Archive for the ‘persuasion techniques’ Category
Does Covert Persuasion Exist
Is there such a thing as covert persuasion ?
In considering whether covert persuasion exists let me first repeat something I was told
many years ago,
“You cannot, not communicate”
Even if you do not say anything your appearance, your manner communicate something.
So, let’s look at this in relation to persuasion and sales.
You walk into a prospect’s office having made an appointment to see them a few weeks
before and confirmed the appointment two days before.
You walk in wearing shorts and a sweat shirt. What are you communicating by wearing
those clothes ? Do you think that will help you make a sale ?
OK. That’s an extreme example.
But what about if you are late ? What does that communicate to the buyer ?
Ever been into a retail store and been attended to by a young, new sales assistant ? They
are not quite sure about the products, not quite sure where everything is, fumble with
their words. How do you feel when that is happening ? My guess is that you either just
want to get out of there or you feel sorry for the young person. The important thing is do
you feel inclined to buy ? And I’ve had some people say they’d feel sorry for the young
sales person and help them out and maybe even buy from them. I guess that would all
depend on how important , complicated and critical the purchase was to you ?
What if you’ve had a disagreement with your spouse earlier in the morning. You are
fuming all the way to the customer call and you walk into the customer’s office without
having got rid of those underlying emotions. Do you think your prospect will notice
something ?
I think they will. They might not know what they are sensing. They’ll just get this feeling
that something is wrong. You’ll come across as incongruent which means to say that
something in your manner is not agreeing with what is coming from your lips. When
prospect’s get this uneasy feeling they are much less likely to buy.
So, and here’s the first lesson about covert persuasion. It all starts with you.
Since everything about you communicates you have to make sure that all your
communication, both verbal and non-verbal, is sending the same message, or at least a
congruent message. Otherwise your sales will suffer.
Covert Persuasion – Presuppositions, Contrary to Expectation
Covert persuasion, “Contrary To Expectation” basically involves the use of the word “should.”
Covert Persuasion – Confidence
All the covert persuasion techniques in the world and all the best intentions / goals won’t get you anywhere if you are not confident, looking after yourself and having fun.
As Dale Carnegie said
“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”
Your sense of self and your personal happiness come first.
If you do not have a good relationship with yourself and your work, no amount of skills training will compensate.
When you are happy and enthusiastic your confidence and sales will soar.
A sales career is not an easy one.
Your results are there in black and white.
For many salespeople their income depends on their results.
This is true for all salespeople but for some the time lag is shorter.
A salesperson has to:
- deal with rejection,
- be able to think on their feet and
- be organized.
How can you do these things without confidence in yourself and your abiloity ?
Success in sales depends, in no small way, on your confidence and your enthusiasm.
We’ve all heard the saying that “Nothing succeeds like success”.
When I used to land a big sale I’d immediately make contact with any other sales deal I was close to closing.
Often, I’d get an order.
What I was doing was tapping into the confidence I had gained from the big breakthrough and using it to generate enthusiasm to make more sales.
How does one maintain their confidence when the deals are not happening ?
I find it helps to harbour a belief like
“ There is no such thing as failure, it’s only feedback”
Treat each “no sale” as a learning experience to refine and improve your sales abilities.
Furthermore, how does one maintain enthusiasm over a long period of time ?
Enthusiasm comes from having a mission.
A long-term objective that’s larger than life and compelling.
A mission also helps define who we are.
And when we know who we are, what we want and why, we become Congruent.
What is congruence ?
Congruence is that state of alignment when you believe in what you are doing and your body and mind are working towards your goal. It is that state in which you are confident, enthusiastic and purposeful.
“Your sense of self and congruence are more important than all the presentation skills you could learn, useful as these are. Congruence and a sense of self are products of knowing your values and your purpose…” (“Successful Selling … The way forward in the new Bazaar”, O’Connor and Prior, p. 107)
If you need help boosting your confidence and improving your congruence maybe you need some sales coaching ?
Covert Persuasion – Give Respect to Gain Influence
When you show genuine respect for your prospect you will be received more openly and with a less cynical belief about your intentions.
Why ? Because you are giving a person respect and almost all of us crave respect.
How do you show respect ?
- Be on time for your appointment.
- Be dressed appropriately.
- Be prepared, do not waste their time.
- Treat them courteously and as someone who knows their business.
- Sincere compliments help too, note that I wrote SINCERE.
- Know something about their company and them.(It says this in SPIN Selling, not to ask too many Situation Questions, Do Your Homework!)
It pays off in the long run.
Waking Up Ready to Sell is the start of utilizing Covert Persuasion
After writing my last post on the 28th of April I ran across this article in the newsletter of Jeffrey Gitomer.
The article talks about preparing your self to sell so that you get your covert persuasion off on the right foot.
Waking Up Is Hard To Do
by Whitney Bishop
Neil Sedaka crooned that “breaking up is hard to do”. So true. But it also seems that for most people, “waking up is hard to do.”
Let me give you a glimpse into the morning lives of two people: Joe Blow and Judy Toodie.
Joe watches the 11 o’clock news, gets good and depressed from all that is going on in the world, has a few beers, and goes to bed late. When Joe’s alarm clock (which sounds like a garbage truck backing up) goes off at 6:00, he hits the snooze button… five times! By the time Joe drags himself out of bed and gets in the shower, he’s already behind and in danger of running late for the 8:00 meeting for which he didn’t prepare anyway. He’s brushing his teeth, combing his hair, getting dressed, grabbing his briefcase and dashing out the door. Wait. He runs back in, he forgot something else he needed for the day, but he can’t find it. Minutes later he’s back in the car, driving through a fast food restaurant for some coffee and a greasy sausage biscuit (which he spills on his shirt) — then off to the client meeting.
That blows, Joe.
Now, Judy Toodie has developed a different sort of morning experience. First, Judy spends time the evening before making sure she has everything she needs for the day ahead. Clothes, check. Briefcase and notes, check. Ideas for client meeting, check. Keys, phone, laptop… check. Then she sets her alarm her iPod is set to play “Final Countdown” as the first song. She has a playlist set to slowly build and by the time she gets out of bed, she’s singing, dancing, and ready to greet the day with enthusiasm and vigor! Singing in the shower, dancing while she gets ready, infecting everyone in the house with her happy and encouraging mood. She gets in the car and pops in her favorite motivational CD to get pumped up for her 8:00 client meeting. She’s ready to go. She hits the door with purpose, power, and a plan for success.
Here are three things you can to do to start your day off right…
1. Get to bed, sleepyhead. Don’t stay up late watching TV. If you don’t need much sleep, spend the time before bed reading things that feed your head and preparing for the next day. Write down things that you need to work on the next day and in your slumber, who knows, new ideas may come to you in your sweet dreams!
2. Ditch your old alarm clock and hook up your iPod to one of those boom boxes with an alarm clock on it. I DARE you to sleep through “Hit the Road Jack”, “RESPECT”, or “Eye of the Tiger.” You’ll be dancing before your feet ever hit the floor!
3. Make mornings fun! Take the time to set your tone for the whole day. Read something that inspires you, that moves you closer to a goal. Write about it. Write a few pages every morning. Dance. Sing. Your spouse, kids, animals, and/or roommates will think you’re crazy at first. Then, they’ll join in!
“Covert Persuasion Starts with You”
Did you know that most jurists (people that serve on a jury) make up their mind about the
guilt or innocence of the defendant in the first thirty seconds and then spend the rest of
their time justifying their decision?
So, it makes sense that as a sales person that you need to make a good first impression.
This is the first part of covert persuasion.
How do you make a good first impression?
Be on time
Be well dressed
Be well prepared
Be confident
I have mentioned in the past that you need to be congruent in front of your prospect. That
is to say when you converse with your prospect that all of you is in agreement with what
you are saying. If you are not the buyer will sense the incongruence and be worried. And
people need to feel at ease to part with their hard earned dollars.
So, in order for a prospect to buy from you they need to trust you.
For a prospect to trust you they need to be confident in your motives and in your
competence.
Imagine you are going to see a specialist because you have a significant medical problem.
You hear that the doctor you are about to see is being investigated for conducting
unnecessary operations. Do you trust the doctor ? What about if you walk into the
doctor’s office and the office is messy, the doctor is poorly dressed with untidy, dirty
clothes and during your consultation he chops and changes his diagnosis and
recommended treatment ? Would you still trust that doctor ?
Back to you. Whether you are on time or late implies things about your competence as
does how well you are dressed as does your manner when you first walk into your
prospect’s office.
I’m not going to explain to you how to be on time or how to dress.
Let’s talk about your manner. What determines your outside manner is what’s going on
inside you, mostly in your head. Are you in control of what you are experiencing on the
inside ?
If you think you are not then maybe my next post will be enlightening to you.
I ran across these interesting articles on persuasion:
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Important Points About Persuasion Techniques – Many people often have false impressions regarding persuasion techniques. They may see some actor in a film using their persuasion skills to get someone to do something, and assume that learning how to persuade will occur easily and effortlessly. However the reality is not quite like this.
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The Different Types Of People Persuaders – Persuaders or influencers, can broadly be divided into 3 groups: Foxes, Bloodhounds and Donkeys. These names are given so that you can easily remember to associate a certain personality characteristic with the type of persuasion techniques that they use. As I will discuss later, the ability to identify and categorise people is a crucial element in protecting yourself from various persuasion techniques, and when learning how to persuade others.
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Persuasion, Physical Attractiveness & Similarity – How Similarity And Physical Attractiveness Influence Persuasion. How to persuade with various persuasion techniques.
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the 3 secret persuasion techniques every kid knows – you’ve been working on your blog and need a break. so you kiss your spouse and head out the door for a walk. but your child’s voice stops you cold. “are you bringing home the toy you promised?” you feign ignorance. “toy? what toy?” …
Control Your Thoughts to Start Covert Persuasion
I mentioned in previous posts that how people respond to you is often relayed to various non-verbal factors. Prospects pick up on these non-verbal aspects of your communication. They are often not aware of how they are doing it, they just get a feeling.
What prospects (indeed anyone you communicate with) pick up on are signals you transmit as you communicate. If you emit the wrong signals your covert persuasion is working against you rather than for you.
Can you control those signals?
Yes.
And it may be a lot easier than you think.
Your thoughts affect your feeling and your actions. It’s a double whammy really because your feelings also affect your actions. So, to control your non-verbal output you need to put the right thoughts and feelings into your head before you start a sales meeting.
There have been times in my life when I have been in personal conflict (that’s a part of relationships isn’t it) and I have literally driven to see a prospect seething as a result of stewing over that conflict. There were times I’m sure that I would have left my fingerprints embedded in the steering wheel of the car. However, when I arrived at the prospect’s premises and parked my car I would take a few deep breaths and totally focus on the reason I was there. By the time I walked into that customer’s office all anger was gone from my system and I was totally focused on my mission.
That was a strategy I employed a long time ago. And it worked.
There are other things you can do that are even easier and work well too.
For example pick some music that gets you in the right frame of mind. Maybe music that just makes you feel good. Play that music in the car for about 10 minutes before you get to your meeting. You will behave differently and even speak in different tones during your meeting because of the music you have been listening too.
What is your ultimate aim for making a sales call? If you are thinking, “to make a sale”, that will probably be counter productive. Somehow, that self centeredness comes across and makes you less believable to your prospect. A much better modus operandi is to be there to offer help.
If you make a sales call to help, to be “of service” then you will be sending out the right unconscious signals to your prospects. After all the word sales comes from the Norwegian word “selje” which translates into “to serve”. Not only will you be sending out the right signals but it makes rejection a lot easier to deal with as well. Maybe because it’s not your personal self centered goal that has not eventuated? It’s simply that you offered your help and the person did not want to be helped.
Another useful thing to do is to think about all your past successes and how you have helped other people in the past. Running through those things in your mind will help you feel more confident before your meeting. Of course, your confidence should also be backed by a thorough knowledge of your product or service – a knowledge centered on benefits rather than features.
And there’s an even easier way to be “in the zone” when you walk into a sales meeting and make sure you are utilizing covert persuasion. But that’s a story I may cover at some time in the future.