If there was only one skill that a salesperson should master, it would be the skill of persuasion.
Too many salespeople just rely on brute force, just trying to be persistent until the prospects give up. Now don’t get me wrong, persistence is important as well, but when coupled with the skill of persuasion, you will see your results go through the roof!
Persuasion is a learnable skill, but you must know what are the key areas to work on to be highly effective and become a better salesperson.
Here are the 5 key areas to improve your persuasive skills:
1. 💪 Know your Strengths
Are you a soft type of persuader or a hardcore kind of persuader?
Just because you see one type of persuasion method working well for someone, it doesn’t mean that it will work well for you. You have to identify which is aligned with you you are.
Are you a good listener and empathize well with people?
Do you understand people well and connect with them in that way?
These are some key persuasion strengths you can identify in yourself, you’ll get the most leverage and results by focusing your energies on your strengths.
2. ✅ Solve Problems
You can’t persuade a customer if you can’t identify and solve their problems.
These are the essential knowledge that we’ll need to communicate our ability to solve our customer’s problems:
– Products Knowledge
Know and articulate how your product solves the customer’s problems
– Know your competitors
Be able to differentiate your offerings from your competitors’
– Know your customer’s Industry
Know the problems facing their specific industry, and be able to speak their lingo
If you’re in B2B it could be dealing with industries like manufacturing, pharmaceutical, warehousing, etc.
Showcase your expertise and knowledge in their industries, and how you can help them solve their problems.
3. 📜 Facts & Data
Statistics can be from yourself, reputable organizations like Gardner, Entrepreneur Magazine,
Forbes, by some kind of organization or association.
Maybe you are part of the Malaysia Retail Chain Association or the Malaysian plastic industries.
You can use these statistics to persuade your customer because you can’t fight against a fact by a reputable organization.
Use data and statistics to challenge your customers, to persuade and influence them to change their mindset.
4. 🤝 Rapport
Rapport means getting the prospect likes you, if they like you, BOOM! They will buy from you but if they don’t like you. It’s very difficult to sell to a person that does not like you.
Because humans like to buy from humans that they like and trust.
So, building rapport is another great persuasion skill.
You can use the NLP technique ‘matching and mirroring.’ That means be like the customer.
For example, if they speak Hokkien, and you speak Hokkien. BOOM! Rapport.
If they’re from Kelantan and you speak Bahasa Kelantan. BOOM! You’ve got rapport.
If they are from Thailand, and you speak a bit of Thai. BOOM! Rapport.
If you speak their language, you can create an instant connection with the prospects.
By building strong rapport, and you can easily persuade the customers to buy from you.
5. 🎯 Results
Nothing beats a result-based persuasion presentation.
Results mean, to prove your point and back it up with evidence.
If you claim that you can help the customer saves costs, prove it.
If you claim that you can help your customers increase output, prove it!
Prove it with percentages and numbers.
If you cannot prove it, don’t use it as a point.
So, if you want to greatly persuade your customers to buy, you got to have proof.
Proof in terms of demonstrating to show the customers the possible results, and what other customers have enjoyed as well.
Pick one and start working on it today!
