7 Tips For Improving Your Sales Persuasion Skills
A sale is a negotiation between you and the customer. It’s the sales person’s aim to persuade the customer that purchasing this product or service is the best option.
With many people the obvious benefits aren’t enough and they need some further persuasion to make their purchasing decision.
So how can you fine tune your persuading skills to close more sales?
Find A Common Ground
It’s one of the age old ways of making a human connection with someone; finding something in common. It could be anything from disgust at the bad weather/elation at the brilliant weather, a shared interest, anything that shows you empathise with them in some way. That feeling of being connected in some way can then be used as a springboard to building trust.
Show How You Can Solve Their Problem
You first need to consider how what you are offering solves a problem or fills a gap for your customer. Once you know their main problems/concerns, you can use your pitch to tell them how your product/service will solve these issues and benefit the customer.
Be Ready For An Argument
There will always be reasons for the customer to say ‘no’. Be ready for these common complaints with a series of answers that counter them. Try to look at your pitch from the receiving end before you go in there and consider all the arguments that could arise against it. Now consider how you can respond to persuade them to be for it, not against it.
Persist, Persist and Persist Some More
Keep reaching out to those people that aren’t yet on board with what you are selling. For fear of annoying people, we often hold back when someone says no the first or second time. But persistence often leads to a win if you time it correctly and take the right approach.
Circumstances often change, so regularly reaching out to people who have previously been reluctant can mean a change of heart.
Use The Person’s Name
It’s a very basic, sub-conscious response when you hear your own name to become more responsive. Some of the most persuasive leaders in the world will work a person’s name into the conversation just enough to build their ego but not enough that it appears obvious. Try it with your next sales pitch and see how the person’s response differs.
“Mirror” The Person
It’s been revealed by numerous studies that we not only communicate through our words, but through our bodies as well. Body language can be a key part of influencing how a person reacts to what you are saying.
Sales people use a technique called “mirroring” to build trust between themselves and the customer. This involves analysing the customer’s body language and subtly adjusting your own to match it in certain ways. This helps to build rapport with the person you are talking to, which will then make it easier to persuade them.
It’s All About Confidence
Being confident, but not arrogant, is key to success. If you demonstrate confidence in yourself and what you are selling, this will encourage people to feel confident in you/what you are offering too.
