Let me ask you a question and please be honest; doesn’t it bother you when the doorbell rings and someone has showed up unannounced and tries to sell you something? I’m confident everyone reading this agrees that’s not how you want to be approached. Then why do salespeople do that to their business customers?Salesperson – “Hi Pat. I was in the area and thought I’d pop in to say hello. Do you have a few minutes to talk because I’d love to tell you about…blah, blah, blah.”All too often people agree to give up some time because they don’t want to appear rude but here’s a newsflash for the offensive salesperson – they aren’t listening to you! They’re wondering why they didn’t honestly tell you they didn’t have time to see you and are counting the minutes until you leave.Holding successful sales calls entails setting the stage because you want to be in front of people who want to see you and believe you might just be able to help them or their business.So how do you set the stage? A little pre-call planning and understanding psychology goes a long way.Common courtesy dictates you contact a client (current or potential) to find a date and time that works for both of you. I always suggest doing this by phone because it allows you to inform them about why you want to see them and find out if there are any things you should be considering in advance.Salesperson – “Hi Pat, it’s Jim. I was calling to see if we could find a time when I could stop by. I’d like to find out how things are going and share with you some things I think you’ll find very interesting.”A big reason to make this initial contact is to give the client time to think about you, your company, and your product or service. Next, follow up immediately with an email thanking them for their willingness to meet with you, confirming the date and time, and giving them some information to look over and think about. Make sure to ask them if they will look at it in advance because when they say yes, the likelihood they will do it goes up. This approach taps into the principle of consistency – people feel internal psychological pressure and external social pressure to be consistent in what they say and do. Salesperson – “Thanks for making time to see me next Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. To get the most out of our time would you take a few moments to look at the link below?”Setting up the sales call like this also taps into a psychological concept known as priming. Simply sharing information beforehand can change how people think and behave. Resend the original email on the day of the sales call to remind the client of the time and ask if they’ve looked at the information you shared. If they haven’t already they’re very likely to in response to your email. Again, they don’t want to meet with you and not have done what you asked.As the meeting starts, again, thank them for their time. Allow them the opportunity to share what’s on their mind before you launch into your presentation. After the meeting it’s always a good idea to send a follow-up email. The reason for this email is to confirm any sale, agreed upon next steps or action items. If you came away with a different impression than the client this is the time miscommunication can be dealt with.If you’re a salesperson I challenge you to try this approach to a sales call. Clients and potential clients will appreciate you respecting their time. You’ll also have the benefit of a much more productive meeting because your contact will have had three or four opportunities to think about your offer.
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.
How to Read Minds
Yesterday, I wrote an article about Priming. Today I’m going to show you how to use this to read people’s minds.
So, this is really simple.
First you figure out what you want your target to think about.
Then you Prime your target by saying words related to what you want them to think about, or by any physical objects.
For this to work, you must talk about something completely different. Remember that Priming works only if we are not aware of it. Just say the words randomly throughout the conversation, but overall it should be about something unrelated.
After you are done Priming them, just tell them what they thought, and don’t be surprised if you’re right.
A great video where this is demonstrated.
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Priming
I think that Priming is one of the best psychological principles out there.
To explain what it is, first you need to understand the difference between Concious mind and Subconscious mind.
Your conscious mind is everything that you are aware of and can control. How your body moves, your thoughts.
Your unconscious mind is far more developed and can do much more complex tasks than the conscious because it is older (and therefore more developed). It controls all your organs, muscles, everything you are NOT aware of.
You swing between consciousness and unconsciousness all the time. When you wash your hands, you don’t think about it. Instead you think about what are you going to eat for lunch. It’s the same as breathing, you can control it if you want to, but if you don’t your body does it automaticaly.
When you walk you could think about your every movement you do so you don’t fall, or you can let your unconscious mind take care of it.
The more you do one particular task the less you have to think about doing it.
A great example of how potent a force your unconscious can be was detailed by researchers Chen-Bo Zhong and Katie Liljenquist They conducted a study in which people were asked to remember a terrible sin from their past, something they had done which was unethical. The researchers asked them to describe how the memory made them feel. They then offered half of the participants the opportunity to wash their hands. At the end of the study, they asked subjects if they would be willing to take part in later research for no pay as a favor to a desperate graduate student. Those who did not wash their hands agreed to help 74 percent of the time, but those who did wash agreed only 41 percent of the time. According to the researchers, one group had unconsciously washed away their guilt and felt less of a need to pay penance.
When a stimulus in the past affects the way you behave and think or the way you perceive another stimulus later on, it is called priming.
Everything you perceive sets off a chain of related ideas. Pencils make you think of pens. Blackboards make you think of classrooms. It happens to you all the time, and though you are unaware, it changes the way you behave.
Another study conducted by Aaron Kay, Christian Wheeler, John Barghand, and Lee Ross. In this study people were separated into two groups and asked to draw lines between photos and text descriptions. One group looked at neutral photos. They drew lines to connect kites, whales , turkeys, and other objects to descriptions on the other side of the paper. The second group connected lines to descriptions for photos of briefcases, fountain pens, and other items associated with the world of business.
After that the particpants were sent to an isolated room and paired with another “participant“ who was actually hired actor. Then they were told they are going to play a game where they could earn up to $10. The researchers presented the subject with a cup and explained that in it were two strips of paper, one with word “offer“ written on it and other with the word “decision“. They could then either blindly pluck a slip of paper from the cup, or allow the other person to blindly select.
Whoever pulled out the “offer” slip would get the $ 10 and choose how it was divided between both parties. The partner would then choose to accept or reject the offer. If the partner rejected, both received nothing. This is called the ultimatum game, and its predictability has made it a favorite tool of psychologists and economists. Offers below 20 percent of the total amount are usually turned down. Most people chose to do the picking. They didn’t know both slips had “offer” written on them. If they instead let the other person do the picking, the actor pretended to get the “decision” slip. So everyone in the study was put in the position of making a reasonable offer, knowing if they did not, they would miss out on some free cash.
The results were bizarre, but confirmed the scientists’ suspicions about priming. So how did the two groups differ? In the group who connected neutral photos to their descriptions before the ultimatum game, 91 percent chose to split the money evenly— $ 5 each. In the group who connected the business photos, only 33 percent offered to split the money evenly, the rest tried to keep a little more for themselves.
The researchers conducted the experiment again with real objects instead of photos. They had participants play the ultimatum game in a room with a briefcase and leather portfolio on the far end of a table along with a fountain pen in front of the participant’s chair. Another group sat in a room with neutral items— a backpack, a cardboard box, and a wooden pencil. This time, 100 percent of the neutral group chose to split the money evenly, but only 50 percent of those in the group sitting in a room with business-related items did the same. Half of the business-primed group tried to stiff the other party.
All of the subjects were debriefed afterward as to why they behaved as they did, but not one person mentioned the objects in the room. Instead, they confabulated and told the researchers about their own feelings on what is and is not fair. Some described their impressions of the people they were playing the game with and said those feelings influenced them. Mere exposure to briefcases and fancy pens had altered the behavior of normal, rational people. They became more competitive, greedier, and had no idea why. Faced with having to explain themselves, they rationalized their behavior with erroneous tales they believed were true.
Wow, that’s typical of most people, wouldn’t you say?
Did you enjoy this article? If you did, remember to come back tomorrow to learn how to use this to read peoples minds.
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