The Art of Persuasion

You might know how much your prospects need your product, but it’s up to you to convince them if you want the sale. Salespeople who know how to paint an irresistible picture of their product, or how to reassure hesitant prospects with a nod of agreement, are well on their way to the close. To exercise greater control over your prospects, learn to develop your powers of persuasion – in all their forms. These techniques will show you how to use the words and gestures that increase your selling power – and your sales.

Verbal Techniques

Talk in word pictures. Put prospects in an ideo-sensory trance by using words that appeal to all the senses – sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Car dealers might paint a picture of a prospect driving a new car off the lot: “Just imagine how great you’ll feel breathing that new car smell and shifting gears as you pass the car in front of you.” Use words that take your prospects on a mental journey in which they experience all the benefits of your product or service. To help convince your prospects to buy, “give” your product to them mentally before you ask them to buy it physically.

Use powerful, exciting language. Great salespeople choose words that transform their prospects from passive, disinterested listeners into eager, excited buyers. To help you decide what to say, assess your prospect’s personality. Many hesitant prospects want to buy, but need extra coaxing. Stir your prospects to action with phrases like “Grab it,” “Let’s run with it” and “Just do it.” Raise a disinterested prospect’s interest with emotional words like “profit,” “you,” “free” and “love.” These words help create a wave of emotion that carries your prospect to the close. If your buyer seems hesitant but has been receptive to your presentation so far, take control with verbal commands: “You must have this machine to be competitive” or “You need to buy today.” “Absolute” words like “always” and “never” display confidence in your product and reinforce a buying decision: “It’s always better to join a well-established health club” or “You’ll never regret making this decision.” When discussing price, avoid the word “dollars.” A quote of 1,286 dollars might seem like a lot of money, but a price of “twelve eighty-six” sounds much more affordable.

Complement your words with effective voice inflection. Emphasize positive words to highlight benefits. First, analyze your prospect’s needs carefully to help you determine their buying hot buttons. Later, as you present your product or service, use your voice to emphasize the specific benefits or features the prospect thought were most important. To hold your prospects’ interest, avoid speaking in a monotone. Fill your voice with enthusiasm – if you seem excited about your product, you’re more likely to pass your enthusiasm on to your buyer. Remember to adapt your tone of voice and rate of speech to your prospect’s to help build trust and rapport.

Actions And Body Language

Build rapport. The right body language and gestures can help you build rapport without saying a word. To use body language effectively, let your prospect be your guide. Assess their posture to decide how to carry yourself and what gestures to use. Unless your buyer’s body language says “Don’t touch me” (crossed limbs, irritated or hostile expression) build rapport with an occasional touch between the wrist and elbow. People trust other people like themselves, so mirror your prospect’s positive body language and gestures. Use body language and change your facial expressions in response to your prospect’s words: When they talk excitedly about something, show your interest by leaning forward and maintaining eye contact.

Make a good impression. Your posture and movement say a lot about your self-confidence, energy and personality. If your clients like the way you carry yourself they may put greater confidence in you and your product and be more receptive to what you have to say. Enter your prospect’s office briskly and with confidence.

A natural smile helps establish you as a genuine and good-natured person. Shake your prospect’s hand firmly

if your handshake is weak and noncommittal, prospects may think you are too. Improve your strategy. Make gestures and body language an important part of your selling strategy. Use “anchor” gestures to boost closing success: As you make a positive or flattering statement to your prospect, emphasize your words with a noise, gesture or touch to help the prospect form an unconscious association between the good feelings your comment produced and the gesture that accompanied them. Later in your presentation, repeat your “anchor” gesture to recall your prospect’s positive feelings in time for the close. Encourage prospects to open up to you by nodding your head in response to their positive comments. Showing your agreement helps prospects see you as a trustworthy ally instead of as a stranger interested only in personal gain. Sometimes the only thing standing between you and a sale is your prospect’s apprehension or indecision. Reassuring body language or a few well-chosen words are often enough to convince your prospect to “take the plunge” and buy. Why not use all the verbal and physical tools at your disposal? On your next sales call, instead of letting your prospects sit on the fence, exercise your powers of persuasion and put them safely in your pocket instead.