Selling Fantastically
Selling Fantastically: Taking Your Sales Skills To A Whole New Level With Advanced NLP Techniques.
NLP [Neuro Linguistic Programming] is referred to as the science of excellence. It studies how people excel in fields such as business, sport, therapy, health and education and provides us with tools to learn how to match that excellence. NLP has transformed what is possible in the ways in which we can communicate, influence, persuade, manage and achieve whatever you really want.
So let’s look at how we can apply NLP in selling. To help us achieve this I have chosen a traditional 5 step sales framework:
1. Build Rapport
2. Ask Questions
3. Confirm need and value
(Pre-close)
4. Connect your product/service to their need/want/outcome
5. Closing
1. Rapport
Most people involved in selling know that people buy people first and product and service second. So, if the person you are selling to, doesn’t like or trust you, no matter how they may want, need or like your product or service they may not buy from you or least make the sale very difficult.
A study of human communication, conducted by Albert Mehrabian in the University of Pennsylvania in 1970, showed that only 7% of the meaning of our communication is carried by the words we use. He found that a further 38% was conveyed in the way we said the words (Tonality). You’ve probably heard the saying “It’s not what you say, it is the way that you say it”. That study showed that most of the meaning of our communication lies not in the actual words, but in everything else you are doing: how you say them and all the non verbal aspects (55% Physiology).
In face to face communication, rapport is achieved by observing, paying attention to and matching/mirroring the physiology of the person who we wish to build rapport with. This can be done by matching elements of their posture, gestures, facial expressions, movement, breathing.
Next comes tonality, this is particularly useful when cold calling, or selling via the telephone as, in the absence of being able to see the other person, the meaning of the tonality when selling via the phone rises to 84% and the words become 16%. So pay attention to and match how high or low the pitch of other person’s voice is, how fast or slow do they speak and how loud or soft they speak.
Finally, the words people use - notice the words and phrases that people use in each major representational system (Visual – Seeing, Auditory – Hearing, Kinaesthetic – Feeling). In each major representational system, people are using different words, different phrases that actually reveal what’s going on inside their heads.
Another element to match is the size of the pieces of information (chunk size or level of abstraction) they deal with. If someone usually deals in the big picture, they will probably be bored with the details. On the other hand, someone who is into details will find that there’s not enough information to deal with, if you only give them the big picture. So make sure that you are matching the content chunks that the person deals with.
When I’m training people in rapport skills they often ask, “Well how can I do that, they’ll think I’m making fun of them.” You do need to be subtle when doing matching and mirroring but, typically, most people are in a trance when talking anyway. They’re so caught up in what they’re going to say next that they are rarely fully aware of what you’re doing. And if they do, you can have a good laugh about it.
As you begin to go into rapport, there’s a certain, specific physiological feeling that begins to occur in the body. It happens in the area of the legs, and chest, and could almost be described as a feeling of nervousness or anticipation. The next thing that happens is that you can feel the colour in your own face begin to change. It’s a feeling of warmth in the face that rises up from the neck. As you notice this, you can also notice, within about one minute, the colour in the other person’s face increases. The change in colour usually happens one minute after you notice the internal feelings.
Usually within another minute or so, the person you’re talking to will say something like, “...and (your name), my good friend here” or “I feel like I’ve known you for years” They may even use the word “rapport” or “trust” to describe what they’re experiencing.
The most important first step in every sale is rapport. Once established you can progress to step two and not only will the sale be more enjoyable and more fun but you are likely to sell more as well.
2. Ask Questions
The questions you ask are directly related to the business of the person you are interviewing. Talk their language. Ask questions in the language of their main interest. (In business, talk the language of their business). Over the years whilst working in various sales roles, and even now as a trainer, one of the biggest mistakes many inexperienced sales people make is that they launch into their sales pitch without understanding what the customer wants or needs. Many of you may have heard the expression “Telling is not Selling”. More and more of the effective sales strategies now include a consultative approach to the sale. Another big mistake made is asking closed questions when gathering information. Closed questions are questions that can be answered with a yes/no response. The best questions to ask are open questions when gathering information.
What are open questions? Rudyard Kipling had a great rhyme about them:- Well formed questions provide the sales person with a virtual route map of the customer’s needs and wants quickly.
During this mutual understanding process however, the customer, depending on their filter1 may only describe the big picture require-ments to the sales person. The sales person can develop a technique that allows him/her to drill down quickly to the level of detail necessary for him/her to understand the requirement. Equally, the opposite maybe true, the customer may be stuck in the details and the sales person may wish to move to the big picture to check understanding.
After having established what the customer needs or wants, we need to elicit their decision making strategy,
Taking an example from my own career of selling training, I asked a quite natural question:
Me: “Has there ever been a training program that you invested in the past that turned out to be a really good decision for you”
Buyer: “Yes”
Me: “Great and what training program was it”
Buyer: “Presentation Skills”
Me: “How did you decide that Presentations Skills was the course for you?”
And then I place all of my attention on their eyes and just by paying close attention to their eye movements I can map out their decision making strategy, quite often they respond by saying “I don’t know” but through understanding eye patterns, and what those patterns mean, you will have gathered all the information you need.
Once we know how they make decisions we need to understand how they become convinced that they have indeed made the right decision – this is known as the convincer strategy and, finally, to ensure they don’t have any buyer’s remorse, we need to understand their reassurance strategy. “How did you know after you had invested in Presentation Skills that it was a good investment”.
3. Confirm need and value (Pre-close)
This step is quick, simple and very important part of the sales process. Some people refer to it as the pre-close. What you want to do at this stage is have the customer confirm that they have a need, or want or outcome and that their need, want or outcome has a value. So the question to ask is:
“Just suppose you can have (need/want/outcome) what would that be worth to you?”
Depending on what you’re selling, you want to get a monetary value at this point so that you can deal with any price objections that might occur later. Through NLP, you can learn a valuable technique for dealing with objections.
Step 3 is the watershed point: it lets us know whether it’s ok to proceed. If you discover that there is no need or want, or that they want something but see no value in it – leave the prospect at this stage: there is no point in continuing. However, if you have established the need or want and there is value for the customer, then you can move swiftly to step 4.
4. Connect your product/service to their need/want/outcome
The purpose of step 4 is to take the customer’s needs and wants, and the value they have associated to them being satisfied, and connecting them with the product and service you have to offer.
During the sales presentation, this is the opportunity to incorporate and utilise all of the previous information that we have gathered about the customer in the way they prefer to be sold to. If your customer was very visual, for example, you would show them pictures, illustrations of the product or service and use visual language when describing the product or service.
5. Closing
Step 5 is the close. We can time our close perfectly provided we are using our sensory acuity. You can already calibrate the physiology of need and want. Once you see the same physiology when either you or your customer are talking about your product or service, you know it’s time to ask for the business and then close. You can do this is a specific way using NLP by running the customer through their decision making strategy.
All too often, sales people get caught up in the “I’m not sure” or “I want to think about it” cycles. These are often the most difficult to deal with in selling At least, if you get a “no”, you have an objection. Resistance to your message indicates lack of rapport. If that happens at any point, build more rapport. You may choose to answer the objection if you think the objection is significant. Here are the only 4 objections:
1. “I don’t have enough time,”
2. “I don’t have enough money,”
3. “It won’t work for me (it works for every one else but it won’t work for me),”
4. “I don’t believe you.”
A simple framework for handling
objections is:
1. Listen fully to the customer’s objection!
2. Act a little bit surprised (let’s assume the objection is based on time).
3. Say, “Oh I get it, you mean that’s the only reason you’re not buying?”
4. “If I could show you how to have the time would you buy?”
5. The last step is to answer the objection as above and go right back to establishing the value.
Re-establish value by going to step 3 in the sales process
Once you handle the objection and you get a yes, take the order and the money as appropriate depending on your product or service. Then, before you finish, run them through their reassurance strategy, linking back to the want and need and the value provided by your product or service: you’ll soon discover that you will have more repeat customers, happier customers, and more referrals.
So in summary, as an NLP trained person:
The confines of this article permit me to introduce
the basic selling skills acquired by NLP trained salespeople. Advanced techniques can make an even more significant difference to your sales efficacy. However, in summary, as an NLP-trained salesperson:
• You are better able to develop long-term relationships for long-term business results.
• By creating a win-win outcome, you are able to minimise buyer remorse.
• Improved questioning techniques enables you to more accurately define customer needs.
• With the use of sensory language that corres- ponds to your customer preferences, you are able to present your products with greater impact.
• Being able to control your own frame of mind, you become more resilient and less susceptible to rejection.
• By reading the responses to your actions, and developing greater flexibility, you continually improve your skills to achieve more consist- ent results.
What are you waiting for? Do you want to get the competitive edge? Are ready to take your sales skills to a whole new level with advanced NLP techniques? Take action – you’ll be glad you did!
