Persuasion Techniques for Sales Professionals

Persuasion Techniques for Sales ProfessionalsPersuasion Techniques for Sales ProfessionalsWhenever anyone tells you that they know the secret to sale, you should listen closely but know that there truly is no secret to success in sales. Success in sales is a culmination of hard work, strong rapport skills, a dedication to improving sales skills and knowing how to close sales. There are, however, secrets that can lead you towards success when coupled with other critical success factors. One of these secrets is a commonly used word that is one of the most persuasive words in the English language.? Because The word because has been shown in multiple studies to be extremely powerful. For those in sales who understand how important their ability to persuade is in their careers, intelligently adding the word because into their talk track could actually make an astounding difference. The intention of this article is not to delve into the psychology behind this persuasive word but instea d to offer a few quick suggestions about how to use the word in your daily sales activities. Cold Calling Whether you are cold calling on the phone or face to face, you should have a goal for each call. But when you do have a goal for a cold call, a funny thing happens. Someone in the office you are calling on has a mission to prevent you from reaching your goal. They are often called the gatekeepers and they are paid, it seems, to weed out callers or visitors. So when a sales professionalstops in or calls, asking to speak to a decision maker, the gatekeeper goes into action If the cold calling rep would simply change the approach used and include the word because the cold call success rate will increase drastically. The simple inclusion of the word because validates the reason for your call and lets the gatekeeper know that you actually have a valid reason to be calling. It is interesting to note that the research indicated that the given reason which follows because does not e ven need to make a lot of sense. Just hearing the word because is often enough to accomplish your goal. Getting Appointments Professionals are busy. Many of the people you will or are calling on are doing more than one job and have very little time to meet with every sales professional who calls on them. So getting an appointment is often times the hardest step in a sales cycle. The main thought in a persons mind when being asked to schedule a meeting is why should I? If you, the sales professional, cant give a strong enough reason for someone to meet with you, they wont. If you are having continued challenges getting prospects to agree to meet with you, try inserting because into your requests. Closing a Sale Closing a sale comes down to how well you did in each step of the sales cycle, so do not expect you can start using a magic word in your closes and be able to cut down on the work required in the other steps. Remember, there is no secret to sales but rather, a series o f secrets that need to be blended together. If you havedone well with prospecting, qualifying, building rapport, designing a solution and are ready to close the sale, try adding because into your talk track. Again, dont expect that using because will make up for or replace hard-work or diligent effort throughout the sales cycle, but you may realize that your closes go a lot smoother and your closing percentage increases.