prospects values for buying may not be the same as your values. It is critical that you take the time to find out your prospects values, and what needs to happen in order for them to experience that value around your product. Lastly, you want to attract sales, instead of chasing, selling, promoting, seducing or going after it. Attraction is when people come to you. Selling, promoting, seducing and chasing is when you go after them. When you set up your life for sales to come to you invite effortless success into your life.
