The Magic Minute of Sales: Mind Reading your Clients and Prospects

We all have a different ways of receiving and processing information. We each have an individual thinking style, our own perceptual filters and different belief and values. We have a unique way of making decisions and we each have our own "hot buttons." 

As a result, we each have our own mental language. We have different ways of expressing ourselves, use different types of words, different sentence structures, we focus on different things and we each prefer to be communicated with in a certain way. Sometimes we hear things that resonate and we feel motivated to act because we what we heard was said in just the way we needed to hear it- it was in our language.

What happens when you can speak the mental language of your clients? The answer? They do what you want them to do.

Imagine two friends having lunch. They are in rapport, speaking the same language and they feel deeply connected to one another. When a salesperson speaks to a prospect, this kind of rapport is absent... unless he can read the client quickly and enter into their world. 

In order to really read someone, you have to know the building blocks of human experience. What is thinking made of? How do people process information and make decisions? What are the elements of the human mind? When you have this information and you can fill in the blanks when it comes to your clients, persuasion becomes easy.

According to studies, 7% of face-to-face communication is made up of words, yet we try to persuade with words alone. The other 93% of communication is non-verbal; tonality, volume, body language and sentence structure. A person will reveal everything you need to know about them in just minutes through the other 93% of communication. If you fine tune your senses, it will be as if you can read their mind. 

For example, people think in terms of the senses. Some people are highly visual while others are more auditory or kinesthetic. This is revealed in language. If someone is in the market for a new stereo and tells you he wants one that "looks good" and you focus on how it sounds, he will tune you out. If someone tells you what you are saying doesn't feel right, you haven't said what they need to hear to have a good feeling about what you have to offer. The ability to notice one's preferred sense and use it transforms the communication. 

There are salespeople who have a 97% close rate. Yes, 97%! How do they do it? They have honed their perceptual skills to be able to read their clients, understand the way they think and communicate with them better than someone who has known them for years. In fact, when you do this, they will feel like you have known them for years! Is that how your clients and prospects feel with you?

When you speak to clients in a way that matches their thinking they light up! They feel you understand them and in turn, they will begin to like you and trust you. And soon the sale is made. 

There is something absent from sales... and it's called listening. So many sales people skip this step. They fail to gather information and jump right into a canned approach. How many times have you gone to a salesperson who gave you all kinds of information you didn't care about or want to know? And what did you do? You bought from someone else!

All too often when I go to buy something, the salesperson proceeds to tell me about the product. They tell me all about what they think is important... without taking a moment to ask me what is important to me. If they took just a moment to do this they could match the presentation to my values, hot buttons and decision making strategy. They could frame what they have in a way that makes me see why I need it. 

I recently bought a new computer. I told the salesman what my concerns were and he immediately began to give me the specs on a computer. He didn't listen to a word I had said. I couldn't believe it. I am sure that all the computers they have are far more powerful than I need. I don't care about the specs. So I went elsewhere where someone paid attention to my concerns.

Salespeople are decision engineers. Your job as a salesperson is to help people make the right decision and make their lives better. People are paying you to help them make a decision. When you are talking to a prospect, they want to be sold to, otherwise they wouldn't let you talk to them in the first place. If you help them make the right decision, you provide a win/win situation and you get satisfaction instead of buyer's remorse. People come back to you and they bring their friends. Because they know you can help them make good decisions.

Recently when doing one on one sales coaching, I taught my client how to listen for a prospects perceptual filters and understand how they think. Once he could notice the way his prospect was processing information, he could speak to them in their language. The difference in his sales conversations was drastic! All of a sudden his clients felt understood, and they bought far more frequently. After all, who wants to buy from a salesman who doesn't understand them and can't speak to them in a way that they understand?

If and when salespeople take the time to gather information, they miss most of the information they are getting. When your prospect speaks, they will reveal all kind of things about themselves through their gestures, tonality, and eye movements and their language. Language accounts for only 7% of face-to-face communication and yet, people reveal their secrets through the language they choose. Through the words they use and the structure of their phrases they will reveal how they think and how you need to speak to them. They will tell you everything you need to know to help them make a decision.

Consumers want to be sold to but they want someone to care about them, to understand them and they want to deal with someone they feel they can trust. When you can read your customer and piece together how they process information, they will feel understood and come to like you and trust you. How much more effectively will you be able to produce results in your own profession when you can make use of all the information your clients and prospects are giving you instead of letting it slip by the wayside?