Posts

How a Little ‘Yes’ Leads to a Bigger ‘Yes’

in

The scientific psychological evidence is clear: People are more willing to take you up on larger requests later if they’ve said “yes” to smaller ones first.

Consider how many times your buyer has said “yes” in one form or another, even in the earliest stages of your sales process:

  • “Yes, I’ll tell you my name.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you when I’m thinking of buying.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you what aspects of your offer interest me.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you where else I’ve gotten information.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you my phone number.”
  • “Yes, I’ll tell you my e-mail address.”

This is powerful sales psychology. Ignore it at your peril, because a much bigger “yes” could be in your future.

How to Make Yourself A More Interesting Sales Professional

in ,

As a salesperson, you want to – nay, you need to – engage with prospects. The problem is that many go about this process in completely the wrong way. Most salespeople, in an attempt to quickly establish rapport, will ask innocuous personal questions: “Do you play golf?” “Do you like fishing?”

At some point, you may have conversations with your buyer that include those exact questions. But if you’re looking to boost sales results, that kind of banter should be saved for later. So should talking endlessly (and usually aimlessly) about yourself. Instead, ask provocative questions about your buyer’s opinion regarding the business at hand. Here are some B2B examples:

  • “How will the recent drought in the Southwest affect your expansion plans?”
  • “Will the bankruptcy filing of your competitor’s transportation unit have any consequences for your organization?”
  • “How might the new financial regulatory reform impact your business?”
  • “Will the continued elimination of land-line phones in favor of mobile phones alter your marketing campaigns?”
  • “How will the closing of the London office impact your division?”
  • “What do you like about what’s going on right now in your industry (or your organization)?”
  • “What would you change if you could?”

Note that these questions can be categorized as either current events or related to competition, government regulation, social trends, organizational issues or experience. With a little intellectual effort, you can apply the same model to retail sales. As you might suspect, I’ll provide examples about selling motorcycles.

  • “Do you think we’ll ever see ‘green’ motorcycles? You know, environmentally friendly bikes? (Not ones that are actually green.)”
  • “Have you seen the new model the other guys just introduced?”
  • “Would you endorse hands-free mobile devices for motorcyclists?”
  • “Have you been to our newest location on the north side of town?”
  • “What do you like about our dealership?”
  • “What do you wish we would do differently?”

These questions will do more to accsellerate your sales than any personal questions about golf, or fishing or family vacations.

First of all, these probing, thought-provoking inquiries provide you with important details about what your prospective buyer is thinking and how you might be able to help him make up his mind. But even more importantly, they make the buyer think more highly of you, because you’ve asked questions that were out of the ordinary, questions that prove you know what’s going on in the industry and the world.

They probably will boost your credibility, too, because you’re asking for buyers’ opinions – a strategy that suggests their opinion is most important, not yours. After all, if you’ve got the good sense to ask for my opinion, I can’t help but like you. It’s as immutable as the law of gravity.

Five Ways to Influence Your Peers at Work

in

Now that we’ve addressed persuading superiors and subordinates, there remains one last group of targets to address: your peers. This is known as “influencing sideways.” Peer pressure is among the strongest of all propulsions in the workplace (and elsewhere). How can you leverage it? Here are five ideas:

1. Cultivate favors by doing favors.

You can make people “offers they can’t refuse,” because they are obligated to you. But this requires you to do well by others first, creating — say it with me —reciprocity. A quid pro quo. Whose quid and whose quo can be worked out later. People respond to obligations.

2. Link agendas.

Strive to forge common goals in an attempt to initiate persuasion. Employees at a tech startup, for example, might think they serve two very different customers: the hardware providers and the end users. But there clearly exist areas of overlap, such as eye-popping graphics and the goal of seamless integration. Find the common areas of fulfillment with peers to then share ideas and resources. These may involve people, money, information or facilities. The cost to you is minimal; the effect potentially substantial.

3. Leverage loss aversion.

This may sound harsh, but leveraging the aversion to loss is a key factor in navigating peer pressure. Helping peers feel protected from loss of status, talent, income and market opportunities can significantly impact your desired outcome. Allow people to see that your intentions are comforting, not threatening, and they’ll remember.

4. Covet your credibility.

The fastest path to “yes” is your credibility. The more your peers can rely on your past behavior, track record, honesty and commitment, the more likely they will be to accept your claims, offers and pitches. Reliable inertia takes over when your peers have experienced positive outcomes with you in the past.

5. Be fair.

Ensure that, in reality and in perception, the support you seek is not unilateral. Make it clear and obvious that no one (most importantly, you!) is taking advantage of anyone else. Insist on establishing a win/win dynamic.

How to Win an Argument

in

The next time you find yourself bracing for an argument, let it go.

Why?

Because persuasion ends the moment arguing begins. All of a sudden, the objective becomes focused on “winning,” and that’s when you’ve already lost.

To prove this point, a group of researchers led by Emory University psychology and psychiatry professor Drew Westen studied functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) of both Democrats and Republicans as they responded to messages from their preferred candidate during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Specifically, Democrats were shown videos of self-contradictory remarks made by John Kerry, while Republicans were shown self-contradictory remarks from George W. Bush. Both groups of participants tended to dismiss the apparent discrepancies in a manner that demonstrated bias toward their favored candidate.

“Everyone from executives and judges to scientists and politicians may reason to emotionally biased judgments when they have a vested interest in how to interpret ‘the facts,’” Westen told ScienceDaily.com after his research was presented in 2006.

When your persuasion attempts reach that point, logic and reason flee your target. Whatever you say after that point of no return will be moot, unless you can steer the conversation back to a rational and legitimate discussion.

So how do you win an argument? Don’t let one start.

Storytelling Stumbling Blocks: Why Saying Too Much Complicates the Persuasion Equation

in

In previous posts, I introduced what I like to call “situational persuasion success stories.” These are pre-created retellings of how you previously helped improve someone’s condition in given situations. This elevated skill set can yield tremendous results in your persuasion efforts.

Just as dynamic situational persuasion success stories require certain elements to work, they also need to steer away from these four stumbling blocks:

1. Too much attention to detail.

What’s wrong with this story intro?

“Wait until you hear what happened to one of my colleagues, Jason! It was last Thursday — er, no, Wednesday. No, OK, it was Thursday. He called me around 10:30 in the morning; no, it was really closer to 11, and … .”

You’ve lost your listener at “er.” It doesn’t matter what day of the week it was or what time of day. If it’s not absolutely crucial to the story, no one really cares. Make your point, and keep moving.

2. Too disjointed.

Try following this story:

“I had one client recently who wanted to go ahead with a particular project. Well, it was a problem at first, because he didn’t think his company could afford it. But now he’s glad he partnered with us for the project. See, the company was just a small start-up eight years ago, and then they ultimately went with our best offer … .”

If, in your situational persuasion success story, you flit from you convincing the client, to the client having a problem, to that company enjoying the results of your efforts, to how you helped solve the problem, your story won’t go anywhere. Consider first introducing the character (a client), then the dilemma, then how you helped solve that dilemma, and finally, how the client is now living happily ever after.

3. Too long.

If you’re talking for more than 15 or 20 seconds at one time, stop. It’s as simple as that. 

4. Lacks authenticity. 

Make sure your situational persuasion success story doesn’t appear corporately vetted or brand-controlled. Today’s consumers are very cognizant of ideas being packaged. If people hear nothing but about how great you are, they will lend less credence to that information — and to you.

How are your situational persuasion success stories evolving?

 

What Are You Drinking? How Senses Affect Persuasion

in

 

Did you know that the type of beverage you drink, the surface of the chair on which you sit and the color of your clothing all play a role in getting to “yes” (or “no”) faster?

Thalma Lobel, a Ph.D. and director of the child development center at Tel Aviv University, claims that decisions, judgments and values are derived as much from outside factors as they are from our brains.

In her 2014 book, Sensation: The New Science of Physical Intelligence, Lobel provides scientific evidence of how targets respond to common situations that, on the surface, appear insignificant. Here are some of her key observations:

  • People drinking warm beverages such as coffee or tea are judged by their targets to be more generous, caring and good-natured than those enjoying cold beverages such as soda or iced coffee. The concept of “warm” and “cold” extends beyond the drink and transfers to the individual drinking it. While what you say is important, so is what you drink.
  • That “warm/cold” mentality is at play in other facets of our lives, too. Take the chair you opt to sit in while making your pitch. Studies suggest harder chairs make people tougher negotiators, while softer chairs reduce their aggressiveness. Hmmm. Maybe you should add a soft and comfy chair to your office for guests…
  • Researchers found that men consider women who wear a red blouse (opposed to a blue, green or gray blouse) consistently sexier and more attractive. That kind of social proof can easily transfer to persuasion situations. Red represents strength, power and energy, regardless of gender. Wear it when you need to hear “yes.”

 

Building Epic Credibility: Be as Honest as Abe and as Brilliant as Einstein

in

Why is credibility so important in today’s workplace? Well, consider what having credibility enables you to do:

  • Persuade people more easily
  • Influence more people
  • Reduce conflict
  • Complete projects successfully
  • Improve your team’s reputation

Easy to lose and tough to build, credibility ranks as one of the primary characteristics of a successful project manager and leader. A basic determination of credibility can be found in the way you honestly answer this question:

Do people believe what you say?

Here is a systematic approach to determining your own professional credibility:

1. If you and your abilities are unknown, and you therefore have low credibility, spend time building relationships.

That’s what nearly every startup company has done. Find a niche and develop a smart customer base. New employees in new industries must do the same thing. Discover what customers value, their personality traits and how they process information. Cater your strategies, conversations and behavior to them, and back up your insights and recommendations with third-party data such as articles, books and outside experts.

2. Despite being well known among your customers, perhaps a recent incident has resulted in your low credibility.

Rebuild the relationship. Start small and make that phone call. Demonstrate your abilities, keep your promises and communicate. Communication is at the core of leadership credibility. One of the highest-profile examples of this happened five years ago, when the on-demand streaming and DVD-by-mail service Netflix relaunched the DVD side of the business as Qwikster. This news came after customers overwhelmingly criticized a recent price increase. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings took to Netflix’s blog. “I messed up,” he wrote. “I owe everyone an explanation.” Less than a month later, he blogged again, announcing the quick end of Qwikster. Today, Netflix has more than 81 million members in over 190 countries enjoying 125 million hours of TV shows and movies every day.

3. You and your abilities might be unknown, but you still pack high credibility — either because of significant word of mouth or your connection to a popular brand.

If Best Buy were to name a new CEO, for example, that individual might (or might not) have name recognition, but he or she would still need prove himself or herself in the new position — despite being affiliated with one of the highest-profile retailers in the country. In your case, you may have built a reputation of being knowledgeable and dependable even by customers who don’t know you! While this is unquestionably a desirable situation, don’t consider it a free pass to great customer relationships.

4. If customers know you and your abilities, and you therefore have high credibility, congratulations.

This is what everyone should strive to attain, because it means that a customer or coworker has dealt with you before and realized positive results. It means that people trust your input and your performance so much that they ask for and heed your advice wholeheartedly. Steve Jobs had that kind of pull. He created a demographic of computer consumers that wait in line for an entire day to purchase a product they have never touched or even seen up close, simply because it has the Apple logo on it. But beware: Customer and colleague relationships are precious and should never be taken advantage of by abusing credibility to sell unnecessary, unwanted or low-quality items. Remember Apple’s short-lived MobileMe subscription service? That was a disaster, and Jobs had the credibility behind him to admit it.

How Apple, Lexus and Harley-Davidson Can Help You Persuade

in

Think about why the Apple, Lexus, and Harley-Davidson brands have such magnetic appeal. Why do consumers so unequivocally believe in them and profess unwavering loyalty to them? Because those objects conjure emotions that convince buyers the iPhone 6S, the LX and the FLHXS Street Glide Special are in some way superior to competing products.

In essence, they represent the epitome of “cool” in their specific product categories as perceived by their particular (or potential) users.

Researchers Caleb Warren, assistant professor of marketing at Texas A&M University, and Margaret C. Campbell, professor of marketing at the University of Colorado, Boulder, conducted six studies to determine what makes consumers perceive brands, companies and even people as “cool.”

Published by the Journal of Consumer Research in 2014, their findings suggest that individuals gravitate toward objects of autonomy, meaning that the companies behind those objects eschew pre-existing norms or status quo expectations in pursuit of their own vision. “Although cool brands are typically desired, coolness and desirability are not the same thing,” Warren and Campbell wrote. “Consumers prefer cool brands only when they want to stand out rather than fit in.”

When your persuasion situation involves an idea focused on a specific brand or product, recognize that the emotions conjured by that brand or product can create an irresistible urge in your target’s mind to say “yes.” Part of the work has already been done for you.