The interesting thing about sales is that it is very similar to being in a relationship. Closing a sale, in many cases, is like winning a fight with your significant other.
When you get into a fight with your wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, what do you do? You try to prove that you are right and they are wrong, right?
When you try to prove your points, I bet you use logic to show that you are right. At the end of the day, however, you know that it isn’t really going work. “Why?” You may ask. Well, it’s because the other party is emotionally stuck on the notion that they are right and you are wrong.
So, how do you win a battle with your significant other? The reality is you don’t try to win. As long as the other party feels that they have won and you still get the outcome you are looking for, it doesn’t matter. The best way to get the outcome you are looking for is to change the other person’s mood, typically by making him or her happy. If someone is happy, he or she is more likely to give you what you want.
Now, let’s dive into how you do this from a sales perspective.
Always try logic first
Every time you go into a sales meeting, the first thing you need to do is make a case for your product or service and explain why your prospects should be using it. The easiest way to convince a company that they need your product or service is to show them how it can make them more money.
The pitch goes something like this: “If you use our product, it’s going to boost your revenue by X, and it will only cost you Y. You should start seeing the benefits within 30 days.”
Of course, you will have to go into a lot more detail than I did in my example, but you get the point.
If you can’t make a promise to increase a company’s revenue, you’d better be able to show them that you are going to save them money, or time, or help them get a leg up on their competition.
Logic doesn’t always help you close a deal
Now that you’ve made your pitch using logic, you have to realize that logic won’t always win you a deal. There are a ton of reasons why logic doesn’t always work, e.g., the person you are pitching to just may not like you.
It’s impossible to figure out exactly why someone may be emotionally set on not giving you his or her money, but if you pay attention to that person’s body language, you’ll be able to tell if he or she likes you or not.
If the person you are talking to is nodding her head, it shows that she is engaged and likes what you have to say. On the other hand, if she is ignoring your pitch and is constantly looking down at her iPhone, she probably doesn’t care to hear what you have to say.
If you find that your prospect’s body language is showing that he is engaged and happy with what you have to say, then you are fine, and you should work on sealing the deal. But if his body language shows otherwise, you’d better start working on changing your prospect’s mood.
Don’t change their mind, change their mood
I wish I could tell you the one tactic to change someone’s mood, but there is no one way to do so. The one thing I can tell you, however, is that you have to make the other party happy with you. If someone starts liking you, he or she is more likely to sign a deal with you because people prefer working with those they get along with.
Here are some of the ways I change people’s mood so that they like me:
- Storytelling – During the beginning of a sales meeting, I always ask people to introduce themselves and share something interesting about themselves. Once I find out what we have in common, I share with them my personal story and make it relatable to the other person using our common interests as the connection point. The purpose of this is for the other person to feel and say to himself or herself, “I could be friends with this person because he/she is just like me.”
- Food and drinks – Some people just like feeling that they are special. You’d be shocked to find out what a free meal and drinks can do for someone. People really appreciate the small things, and it tends to make them happy.
- Humor – There is no better way to lighten up the mood than to say a few jokes. The key to using humor is to make it relevant to the pitch. Never joke about the company you are pitching to, and don’t take things too far. Ideally, use humor during your pitch, not the beginning or end, as this is the most natural way to do it.
- Make life simpler – The person you are pitching to probably has a busy work schedule. So, if you can make his or her life easier, or take on some of that person’s workload, your prospect will be much happier. Within your pitch, make sure you emphasize the fact that you are going to reduce your prospect’s workload, not increase it. Who doesn’t want to work less?
If you use some of the tactics I mention above to change people’s mood, you’ll notice that you will start closing a lot more deals.
Conclusion
A good salesperson will use a combination of logic and emotions to close deals. Using just logic or emotions by themselves isn’t effective, so you have to get better at reading people and mixing up your pitch by using both of those elements.
The next time you are in a sales meeting, try changing the person’s mood. You’ll be shocked to see what it can do.