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It’s probably the most famous challenge in sales, to say nothing of an increasingly dreaded interview question: “Sell me this pen.”
Even if people didn’t know it before, the 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street made it famous. And the images of would-be salespeople foundering, trying to describe the positive attributes of a pen without any real sales strategy, are hard to forget once you’ve seen them.
Regardless, what if I were to tell you that there are some simple tricks and tactics that almost anyone can use to improve their ability to sell almost anything to almost anybody?
It all comes down to emotional intelligence and an understanding of the ways in which we constantly communicate in multiple dimensions, intentionally or not.
Here are three simple tactics to remember, plus a bonus at the end.
1. Ask questions. A lot of questions.
Selling involves persuasion, and persuasion is basically the intersection of two actions:
1. Giving advice.
2. Hoping that people will act on your advice in a particular way.
The secret to offering advice that people perceive as good advice is simply to ask a lot of questions before you make any recommendations.
Emotionally intelligent people realize that if you ever have a chance to see a transcript of your advice-giving, you should count the number of question marks — and hope that they vastly exceed the number of periods.
Why does it work? Both because you’re learning, which helps you hone whatever advice you ultimately give, and because people understand intrinsically that you’re more likely to give tailored advice — and hopefully effective advice — if you’ve at least taken the time to ask questions and understand their situation.
Also important: Listen to the answers.
2. Avoid assumption language.
Assumption language means words and phrases that cut off your inquiry and announce to the other side in any negotiation that you think you’ve got them pegged.
Nobody likes that feeling. Almost worse, assumption language cheats you, as the person trying to make the sale, because you’re rejecting the chance to learn things that might make your pitch more potent.
Examples of assumption language:
· “I get it.”
· “I know how you feel.”
· “Yep, I had the same problem, and here’s what I did…”
As sociologist Charles Derber suggests, this kind of language leads to “shift responses” instead of “support responses.”
People with high emotional intelligence remember that if they catch themselves using phrases like these, it almost always means they’ve jumped too far ahead and overestimated their own knowledge.
It’s a red flag that means go back to trick No. 1, above, and ask more questions.
3. Be very, very patient.
Anyone can sell things when you’re in control and conditions are in your favor.
Classic example: They say it’s better to sell aspirin than vitamins, because when someone has a headache, they want relief immediately.
But it’s when you’re not in control — when you’re selling vitamins, which are good for you but don’t fix an immediate problem — that you really need to exercise tactical patience.
There are times when if you push for a closing, you’ll likely lose. So don’t push. Not yet, anyway.
Sometimes, that means using silence.
Psychologist Namkje Koudenburg of the psychology department at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands figured out that the turning point in conversational silence — the instant when people begin to think that there is something wrong and often try to fill it — is a mere four seconds.
“Even when people are not consciously aware that there is a silence, they immediately sense that there is something wrong,” Koudenburg explained.
The bonus
Up until now, we’ve talked about how to leverage other people’s emotions by asking questions, listening to the answers, avoiding assumptions, and being patient.
But leveraging your own emotions is just as important.
Sometimes that means avoiding tunnel vision, perhaps by recognizing that perhaps selling this pen to this person is just too hard and not worth the effort — especially when there are lots of other pens out there and lots of other people.
If that’s hard to see, try all the points above on yourself:
Ask yourself why it seems there are so few options, avoid making assumptions, and give yourself time to find the answers.
As I write in my free e-book, 9 Smart Habits of People With Very High Emotional Intelligence, the most useful definition of emotional advantage is: the learned ability to leverage emotions, both yours and other people’s, in order to make it more likely that you’ll achieve your goals.
In sales, especially, improvement is a process. There are no guarantees. But leveraging tactics like these can make your desired outcome a little bit more likely.
Coaching Emotional Intelligence
Guiding your sales team to excellence takes a lot of effort, but one thing that can help is for your sales team to understand the customer’s perspective. With 40 combine years of retail management experience, our senior management team used mystery shoppers to drive their sales teams to excellence. Using shopping reports to inspire, not degrade, a sales team is a very positive driving force. We’re here as partners in your success. Reach out, we’re here to help.
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BY BILL MURPHY Jr. AND CARL PHILLIPS
