Visuals

Visuals possess minds that work like viewmasters. Do you remember playing with those little periscope-like toys that had circular slides when you were young? A lever advanced each picture, showing a three-dimensional view of the world. There were gorgeous scenes of places you weren’t ever going to visit. That’s how visuals’ minds work. They love looking at things they can see. They understand concepts that give them beautiful pictures. In fact, about 35 percent of your prospects fit into this category. They understand your ideas because of the images they have. They translate all your words into pictures they can comprehend, thereby gaining rapport and trust with you. They like bar graphs, charts, beautiful scenes, things that help them think readily in pictures.

Visuals will give you certain clues to show you how they think. Notice in which of three directions they move their eyes. In your first sales training courses, did your instructors tell you to, “Always watch your prospect’s eyes”? Did they explain why?

Visuals will look up to the right when thinking about future information. You may ask a client, “Mr. Prospect, how much money do you expect to make next year?” If he looks up to the right, he’s constructing or creating a number. He may even be estimating and seeing a number inside his mind.

If he looks up to the left, he’s recalling past information, things he’s seen before. You may ask that prospect, “Have you ever bought a computer system?” If he looks up to the left, he’s actually searching his memory for pictures of computers, trying to determine if he’s ever looked at one before.

Finally, visuals may move their eyes into a defocused blank stare. When you’re face-to-face with a prospect, have you ever noticed that they stare right through you or give you a blank, glazed look? When your prospect does this, he’s actually synthesizing and translating your words into pictures he can understand more quickly.

Even the words visuals use can give you clues. Visuals use words such as look, (“That looks good to me”) or clear, (“That’s clear so far”), or see, (“I see what you mean”) or view, (“Here’s my view on this perspective, or “Here’s my perspective”). When your prospect talks, he’s giving you specific information about how he thinks. If he thinks in visual pictures, he will tell you in words exactly what’s going through his mind. That’s how people think and that’s how they will buy.

Use specific strategies when dealing with visuals.

Draw pictures on paper when presenting ideas.

Talk with your hands. Visuals describe those who practice this technique as “charismatic.” These ideas allow visuals to picture your message.

When showing a visual a fact sheet, hand it to him and stop talking. When your prospect is done processing the information, he’ll reestablish eye contact.

Watch what you wear. Color research has shown that visuals may rate you higher in credibility when you wear blues and grays instead of browns or beiges.

The most important thing to do with visuals is to match their predicates and use their words. Visuals want to hear specific words from you that describe your product clearly. They want those words to be visual sight-based predicates. Phrases that help them quickly access their natural thought picture system are: “Do you see what I’m talking about? What’s your view on this? In your perspective, does this seem as if it will work for you? So far, you’ve noticed the house has a gorgeous view from the veranda. How does this look to you? Do you envision this as the house you would like to spend the next few years in?” If you use visual sight-based words on your visual prospect, you can make the sale.

Auditories

Auditories tend to think in a sound-oriented mode. They make sense of your message by recalling past conversations. They may also evaluate your ideas primarily on the sound of your voice and the delivery of your message.

Like visuals, auditories also reveal clues by moving their eyes in three distinct directions. When auditories move their eyes directly side right, they are constructing and creating sounds in their heads. For example, you might ask a prospect, “What are your future needs for this product?” He may move his eyes to the right, thinking, “If I talk to my boss this afternoon, what will he say he wants?” They are, in effect, hearing future sounds. If they move their eyes to the left, they are hearing past sounds. For example, you may ask the prospect, “Have you ever heard of our company before?” If he moves his eyes to the left, he is searching his memory banks for the sound of the company’s name or motto. When a prospect looks down and to the left, he may be having internal dialogue. Down left eye movement indicates that your prospect is actually talking to himself, hearing his own conversation. Auditories also use key words to let you know they are thinking in sounds. They may use such words as ring (“That rings a bell”), sounds (“It sounds good to me”), hear (“I hear you”), or say (“I like what you’re saying”).

Here are some specific strategies to use with auditories. First, match their own predicates. Use phrases such as, “I’ll bet that rings a bell” or “Does that sound good to you?” Another phrase might be, “Do you like what you are hearing?” By using these auditory leading words, you’ll help sound-based prospects understand your message more quickly.

A second technique is to “tickle their ears.” Select the correct background office music. Research done at Wal-Mart, a large discount store chain, found that when they played slow music in the background, sales were substantially higher than when they played faster music. While visuals may not even notice the music is on, auditories will find that it affects their moods. A broker in Dallas uses a personalized background stereo system in his office. He plays classical music during probing, data gathering and interviews and faster paced melodies when he wants his auditory clients to make decisions and act quickly.

A third technique is to explain illustrations during presentations. While visuals would rather read the illustration while you remain quiet, auditories prefer to have you explain it to them.

Kinesthetics

Kinesthetics are feeling-based people. They feel hot or cold about almost everything they experience. When they read a book or watch a movie, they may not simply view it as entertainment, but they also experience it. Kinesthetics will reject or accept ideas on the merit of how they felt during exposure to them. Athletes often exhibit kinesthetic behavior because they gain great enjoyment from experiencing a sport. Many athletes say they love to play because it makes them feel good. Tennis star John McEnroe was asked why he kicked a chair out from under an official line judge. McEnroe replied, “I felt like it.”

Kinesthetics will show you their thought processes by the way they move their eyes and the words they use. Kinesthetics typically move their eyes in only one direction: down to the right. This indicates they are thinking in a feeling-based mode.

You can also determine kinesthetics’ thought processes through the specific words they use. You will hear them use predicates such as, “It sure made an impression on me.” or “How does that grab you?” Some others may be, “Let’s touch base next week.” “Here’s how I feel about it.” or “It really touched me.” Here are some tips to use with kinesthetics.

1) Match their words. Use phrases like: “What’s your feeling on this? What’s your impression of this? Shall we touch base next week?” If you use these predicates, they’ll understand by getting a feeling for the meaning behind your message. 2) Give them things to touch. Since they are feeling-based, they are likely to develop an emotion around tangible ideas you make tangible – so tangible they can literally touch them. Have you ever noticed that some prospects actually reach out and grab brochures as you talk? These kinesthetic prospects are showing you how to sell them more quickly.

At this point, you may think you operate in all three modes – visual, auditory and kinesthetic, and can’t confine yourself to one group. The truth is, even though you can think in all three ways, you usually focus on one mode, and so do your prospects. Discover your prospects’ central mode. What’s even more important is to observe how they think when you are with them. If a prospect moves from one mode to another, and you move with him, you will be able to maintain his trust. A good example of this is talking to a prospect about a product like life insurance. If you talk about a death benefit, your prospect may move from visual to kinesthetic. But if you continue in a visual mode when he has switched, you will mismatch him. He will then lose rapport and trust in you. However, if you see him go into a kinesthetic mode and you follow, you will maintain rapport and sell him through high trust.